A Minute With the Mayor

Looks like spring has sprung! The days are nicer than not anymore, the grass has turned green and the buds on the trees are falling in droves with every thunderstorm we have.   In my opinion, spring is the best time of the year; a time of renewal, new growth and a sense that life is going to just be better all around. The city feels the same way. The new pool will be opening its doors soon marking new beginnings for a new generation of swimmers in Lyons. There is going to be some touch-up work done down there between now and when it opens but it will be ready to go the end of May. We still need a few more lifeguards so if you are interested or know someone who is, please apply at the city office. We will be having a ribbon cutting ceremony in May. Be watching the papers for that!

As we talk about renewal of life that spring brings us, the community center is almost ready to come out of its cocoon and be the beautiful butterfly we all envisioned almost a year ago. It certainly is in a transformative state. We have experienced some delays but we continue to make progress. I’m not yet prepared to say when the project will be completed, but we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.   Please bear with us a little longer. As I’ve told you before – it will be worth the wait.

The last two meetings have been dominated by the community center project but others items of interest also came up. We have been finalizing the paperwork for receiving our new recycling baler for plastics we received from NDEQ. We received a grant in the amount of $75,670 towards the baler. Our out-of-pocket cost to the city is roughly $10,000 or less than one-eighth the cost of the $86,000 piece of equipment. You can’t go wrong doing that kind of math! This will really help us improve our capacity for taking in plastic. It’s a win-win all the way around. The new grinder for the sewer plant was ordered. The old one shelled out and needed to be replaced. We have resealed the water filters down at the water plant. We have also completed the campground electric project just in time for camping season. The RV parking has received an electrical up-grade to accommodate larger campers. The city has also sent out condemnation letters to properties around town to those property owners whose properties require major work or are no longer fit as dwelling places. The council also gave the go ahead to order parking stops for the east side of the community center in front of the big windows. Never can be too careful these days!

Waste Connections has increased its monthly garbage fee by $105 per month. This increase will more than likely be passed on to all of us. The city also renewed our contract with Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) for some of our electric service through 2050. They deal in 30 year chunks. They’ve always provided us safe, reliable electric power so it was easy to renew the contract. NPPD supplies the bulk of our electric power but WAPA pulls a lot of their electric supply from hydro-electric sources. As the city wraps up the community center project,

Mayor Andy Fuston

we are turning our attention to another big project. This is the street lighting for downtown. We have contracted with Engineering Professional Services out of West Point to help us determine exactly what we need to do with our outdated street lights and electrical service to those lights. The scope of the project will also extend to the sidewalks and some sewer concerns. We need this information to apply for another grant that would help cover some of the cost of the project. This project and its scope may or may not happen depending on the grant outcome. We just know it is an issue that needs to be addressed. There will be more to come as we get further along into this process.

Okay, I think that’s all the updates I have to tell you about. Graduation and the end of the school year are just around the corner. Get those flowers and gardens planted. Just enjoy the nice weather. Have a great rest of the month and we’ll talk again soon.