The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by Christy Kienast, The Quill
On Monday, January 9th, the La Harpe City council met for their first meeting of the year. All council members were present. The minutes from the December meeting were passed as well as the bills paid for December.
The police committee met and decided to keep the same amount of hours for each officer, and to replace the two police officers that have left.
The finance and the police committee will meet and discuss the wage package for the positions as there was some discussion that it was hard to get and keep officers for the wage the city is proposing.
The contracts for the cemetery and city park have been sent, signed and returned for the mayor to sign.
The bridge in the city limits has been inspected by the county engineer.
City Clerk Lucretia McPeak reported that there is a possible new owner for her Time and Chime building. The new owner is planning to take down the building to the first floor and re-roof it.
He will have to work off of the east side of the building. He will need to block off South First street during the weekend when he is working. The city agreed to work with them on this situation, although precautions will need to be taken for emergency calls.
La Harpe Summerfest will be July 25th-July 28th in 2012.
Mayor Brown commented that every community in Hancock County is having problems with their older buildings. This was learned at the monthly mayor meetings.
City employee Tim Graves reported that the water plant has been running great since the media filter replacement.
On January 23rd, the next city council meeting, there will be a public hearing on housing development at 6:15 p.m. for the housing grant the city has applied for.
The council moved to executive session to discuss an employee vacation request. The employee was not able to use one of his vacation days from last year due to staff shortage. After a short discussion, the council decided to pay the employee out for his lost vacation day.