TM Commission Mtg 10June2020

The Taylor Mill Police Department is working to complete another certification from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).

This year’s inspection had to be virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic. Police Chief Steve Knauf and City Commissioner Mark Kreimborg thanked Lieutenant James Mills and Sergeant Ken Holstein for making the presentation happen.

Knauf noted that this is the fourth year that Taylor Mill Police Department has gone through the inspection and said that an assessment report would come out in a month.

The Taylor Mill city commission met in the city building last week but restricted access to the public due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

At the meeting, the city commission voted to change waste collection companies from Rumpke to Republic. Republic’s bid was lower than Rumpke’s and Best Way’s. The contract is for four years.

During the transition, the pick-up schedule will remain the same (Tuesday and Friday) but will eventually change to Tuesday and Wednesday. Republic will begin to drop off its trash cans to residents and businesses on June 22, and should complete that process by July 3.

Residents will receive information in the mail.

City Administrator Brian Haney said that residents should expect similar service and that they should still plan to contact the collection provider to discuss pick-up of larger items.

In other business, commissioners listened to a resident’s complaints about flooding on Vincent Drive.

Margaret Freeman played a video of such an event for the commission.

“It’s been 30 years of hell,” she said. 

The last major rain, on May 24, resulted in so much water, that there was four to five feet of water around houses, flooding cars in the streets as well as the houses, she said. Freeman said that she has sunk a lot of money into preventing the water damage, and she has no more money for it.  

She wants to city to do something to fix the problem, or to buy the house.

Public Works Director Marc Roden acknowledged the severity of the rain event and said that there was no way to stop the water. He said that once the water receded that the drains did not appear to be clogged. 

Haney said that he would like to have Commissioner Rose Merritt to help him look into writing a policy of what the city could do in these situations. He said he had two dozen complaints about the flooding on his desk right now. He told commissioners that until the city authorized him to spend money, they needed a policy to formalize rules on what the city can do for residents.

Mayor Dan Bell thought he should talk to Sanitation District 1 about doing an evaluation so that the city could get an idea of what direction to go. 

Commissioner Dan Murray agreed with what Freeman said about the flooding seeming to be worse after the new highway was put in.  He said the city was lied to about the road, and the engineers told the city the water would run to the other side of the road.

Commissioners agreed to have someone talk to SD-1 and then come up with a plan. It was suggested that the city could have a fund to help with flooding matters.

The city building is also set for a paint job. One bid returned to the city from a potential contract came in at $28,000, but Haney said that the city is hoping for a couple other options.

Written by Patricia A. Scheyer, RCN contributor