Oakland City Hosts Board of Works and City Council Meetings for End of September

OAKLAND CITY – The Oakland City Board of Works and City Council met Tuesday Evening.

During the Board of Works meeting, the board was presented an update on Oakland Gardens. It was mentioned the electric for the lift station should be installed. Following that, a pressure test on the lift system will take place. Mayor James Deffendoll mentioned that once the sewer projects are paid, the city should have enough money to purchase the last 300 meters. City officials on Friday picked up the new police vehicles. Mayor Deffendoll comments the new vehicles are nice.

In department reports, the vehicles for the police department will be getting new striping soon. The GPS trackers are on the way as well and the computers for the vehicles are getting programmed for use on the road.

Under old business, the city has court approval for a demolition of a building on Main Street. 2 bids came in for the demolition. Shaefer Farms Excavation submitted a bid of $17,500 while Freudenberg Contracting LLC submitted a bid of $7200. Both bids were taken under advisement.

There was a public hearing on the water rate in Oakland City. The water rate would go up 12.64% as well as 1.67 per 1,000 gallons used based on their water agreement from their water supplier. A minimum user of water in Oakland City would be around $44 per month, up from $35. One question came up involving the 99 year service agreement with their supplier and trying to get out the contract with the water maintenance system in town being up to code now. According to city officials, they have tried multiple times to get out of the agreement, but have had no success. The board approved the rate increase unanimously.

In other new business, the board now owns the property at 326 North Jackson. The board also approved a motion to name the roads at the new lake after the people who had a vision of making it a recreational area. That measure went 4-0. Finally, Holly Lagenour from Air Med Core made a presentation to the board about membership for the AirEvac Program. Finally, the board approved sponsorship of the Gibson County CEO Program for 3 years at $1000 per year.