Sigourney Council Discusses Deteriorated Christmas Decorations

SIGOURNEY – During the Oct. 2 meeting of the Sigourney City Council, the council spoke with Jenny Thompson, chair of the committee that organizes the yearly town Christmas festival. Thompson stated the festival date had been changed from Dec. 14 to Nov. 30, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and that it will feature a 5K ugly sweater walk, cookie walk, vendor fair, poker run, soup super, tree and wreath silent auction, and a lighted parade. Thompson explained that change boxes would be placed in local businesses and that Brothers Market would allow people to round up to fund the festivities.

She brought up the issue of the town’s Christmas decorations, including the large Santa and Candle decorations, which are in bad shape. She said that the Santa was creepy, but was a local tradition. She asked for permission to put the decorations up this year, in hopes that the public, after seeing that they are in disarray, will donate to either restore or replace the decorations.

“I think it’s worth it. I think we need something, so we can be proud of our community,” said Thompson.

Mayor Jimmy Morlan stated that the decorations weren’t the prettiest, but were traditional and that he enjoyed them. Thompson said people had told her they would scare kids, but that she disagreed, because kids look at things that are a lot creepier. Councilman Adam Clark asked if the decorations were safe to be put up. Public Works Director Don Northup stated they were safe. Clark asked what was wrong with them. Northup explained that the frames were coming apart, the lighting is damaged, and that the garland is held on with zip ties on both the Santa and the candle. In addition, the Santa’s eyes look different directions and there is damage to its belt and gloves. He explained that repairing them would be difficult due to the size of the decorations, which would require a large building and scaffolding to work on, plus weeks of work to repair them. He noted that there is a company in Minnesota that could do this type of work, but that they are months behind schedule and couldn’t work on the decorations soon. Northup stated that replacing the decorations would cost at least $16,000 and that repairing them would be similarly expensive. He also noted that there is damage to other decorations, like the snowflakes that hang from streetlights, which are cracked and falling apart. 

Councilman Gary Iosbaker stated that, due to the timing, the city would either have to put up the damaged decorations or put up nothing. He asked if high school students could help weld the frames back together. Northup said that repairing the frame wasn’t the problem and that the problem was removing the garland and later putting it back in the same place. He stated that the candle was not as bad as the Santa, but that both needed rewired. Iosbaker said it was better to put the decorations up than not have anything. The council and mayor agreed to let the committee decide if they would put up the decorations.

Iosbaker reported that KCED had received a $10,000 IEDA BOOST Grant and would begin strategic planning to improve the community in a few weeks.

Councilwoman Connie McLaughlin brought up a series of community betterment requests for the splash pad umbrellas and buckets at the city pool. McLaughlin explained that both features are 23 years old and rusted. She stated that it would take approximately $1,500 to repair the umbrellas. The council approved spending up to $2,000 to repair the umbrellas. McLaughlin stated it would take $5,091 to repair the buckets and that she would apply for a Keokuk County Community Endowment Foundation grant for the buckets first, and requested the council pay for the repairs if the grant is not obtained.

McLaughlin also brought up a community betterment request to put concrete at the batting cage at Legion Park. She explained that the Baseball Board decided to spend $25,000 on a new batting cage back in March, and that the council previously approved spending $6,000 to install concrete, electrical wiring and a water fountain that could be used to fill bottles. McLaughlin stated that the water fountain had been installed for $1,500, but that concrete prices had increased and it would cost another $7,500 to finish the project. The council approved the betterment request.

Northup brought up a betterment request to finish the fencing around the southeast corner of the soccer and flag football fields, to help control traffic and stop people from driving onto the soccer field. The council approved the request. 

The council looked over new city employee medical, dental and vision benefit policies. The new medical policies will cost $178 more per month, while the dental and vision prices will stay the same. Councilman Randy Schultz cast the sole no vote against the new dental policies; the other two policies passed unanimously.