Sigourney Trims Grass Length Ordinance

SIGOURNEY – During the Feb. 21 meeting of the Sigourney City Council, the council approved changing the city’s grass ordinances. Under the previous ordinances, grass over nine inches was considered a nuisance. Now, grass over six inches will be considered a nuisance. Code Enforcer Doug Glandon explained that he would often have to wait ten days before getting around to mowing these nuisance lawns, by which time they would be twelve inches or longer. These longer lawns are nearly impossible for city equipment to mow. The council previously approved changing the nuisance length to six inches previously, but only now put it in the official ordinances.

City Clerk Angie Alderson brought up the city’s policy of only giving a single notification to residents with overgrown lawns, then mowing without warning and billing residents for subsequent overgrown lawns. Alderson noted that this is not an official ordinance and recommended it be made official at a later date. The council briefly discussed the mowing of alleys between properties; Councilman Randy Schultz explained that the city does not have the authority to order people to mow their alleys.

Councilwoman Connie Iosbaker asked Public Works Director Don Northup about opening the compost pile. Northup stated that he prefers to leave the pile closed until after the snow and rain has cleared up, because otherwise, people will “tear up” the muddy ground with their trucks. He noted that, if the city opens the compost pile then closes it after an unexpected snow, people will likely just dump compost in the ditch and on the gate.

The council approved a request from a pickleball player to put up poles and lights at the pickleball courts next to Legion Park. The player explained that the city had its first full pickleball season last year, featuring 30 players using the courts a lot and 20 using the courts some, numbers which he hopes will increase this year. He explains that evenings are nicer to play, due to being calmer, and that many players would like to play after work in the fall. The cost of the new light poles will be raised by a group of pickleball players.

The council approved purchasing a new tower server from Access Systems once the lease on the current tower expires, after Councilman Ed Conrad explained that purchasing would be cheaper than leasing for five years. The council approved moving all of the city’s finances over to a cloud based platform from gWorks. Going forward, the city will pay gWorks $16,052 per year for various services, although the city will only have to pay an additional $5,610 this year, due to having already paid $10,442 this year.