Keota Council Does Not Discuss Small Park

KEOTA – During the Sept. 3 meeting of the Keota City Council, due to several councilmen being absent, there was no mention of the ongoing discussion of the small park in the agenda. During public comment, a concerned citizen stated he was displeased by this, because he still wanted answers for questions he had asked in the prior meeting about things the community could do to convince the city to keep the park. Mayor Tony Cansler stated it would be on the agenda during the next meeting and that the council hadn’t had a chance to get together and discuss the small park yet. Cansler stated that the city was looking at multiple options and would not necessarily fully get rid of the small park, and could instead turn part of it into parking while keeping a condensed park.

Cansler stated he had attended a Keokuk County Emergency Management meeting. At this meeting, he learned that a county hazard mitigation plan was sent back by FEMA in early August with revision requests for climate change planning. Cansler stated that he was not in favor of new taxes, because taxes are already too high, but that people believe that if we all pay more taxes climate change would go away. He stated that the meeting also included discussion of seeking a grant to update all of the storm sirens in the county.

Councilman Curt Burroughs asked if Harris Boyz had been scheduled to repair water leaks in the museum basement. Public Works Director Micah Harmsen stated that they had not. He noted that the city had received a four-inch rain recently, with no leaks, and stated it might be silly to spend a lot of money fixing leaks.