Its too soon to tell if Iola will get the City Councils OK for a GIS survey for its CIP development.
Got that?
In their acronym-heavy meeting Monday night, Council members discussed CIPs (capital improvement plans) for the citys water and wastewater systems.
The city previously had budgeted $160,000 for the CIP development, which will be handled by Burns & McDonnell, Kansas City, MO.
Mondays discussion centered on the cost breakdown for the process. Previously, the city had planned to split the cost at $80,000 for each department.
Upon closer inspection, however, the city will only need to spend about $55,600 for the water CIP planning. The wastewater CIP study, conversely, will increase to $104,400, so the sum total will not change, City Administrator Sid Fleming explained.
Council members had no problem with that, approving contracts for Burns & McDonnell to begin the CIP work, but grilled Fleming about $54,000 earmarked for GIS (geographic information system) data collections for the wastewater system. Thats because the $54,000 was not included in the original budget.
I dont like the idea of having this as an add-on, Councilman Ron Ballard said.
A GIS study essentially pinpoints the exact location of each wastewater component, including depth, Fleming explained. Doing so makes it substantially easier for the CIP as the city prioritizes future system enhancements or repairs.
So why wasnt the cost included when Fleming helped set up the budget last summer?
To be honest, we didnt think about it when we did the budget, Fleming said.
Such work could be done in-house at a lower cost, Fleming said, but would require the city to reallocate staff and use inferior equipment than that of Midland GIS of Maryville, Mo., the company recommended by Burns & McDonnell for a cost of $54,000.
Council members agreed to revisit the GIS matter, but asked Fleming to secure bids to see if other companies could do so at a lower cost.
This is an awful lot of money, but two years ago, when we did strategic planning, we talked about long-term plans and things we should prioritize, Councilman Aaron Franklin said. I dont like spending money on things that arent budgeted, but if we dont have accurate data (through GIS), our master plan is almost useless.
Fleming agreed to seek out other agencies to see if a less expensive GIS study is available.
COUNCIL members voted, 7-1, to approve a mutual aid agreement between the Iola Fire Department and other fire departments within the county stationed at Humboldt, Moran, LaHarpe, Elsmore/ Savonburg, Rural Fire District No. 2 and the Allen County Fire Department.
