Move of DPW, selling of lots in industrial park discussed by council

by Angie Asam, Staff Writer

Last Thursday the Rogers City council and department heads sat down to begin the three-month process of discussing the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins June 1. Thursday the group discussed a variety of different topics. Mayor Beach Hall led the group through a list of city council goals, giving them time to discuss each goal before moving on to the next one. Discussion involved moving the department of public works (DPW) to the industrial park. Although no action could be taken, the group came up with a tentative plan to get the ball rolling.

?I would love to see council set aside a lot u

p there for the DPW. If we had one set aside we could begin working on it slowly, clearing the land and coming up with a plan,? said city manager Mark Slown. DPW director Roger Wenzel said the lot adjacent to the new water tower would be ideal. Another goal of the council has been selling lots in the industrial park. Councilmember Deb Greene feels that in order to sell those lots, the infrastructure needs to be in place to make it marketable. The city is working with the county development commission on coming up with ideas for grants that could help improve infrastructure and make the property more marketable.

They discussed the need to revise how they have their goals written as the current United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grants are making a lot of capital infrastructure improvements possible, a goal the council had set. Capital improvements are an ongoing goal. The council directed Slown to come up with two separate lists, a list of ongoing goals as well as goals for specific projects. LISTENING TO staff recommendations and continuing to go through the list, the council made a good start on the 2011-12 budget as the discussion has started. Council has many things to think about as property taxes continue to drop and state revenue sharing is unknown at the present time. Many more budget workshops will be held in the upcoming months as the council looks to have a budget they can approve sometime in May.