City Council approves WBHP plans

The project for the park improvements began in 2016, said Gary Groves, WBHP committee member.

The grounds-site plan, presented by Groves and project engineer Wayne Schlofeldt, included a half-mile paved walking trail system running through the park, additional parking along Ohio Street, more handicap accessible parking, new public restrooms and more.

The trail system, parking and grounds grading part of the project is estimated to cost around $235,000.

“We have part of the money now,” Groves said. “Maybe close to half of it. But we’re going to have to go into fundraising mode before the end of the year.”

The Wilson Brewer Historic Park Committee will now finalize the construction plans for the project to present to the city council at a future meeting. Once the final construction plans are approved, the city will be able to start soliciting bids for the project.

At the top of the meeting, Webster City Mayor John Hawkins issued an oath of service for a new Webster City Police officer, Dalton Mourlam. Mourlam, a native of Boone, now lives in Stratford.

The council also approved a request from the American Legion Post 191 and the Avenue of Flags Chairman Ron Keigan to place a monument in front of the building at 800 Ohio St.

“I think we should have a memorial commemorating people that have served the country,” Keigan said to the council.

The monument would pay tribute to the men and women of Hamilton County who have served honorably in the United States Armed Forces. Keigan approached the council to request permission to place the monument. The cost of the monument, approximately $9,835, will be taken care of through fundraising efforts by the American Legion and the Avenue of Flags.

The council also approved two requests from Webster City Fire Chief Chuck Stansfield. The first request was for approval of travel and expenses for two Webster City Fire personnel to attend training at the National Fire Academy in Emmetsburg, Maryland. The travel expenses, lodging and training course costs are paid for or reimbursed by the federal government. City policy requires any out of state classes for city employees be approved through the city council.

The request also included the fire department providing $654.62 for meals for the two fire personnel at the training.

“This training will allow both senior members a clearer understanding of what is entailed in larger emergency events and how to handle them, and what resources to look to for mitigation and control,” Stansfield’s request said.

The second request was to allow the department to purchase self-contained breathing apparatus from Sandry Fire Supply of DeWitt, Iowa.

“The Webster City Fire Department has very old SCBAs,” Stansfield said. The department has been able to keep the apparatus in working order through annual maintenance, but the maintenance company recently notified the department that it no longer carries replacement parts for SCBAs that old.

The Fire Department solicited bids for the new equipment and it also did comprehensive testing on the various brands to determine what the WCFD personnel felt most comfortable using.

The department will be purchasing 23 SCBA packs with 22 additional air tanks, 23 facepieces with bags, a Rapid Intervention Team SCBA kit and four carrying cases. The total for the purchase is $180,184.38.

The new equipment is estimated to last about 15 years.

In other business, the city council also set a time and place for a public hearing on the proposed use of property located at 102 MacKinlay Kantor Dr. The public hearing will be at 6:05 p.m. on Dec. 2 in the City Council chambers at City Hall.