Council declares River Heights’ Apple Days successful
September 16th, 2010 Posted in OpinionBy Megan Allen
RIVER HEIGHTS–In a short meeting Tuesday, City Council members discussed the success of Apple Days and approved four requisition requests.
The first requisition was to pay for chip and seal to fix the roads. “It will cost $36,584,” Mayor Bill Baker said, “but it needs to be done and this is in our budget.”
The next request was for money to redo the drains on Stewart Hill Court. They want to redirect the drainage into the irrigation canal near Hillside Park. The request was approved at a cost of $12,300.
The council then approved $2,950 to be spent on installing automatically flushing toilets in restrooms at Hillside Park. “The kids can’t flush these ones we have now,” Gines said.
The council also approved the $2,400 from the parks and recreation budget that was recently spent to improve the sprinkling system around the gazebo at the park.
Sheila Lind, the council recorder, gave the administration report. “Lately we have had a lot of requests to pay bills over the phone or with a credit card,” she said.
The council discussed the possibility of getting a card machine for the office or setting up an online payment system.
“The only problem,” Baker said, “is that credit card companies charge of fee of anywhere from 2 to 5 percent per transaction. We don’t want to take on that expense.”
Lind said the current city bill is $144 every two months per household. If the city does allow residents to pay with a card, they will have to charge them a convenience fee to cover the cost.
The issue will go on the agenda for the next meeting and will be discussed further.
Rich Okelberry, chairman of Apple Days, gave a report on the success of the celebration. After examining the budget and identifying where all the money went, Okelberry said they only went over budget by $33.87. However, a lot of the materials used have been saved and will be used again next year.
Heather Lehnig was the director of the first Apple Days 5K race. They charged only $10 for a family to run together and had over 100 people participate.
“We kept it inexpensive for families,” she said. “We let them just come out and have a good time.”
Lehnig, who owns a running shop in Providence, said she is thinking about putting on another 5K the day after Thanksgiving.
Overall, Apple Days was very successful, Okelberry said. “The key for next year is to get as many volunteers up and running as early as we can,” he said. The committee is also hoping to add more games for older participants for next year’s celebration.
A lot of the volunteers were high school students and teenagers from River Heights. Okelberry said he is planning to send them all letters and certificates of appreciation for all the help they gave.
“It all went really well,” Baker said. “We had a ball!”
Okelberry has already volunteered to chair the event next year.
This week, Baker will be representing River Heights in attending the Utah League of Cities and Towns fall conference in Salt Lake City.
“I will for sure be attending presentations on road preservation, water billing, and parks and recreation programs,” he said. “There will be others as well, and I will come back with as much information as I can.”
NW
Tags: Apple Days, city council, River Heights
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