Council to study streets, outdated ordinances

• Martha Rios describes the stray dog problem to the Yorktown City Council that caused her to receive a service charge for meter reading. STAFF PHOTO

A committee to inspect Yorktown’s streets and rank them for repair formed at the Yorktown City Council regular meeting on April 29.

Council members Connie Hall and Joe Dickie Rodriguez, along with at least one city staff member, will divide a town map into quadrants and create a system of inspection.

The street ratings will be determined by the committee, probably emphasizing how bad the conditions are and traffic, Mayor Bill Baker said.

“We have limited resources for a project that takes more than limited resources,” Baker said. “This will give us a starting point.”

Another committee to review city ordinances also formed. Many of the hundreds of city ordinances are outdated, so council members Megan Thomas and Mike Rippimonti will look through them to recommend updates. They will also have the help of at least one staff member.

Each committee will complete its work in 90 days.

In the public comments portion, two citizens spoke about concerns. Larry Beusing said his vehicles keep getting dinged and chipped by heavy traffic onHwy119andhewants more street cleaning. Mayor Baker responded that the city does not maintain Hwy 119, the state does. Plus the city does not own a street sweeper. The state runs its sweeper two times a year, he said.

Also in public comments Martha Rios complained that she received a water meter obstruction fee due to unfriendly dogs, but she said the dogs in question were not hers. They were roving strays.

In other business, the council added a sewer stop service fee of $225 to the city master list of fees. If the problem is on the city side, there is no charge to the resident.

Mayor Baker said the installation of internet fiber optics by AirCanopy Telecommunications has halted because “they have not signed what our attorneys want them to sign.” Work will resume when all necessary signatures are in place.

In the monthly report, the mayor described the upcoming Rev Up Your Future Kids Expo on May 22 in the city park. All manner of vehicles, including fire trucks, police cars, ambulances and construction vehicles, will be available for hands-on exploration. Admission is free as well as refreshments of hot dogs, snow cones and popcorn.