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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - January 2023 Monthly Project HighlightsHIGHLIGHTS JANUARY 2023 MONTHLY PROJECT Contact the City Manager's Office at 515-239-5101 515 Clark Avenue, Ames, IA 50010 Report compiled by Carly Watson, Deputy City Clerk City Manager's Office FIRE On January 4th we had a live fire day for the 2022/23 Academy. This consists of a comprehensive burn plan prepared by Training Officer A.J. Plach and carried out by more than 11 staff members to provide instruction and run the operations. Nine different live fire scenarios were performed in crews of three people, which each consisted of two new recruits and an instructor. Each crew made entry, advanced to the fire room and extinguished the fire. Photos will show firefighters preparing to make entry, exiting the burn room, cleaning and restocking the burn room, and standing by as the backup team. 2 Ames PD spent the day with the new recruits teaching them Traffic Incident Management (TIM). TIM consists of a planned and coordinated multi-disciplinary process to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents so that traffic flow may be restored as safely and quickly as possible. Effective TIM reduces the duration and impacts of traffic incidents; improves the safety of motorists, crash victims, and emergency responders; and reduces the frequency of secondary crashes. 3 LIBRARY Ames Repair Café: The Ames Public Library, in partnership with Resource Recovery, hosted Ames Repair Café organizers and volunteers on Saturday, January 14th. Eighty-five community members attended and received assistance with repairs to everything from computers and electronics to household appliances, clothing and jewelry. The goals of this partnership are to reduce waste, share tools and resources, and help build self-reliance skills in our community. Author Fair Signup: Ames Public Library is gearing up for its own Author Fair coming March 25th. We'll have presentations on writing and publishing for anyone to enjoy. There will also be an opportunity for local authors to host a table to talk about, sign, and sell their own books. If you know an Iowa author who would like to request a table, send them to https://bit.ly/APLAuthor2023. Library Staff Day: Library Staff will have a full day of training and collaboration Monday, February 20th (Presidents Day). The Library will be closed to give staff the rare opportunity to gather as an entire department for workshops, project updates, and more. Winter Reading Wraps Up: The Library's Winter Reading Challenge ends January 31st. This two-month long reading challenge had over 680 participants who read a total of more than 16,000 days! Readers who logged 30 days earned a book (children and teens) or a book-themed zippered pouch (adults) sponsored by the Ames Public Library Friends Foundation. 4 PARKS AND RECREATION Ames City Auditorium: The Ames City Auditorium recently received an Arts Midwest GIG Fund grant for its March 23rd-24th, 2023 engagement with Indigenous musical artist Geneviève Salamone. Geneviève Gros-Louis Salamone is an internationally recognized professional violinist, producer, film composer and designer from the Huron-Wendat Nation. After overcoming PTSD from childhood sexual abuse, she uses her platform to raise awareness on issues surrounding mental health, sexual violence and critical Indigenous issues such as the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women and the Indian Residential Schools. She holds a degree in Violin Performance and Indigenous Studies from McGill University and may currently be found performing with her violin duo, the Dueling Fiddles, producing award-winning music in her own recording studio, Wendat Records, and designing fashion for her Indigenous apparel store, 4DirectionWear. The two day engagement will feature a daytime workshop with local teens, and an evening interactive discussion on March 23rd. On March 24th, the events will conclude with a concert and multimedia presentation of Geneviève’s work featuring other artists, gymnasts, and other Indigenous performers. On January 13th, the Ames City Auditorium Winter Concert Series continued with Des Moines artist Lily DeTaeye. The concert was well attended and the audience feedback was overwhelmingly positive. This was also Lily’s last performance in Iowa before she moves to New York City. In an effort to attract more students to the Winter Concert Series, staff implemented a new 2 for 1 admission deal for students. This was utilized by several attendees for this performance, and the deal will continue through the remainder of the concert series. 5 Bandshell Sound System Upgrade Nearing Completion: As part of this year’s facility upgrades, the Durham Bandshell is receiving a new sound system. The new system includes modern, powered line array speakers, a mixer that staff can operate remotely with a tablet from the grassy area in front of the facility, wireless microphones, a large format digital mixer for concert events, subwoofers for live bands and movies, and fill speakers for more even speaker coverage throughout the park. The new system will increase the service level for Bandshell users and allow Parks and Recreation to produce its own concerts and events in the park without having to rent sound equipment. The system is expected to be fully installed before the first Bandshell events in May 2023. Cross Country Ski Clinic: Parks and Recreation had a total of 30 registered participants take part in the 2023 Cross Country Ski Clinic. This free clinic consisted of indoor instruction and an outdoor practicum. Participants gathered at Homewood Golf Course on Saturday, January 14 for the indoor instruction where they learned about techniques, safety, gear, and more! Snow conditions were good on Sunday, January 22 for the outdoor practicum where participants practiced their new skills on the ski trails at East River Valley Park. A big thank you to the instructors, Greg Welk and Tim Gartin, for sharing their knowledge and passion for skiing, and to ISU Recreation Services and Jax Outdoor Gear for making gear available to participants! Forestry: Staff is almost complete with pruning right-of-way trees for this winter and will soon transition to trimming trees in the parks and along shared use paths. Public Works partnered with Parks and Recreation to clear alley ways throughout town. Partnerships like this allow us to increase capacity and get more work completed while staff is available. 6 Parks and Recreation crews also removed trees and brush for the proposed new path along Ioway Creek from South Duff to South 5th Street. The tree and brush debris was put in piles and will be picked up utilizing Public Works and Parks and Recreation crews and equipment. Another great example of a Total City Perspective! In a third collaboration, Parks and Recreation and Public Works crews removed brush along the east and west banks at Ada Hayden Heritage Park. This is part of a wider effort to remove willows that have established along the banks of the lake. The large crew cut, hauled, and chipped thousands of willow stems from along the banks. ArborPro from Fort Dodge removed 43 right-of-way ash trees which were identified in the City’s EAB Response Plan. All 43 trees were removed within four days and ArborPro left these areas looking clean and tidy after each removal. Wellness: The winter session of Fitness, Yoga, TRX, and Cycle began Wednesday, January 4th with 438 registrations. Both virtual and in-person classes continue to be offered. 7 Taekwondo classes began Tuesday, January 10th with 122 registrations. Due to the large intermediate class enrollment, a third intermediate class is now offered on Wednesday evenings. The 7:00 a.m. Aqua classes began January 9th at ISU Forker pool with 52 registrations. In addition, classes were added on Monday/Wednesday at 5:45 p.m. beginning January 23rd and have 43 registrations. The Healthy Foot class began Tuesday, January 24th with eight registrations. A new session of West Coast Swing dance began Monday, January 23rd with seven registrations. Staff recently presented a program to Vintage Co-op residents highlighting older adult activities offered through Ames Parks & Recreation. 8 PUBLIC WORKS Operations: On Wednesday, December 21st, 2022, a blizzard swept through the Ames area. This event dropped five inches of snow as it passed through. By Thursday morning the 22nd, winds picked up to a constant 25 mph with gusts approaching 50 mph at times. Air temperatures dropped to below zero leaving wind chills of -30 to -40 degrees F and stayed there for the next 48 hours, not letting up until midday on the 24th. This event resulted in closure of the Interstate 35, removal of plows from state and county roads, and impacted travel for several days ahead of a busy holiday weekend. Snowplow crews from Public Works responded to this event by working 68 consecutive hours with plows on the road. The 68 hours from start to finish ranks #4 out of 633 events since detailed records were kept beginning in 1988. Measured another way, the plow crews worked 55 hours out of those 68 AFTER the snow had stopped falling. In a typical snow event crews are finished plowing in 12 to 16 hours. The strong winds kept blowing snow back into roadways, requiring them to be plowed again multiple times. The 55 hours after the end of the snow ranks #1 out of 633 events since 1988. This was the longest time crews had worked following an event to keep roads open for the traveling public and emergency vehicles. 9 10 WATER AND POLLUTION CONTROL Administration: Two new employees have recently joined the Water & Pollution Control Department. Jason Peterson has joined as a Laboratory Analyst, replacing Linda Houghton who served in that role for nearly 33 years. Ben Ingham will become our newest Water Meter Technician, filling the vacancy created by Jake Sisson’s promotion to Water Meter Supervisor. Water : A long-awaited Notice to Bidders was issued on January 24th for the North River Valley Well Field and Pipeline Project. This project will construct three new wells to the north of East 13th Street and to the west of Stagecoach Road. Bidding had been on hold for several months pending final laboratory testing to rule out PFAS contamination of the area. All 29 PFAS compounds tested were undetectable. The project will provide a combination of replacement capacity for older wells, and new capacity needed to provide drought resiliency and to meet future growth needs. This $7.5 million project is being financed by a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loan. Staff continues working with multiple partners to identify and secure land for the next future well field south of Ames and west of Interstate 35. There is no Maximum Contaminant Level established by the US EPA for PFAS, and no treatment requirement currently exists for these emerging contaminants. However, staff felt it was important to be able to provide a data-driven response should PFAS policy advance more aggressively than the science warrents. Therefor, a PFAS Treatment Study was recently completed by FOX Strand. It evaluated the most appropriate treatment technology currently available to treat PFAS compounds. The study estimated the cost to install three different types of PFAS treatment technology. The resulting Present Worth estimates ranged from $56.4 million to $117.6 million.