Council to take look at operations department
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

City council members will take up a different kind of maintenance during a workshop scheduled for today, Thursday, June 28, at 4 p.m. in the council chambers.

While they've had beach maintenance on their minds for a while, councilmen will turn to city maintenance questions during today's workshop, getting answers about the city's operations department and how it works.

Infrastructure maintenance was on the council's list of goals to be achieved last year, and at this year's goals workshop it was moved up on the list of priorities. Various council members have questioned maintenance procedures on city equipment and properties.

Voters in November turned down a proposed bond issue that would have repaired the roof of the existing city hall-Civic Center and added office and work space to the building. The council has also heard during facilities workshops held last year that other city buildings are in need of repair or replacement.

Besides repairs to city hall and the Civic Center, consultants have also said the public safety building, 705 W. Avenue A, needs some work, and they have said the Bill Ellis Memorial Library should be expanded. The city gas division, destroyed in a fire, has yet to be completely replaced, though gas workers are operating out of a building near the public safety building. Other facilities have been tagged as needing repair or replacement, including the Harbormaster's Office and the Patsy Jones Amphitheater, both on Roberts Point.

Other items are on the agenda of a special called council meeting this evening, but no action is expected on the maintenance workshop.