We hope all of you had a great summer.  It seems that the time flies between seasons.  Fall is fast approaching us and we need you to keep some things in mind.

Garbage pickup will be on Mondays only starting in October.   This will mean that you will be allowed up to 4 – 33 gallon bags of garbage for collection.  All recyclables can be set out on the curb on Monday, and will not count against your limit of regular garbage.  Also you may place yard waste bags out.  Now is a good time to inform anyone who is used to taking their leaves to the industrial site for fall this no longer can be done.  Our employees have worked very hard over the summer to clean up the area.  If you want to get rid of leaves or grass clippings, please contact Luke Ehlers at city hall between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM Monday thru Friday.  He will be glad to assist you with this.  Also continue to keep in mind that grass clippings are not to be blown onto the streets.  This is very hard on our storm sewer.  We will continue chipping on Tuesdays until the weather no longer permits it.  Please keep in mind that per our code, tree limbs of less than four inches in diameter and brush will be collected provided they are placed at the curb or alley line and we do not want crotches in the branches. 

We would like to say thank you to Luke Ehlers and Dan Josephson for all the hard work they have done over the past few months.  Keep up the good work.  Also congratulations is in order to Luke for receiving his Certified Pool Operator certification and his water license.

Another subject that few want to hear about, but must be brought up.  We want to remind you of the snow ordinance that will be in effect from November 1 to March 30.  You are not allowed to park on the street from 12:00 midnight to 6:00 AM whether there is snow on the ground or not.  Please remember that snowmobiles are not allowed in city parks or up and down streets.  You are to take the shortest route to and from town. 

The Goodwill truck will be coming to town on September 22 and leaving September 28.  It will be located west of the post office in the parking lot.  This is a great way to get rid of items you no longer need and save you a trip to another Goodwill location out of town.

The next issue is regarding our wastewater treatment plant.  We have been informed by our engineering firm that the DNR has been threatened with a lawsuit by the environmental community.  Because of this lawsuit, there are 2 new rulings being presented that the environmentalists want to see be made into law.   For a long time our wastewater facility has been allowed to bypass to the creek during heavy rains.  The new rulings will also have more requirements on a continuing daily basis.                                  If this new ruling goes into effect and protected flow exemption is no longer allowed & further restrictions enforced for our wastewater treatment plant, it has been estimated (and we do mean estimated), it will cost our tax paying citizens $250,000 to conform to the new standards from these rulings if they become law.  And if you haven’t guessed by now, there are many municipal facilities that will be affected.  Right now the estimation for all the municipalities to comply will be at least $1 Billion.  And still with all these facilities being involved, this will only rectify 5% of the water quality problem in Iowa .  According to the Farm Bureau paper date July 27, the majority of the problem with Iowa water is the runoff from fields.  There will be a public hearing in Cherokee on Wednesday, October 4 at 7:00 PM at the Cherokee Community Center .  We have been told that the more people showing up to these public hearings that oppose these possible rule changes the better.  WE NEED AS MANY TAX PAYING CITIZENS OF OUR TOWN TO ATTEND THIS MEETING AND  EXPRESS TO THESE ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS AND DNR THAT THESE RULINGS WILL NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF WATER QUALITY AND WILL ONLY CAUSE THESE MUNICIPALITIES BURDENS THEY CAN’T AFFORD.  The city will provide transportation for 40 people via a school bus.  We will leave the school parking lot by 6:00 PM on Oct. 4.  If you would like to attend this meeting, you may reserve a seat on the bus by calling city hall at 712-843-5613.   If you have any questions, or can’t make it to the meeting, but wish to voice your opinion contact city hall and we will bring your letters to the public hearing.

We want to remind all voters of Albert City that we will have city elections on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at the city hall meeting room from 12:00 to 8:00 PM.  The mayor and 2 councilmen positions are up for re-election.  Please exercise the privilege we have as American citizens and vote for the persons you feel are best suited for the open positions.  The sample ballots will be published in the Times and the Pilot.  If you don’t receive these papers at home, please remember the library gets both of these papers and you may review them there.

Also we would like to thank Julie Bjork for modifying our web page for the city.  You may view the current minutes, agenda, upcoming events on this site.  The address is www.albertcity.com.

Please feel free to e-mail us at any time at acity@iowatelecom.net 

We thank you for your time and have a safe and great fall.

Albert City, Iowa ~ ALBERTCITY.COM ~ How Swede it is! ~ acity@iowatelecom.net