by Randy O. Olson

At the regular monthly meeting of the Hoffman City Council, the issue of adding or not adding a special logo to the new water tower was acted on.  In the face of potential cuts to Local Government Aid over $73,000, coupled with the uncertainty of how much the water tower and treatment plant project will cost, they voted to forgo adding a logo and instead adding paint to the bottom of the cone and two Hoffmans.

The council also dealt with issues of delinquent taxpayers, a handful of building permits, and numerous other issues.

Water tower logo

Front and center on the city council’s agenda was the logo for the new water tower.
Following is the breakdown of the funding sources for the water tower and water treatment plant project:  Interim loan $967,000 – Rural Development grant $608,000 – subsequent RD loan $75,000.

The cost of the water tower logo project brought some confusion, as the total price of two logos being added to the water tower was $6,250. Back in March, the Water Tower logo committee had decided that it would be easier to make a push for the project if it included only one logo on one side, facing Highway 27.  Such a move would have a cost of $3,750.
If the water tower only had one “Hoffman” the savings would be $600.  The council felt it was not worth the savings to leave one side of the tower cone blank.

The Hoffman Lions as well as the Commerce and Ag groups were solicited for donations for the project.  The Commerce and Ag group offered $1600 for the project.  A private individual also offered $200.

The question was posed whether or not the remaining amount of $1,950 could be raised privately.  After some discussion, the council felt that because the project had to move ahead this month due to time constraints, raising the remaining amount was not a viable option.

That brought the council to review the water tower construction budget, specifically the funding mechanisms in place for the city on how to pay for it.

Andreasen offered what he has heard around town, saying, “I’ll be brutally honest, I’d like to see the logo.  Of course the concern is how to pay for it.  I asked other people what they thought about the city just covering it.  Not one person said we shouldn’t.”

Mayor Satre brought up the funds which the city has on hand for unforseen expenses in the water/garbage accounts.  “Our water contingency fund is down, but our sewer fund is up to around $12,000.”

Council member Arlyn Swenson brought up the painting of the water tower cone’s bottom side.  This was decided to be a priority because a dark color would act as a rust inhibitor and lessen the need for extra maintenance and painting over the next 20 or so years.

Swenson said, “What we’ve already said is to paint the cone and add the two Hoffmans, and that’s part of the budget already.” Andreasen reviewed, “So painting the cone is $3750, adding one logo is $3750, and then adding a second logo brings another $2500.”

Council member Kris Beuckens added, “So a compromise would be to paint the cone and add one logo, that would cost us $7500.  We have $1800 raised through private funds.” Mayor Satre pointed out that the city already has budgeted for painting the cone.

City administrator Pat Lawson said, “You also have to consider that, the first money we are using on the project is a loan.  Then we use the Rural Development grant.   We have to have an additional loan above that for unforseen expenses if the cost goes above projection.”

Mayor Satre said that the water tower bids came in over the initial estimate, creating the main reason behind getting a second loan in the amount of $75,000.  The actual tower bids came in under estimates, but the bids for the water treatment plant came in higher than estimates.

Currently, a contingency fund of just over $30,000 is in the budget if you include the second loan part of the three-tier funding for the water tower construction.

Andreasen asked, “What are the chances of us getting into using that contingency fund?”
Lawson answered, “Back on March 10, Hugh (of Moore Engineering) said they have no items using the contingency fund.  That’s not to say that it won’t happen, though, when they start working on the water treatment system.”
One item the council thought to add is electrical hookups to the water tower in the event that power to Hoffman is lost and generators are needed to keep a water source available for city residents.  It would not be inexpensive either, being a heavy three-phase hookup.

The council then went back to discussion on the water tower logo.  Lawson told the council that one person came in to complain that the logo picked for the water tower too closely resembles the “rising sun” on an old style Japanese flag.  That brought a good round of laughter from the council.

Bonnie Bender, one of the members of the water tower logo committee, was present during the meeting and discussion on the funding issues.  Andreasen asked her if she felt that the private funds could be raised to cover the remaining cost of the logo project.

Bender replied, “I don’t see it happening.”  Lawson agreed with her.  Bender added that people told her that the project was an item that the city should pay for.

Mayor Satre called for the city paying to paint the bottom side of the water tower cone hunter green, as well as adding the name Hoffman to two sides.  It was passed and carried.

The rest of the story is available to subscribers to the Herman-Hoffman Tribune.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 10th, 2010 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.