Houses win reprieve from wrecking ball

Four houses got at least a temporary stay of execution when the Superior City Council met Monday evening. If repair progress continues as expected, the houses will receive pardons. Their previous owners had allowed the properties to run afoul of city standards and they had been placed on the list of homes to be removed.

An agreement was reached to sell the city owned house at 826 Central to Tracy Purcell. She will be required to pay any back taxes and liens attached to the property. Purcell said she would begin at once to clean and repair the property. Her plans are either to rent or sell the property once it has been put back into condition.

Dana Hansen said he reached an agreement to sell the house at 129 S. Converse and both he and the purchaser assured the council it would be brought up to code.

Hansen said he plans to remove the house located next door at 573 East First.

It was reported major progress was being made to bring properties at 524 Colorado and 427 Colorado up to code and utilities had at least been partially restored to those properties.

The council approved the hiring of two people. Kari Manning will be joining the utility office staff as a billing clerk. Though she lives in Superior, she has been working remotely as a billing clerk for Specialized Property Management of Dallas, Texas. She has approximately 20 years of experience with utility billing. She was described as meticulous, driven and excellent with people.

She expects to start in mid-December.

Manuel Lucero, a Jewell County deputy sheriff, was hired as a part-time police officer. He will continue his full-time employment with the Jewell County department. He will also be able to start in December.

The council approved the purchase of new radar equipment for the Superior Police Department. The depart- ment’s current radar equipment is about 30 years old. The new Stalker units will cost $11,980 and will be purchased with ARPA funds from the federal government. Each unit will have a front and rear facing receiver so speeds can be captured in either direction.

Following an opportunity at which the public could express opinions, the council proceeded to approve a new one and six-year street improvement plan.

The one-year plan includes two joint projects with Nuckolls County. These projects include armor coat on a section of 15th Street from California to Park and County Road 3500 from Highway 14 to Eighth Street.

Additional streets proposed for armor coating next year include Fourth Street from Louden to Collette, Fifth Street from Commercial to Kansas, Fifth Street from Converse to Hartley, Lincoln Park Road, Marvin from Fourth to Fifth, Louden from Third to Eighth, Guthrie from Fourth to Fifth, all of Random Road, and Oak Ridge Road excluding the intersection of Oak Ridge Road and Random Road.

Two blocks of downtown alleys are scheduled for work. They include the alley bounded by Commercial and Central from Second to Third and the alley bounded by Commercial and Kansas from Third to Fourth.

A multi-year concrete repair project in the downtown area will be continued.

The council approved proceeding with a traffic sign study for the area bounded by Second, Eighth, Park and Bloom streets and the area around the school.

Olsson, Inc., will evaluate traffic flow and signage in the area at a cost not to exceed $11,000.

Another contract with Olsson was approved for the engineering work associated with the design of proposed changes to City Park at a cost of $37,235.

The council approved the resignation of Bryan Gentry from the Superior Volunteer Fire Department and the membership in the department for Zade Hansen.Superior Superior City Council