By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
During the June 10 regular meeting of the Panora City Council, the councilmembers returned to an issue that had been brought up by citizens at the May 26 meeting. Mayor Curt Thornberry explained that the citizens, Jim Wendl and Pat Moylan, had asked the council to consider allowing expanded use of UTVs in Panora.
“What they were advocating for is maybe some expanded routes within the city or just opening it up within the city so that they don’t have to ride on state highways,” Thornberry said.
Councilmember Roger Dorr spoke in favor of fully opening the city to recreational UTV usage, for one main reason.
“My thought is we’re losing a lot of business by not having this opened up,” Dorr said. “There’s been numerous rides, and they tell everybody to stay away from Panora because of how we have this set up. So, a lot of that business right now is going to Guthrie Center, going to Adair, going to Casey, going to Stuart, and they’re spending a lot of money at those businesses.”
Although no formal action was taken, the consensus of the of the council was to begin the process of possibly amending the city’s ordinance (Chapter 75.05). This will include scheduling and holding a public hearing, as well as multiple readings of any proposed amendment.
City Administrator Lisa Grossman updated the council about citywide cleanup and the Jackson Street project.
“The citywide cleanup closed on Friday. I believe we had 36 residents sign up,” Grossman said. “And Jackson Street, we’re still working through the process with the punch list.”
Grossman brought up a concern about the city’s storm sirens.
“I know we had gotten, with that last storm, a lot of complaints on our storm siren and (residents) not being able to hear it. We had an analysis done, and what we discovered is when they measured for what we would need with a siren, I don’t think they took into account all the foliage of the trees,” Grossman said. “It looks like if we want more coverage than that, we might need to look at an additional siren.”
Dorr asked about the old sirens that are still up. Grossman said they are no longer in use but simply haven’t been taken down yet.
The council voted unanimously to submit the city’s proposal to the county for EMS (Emergency Medical Services) per the county’s RFP (Request for Proposals). Grossman pointed out that the proposal from the city is for only the geographical area that the city is currently covering.
The next regular meeting of the council is set for June 24. The public is welcome.