Council changes abatement methods

During their regular monthly meeting the evening of Monday, Feb. 2, members of the Hartland city council learned of a recent donation to the city of $80,700 from the city fire department’s lawful gambling fund. The Hartland FD had no billable calls for the month of February.

 

The council approved an amendment to Ordinance 92.42 Abatement by City. When there is an issue on someone’s property, for example with overgrown weeds or discarded items in the yard like old cars or piles of wood, before, Hartland was unable to clean it up if a warning went unheard or unheeded because the ordinance read as follows: “No person shall enter the property to abate the nuisance, except with permission of the owner, resident or other person in control of the property.” The Hartland council approved rewording to include: “As defined in this article and is hereby authorized to enter onto private property for the purpose of conducting such inspection and abatement.”

 

Andy Flatness from maintenance informed council members that an “overflow” problem with the city water tower has been stabilized. He said the cause was a temporary malfunction in a sensor which has now been working reliably. He also reported  twelve water meters have been ordered to fix two in town that are malfunctioning and to have extra on hand, but they haven’t arrived yet.

 

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Jean Eaton of Age Friendly Freeborn County informed the council of an AARP grant application that should be completed and submitted by March 2. If approved, the grant amount could be as high as $12,000, and could be used for park equipment such as benches, wall murals, or a children’s playground addition. The council gave the go-ahead to this idea because they would like to replace the city mural that was lost.