Within the next few months, residents will have the option to use fiber internet in their homes.
Representatives from Kwikom spoke Monday night to the City Commission about their ongoing installation of fiber optic cable across town.
Mayor Tim Reazin said he has heard resident concerns about new boxes being in their front yards and expects to hear more complaints. He asked if Kwikom could retroactively put those underground instead.
John Terry, director of business development and government relations, said he would take that information back to his team and see what could be done.
The company may hold a town hall to answer questions about its services and construction questions.
Also Monday night, city commissioners went into a closed meeting to discuss an annual performance review of City Manager Kevyn Gero.
Following the private meeting, Reazin said he thinks Gero has done a “great job in her role” so far.
“We have a lot of change that was thrown down at all of our feet with Panasonic, and she came in right at the brunt of, ‘What’s this mean? What are we doing?’ And we’ve had some turnover in that time with, you know, Ruth [Hughs] was a strong voice on the commission,” he said.
Reazin said he thinks the city has a great leadership team amid changes and it is just a matter of balancing challenges to get the best outcome for the city. The commission is focused on what all these decisions will mean in 20 to 30 years, and he thinks the management staff understands those priorities.
Vice Mayor Tim Bruce said the city was going to work through all of the recommendations that came out of the evaluation and make it public after the discussions with Gero.
In other business, Human Resources Director Susie Yuran said the city has recently hired two new city employees. Trevor Cook is the city’s new management fellow, and Steven McGinness is a new field operations worker.
The city also took official action to refinance the temporary notes that were being used to collect revenues generated through the Nottingham development, which is a tax increment financing district.
In July, the commission authorized the sale of general obligation bonds related to the improvements around the district. It is expected that the bond payments will be paid through the revenues generated by the district. There were $985,000 of the tax-exempt bonds and about $2.2 million in taxable general obligation bonds.
The action Monday officially ratified the sale.
The city can also move forward with next steps to apply for a Community Development Block Grant for Pilla Park. Monday night’s action allows the city to make an official application for the grant.
During staff updates, Reazin, Public Works Director Branden Boyd and City Clerk Kelly Delay thanked city employees for their help during the recent severe storms.
Reazin also brought up the car lot at 10th and Main Street and the issues with it being an “eyesore” in the community. He said it’s been a historic issue, and asked what avenues can be used to get the corner cleaned up.
City Commissioner Roberta Lehmann said she isn’t sure the owner of the shop lives in the country and asked if the city needs to talk to its legal team to take next steps.
Gero said they will look into it and to forward comments to her office.
Commissioner Alex Curnes asked how long the pavement project in Shadow Ridge would take. Boyd said he expected it to be done within the first part of October.
Delay said the city’s website has updates on projects and timelines.
Boyd also noted that requests for proposals for a RAISE grant design consultant will be due Sept. 3. The applications will then be reviewed before being brought to the commission.
Director of Parks and Rec Sally Pennington said the pool is only open for weekends for the rest of August and that her team completed 156 swim lessons and had 12,000 pool-goers this year. She said they have 350 kids now signed up for fall sports. The youth triathlon is Aug. 24.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].
