Resident asks city to address yellow water
Staff writer
Victor Buckner addressed Marion City Council members and asked if they wanted a drink from his tap water. He held up a jar of yellow water he said came out of his guest bathroom faucet.
“I am just the spokesman for a group of individuals who have been affected by yellow water coming from our taps,” Buckner said.
He listed at least four houses in the Victoria Heights Addition plagued with yellow water problems; a problem that gets worse when the city is unable to flush the hydrants in the edition, which due to the weather the city has been unable to do recently.
“We need suitable water,” he said. “We get this yellow water for two to three days a week and I think it would benefit the city to fix the problem rather than us calling to complain every week.”
Buckner said in 1998 he proposed fixing the pipe if the city would provide the materials to replace the around 200 feet of waterline that runs through the edition.
“I’m still willing to honor that agreement,” he said.
Buckner also asked the city to address road maintenance issues with the addition’s rock road.
“We’re very lucky to get rock on the road,” he said. “We were promised curb and an asphalt road but that hasn’t been done. Snow removal seems to stop at Eastmoor Drive.”
The road turns to thick mud after snow and rain, making it hard for residents to leave their homes, Buckner said.
“There are problems in that area,” Mayor Mary Olson said. “I’d like to address the situation and have Roger Holter and Marty Fredrickson investigate and see what needs to be done.”
Council also addressed an issue Ty Zeiner had with an ordinance passed at the last council meeting.
Zeiner was concerned about the ordinance because it banned parking in front of Zeiner Funeral Home on the west side of the street. A previous ordinance from 1976 banned parking on the east side of the street, and contained several other no-parking zones.
“The previous ordinance had some six other no-parking zones it outlined,” Holter said. “We need to discuss those zones and pass a single ordinance that addresses all of those.”
Council agreed to table the discussion of the ordinance to do further research into the two ordinances, and to draw up options for new ordinances or an amended ordinance.
“The previous ordinance had some six other no-parking zones it outlined,” Holter said. “We need to discuss those zones and pass a single ordinance that addresses all of those.”
In other business:
- The council accepted a bid from the county for assistance with the Fourth and Williams Sts. project. An information meeting about the project scheduled for tonight has been postponed because of weather issues. No rescheduled date has been set.
- The council accepted the resignation of city clerk Sheila Makovec, and will begin advertising the position this week.
- Olson appointed John Wheeler to the board of zoning appeals.