For the first time in recent memory, the city hedged its natural gas price for a month. The March contract is a product of our new relationship with UGM. We locked in the price of $4.06 for 10,000 MCF. (One thousand cubic feet)
Inflation is going to take a toll on our budget. Chemicals for the water plant could go up 55-percent. Gasoline for our fleet is over a dollar a gallon higher this year over last. The street and bridge department says asphalt is up dramatically and the price of culverts has doubled. We also have heard from our fireworks company. They have been sold to another, larger company out of Iowa. Since 99-percent of the fireworks come directly from China, the supply chain issue might make the annual show a little skimpy.
Union negotiations with the FOP and the IBEW should begin in the next few weeks. Our labor attorney Dennis Weedman will lead our teams. The FOP negotiations will include Alderman Stahl, Chief Fulkerson and myself. The IBEW team will include Alderman Moore and myself. Contracts expire in April.
We were blessed to have a huge response to our police postings. We had 15 packets picked up and 10 returned. There were also 3 fire packets returned. There will be a mandatory meeting this Friday (25th) at 5:00 p.m. with physical agility testing on Saturday morning (26th) at 8:00 a.m. at FCHS. In the meantime, Asst. Chief Colclasure was able to secure a third seat in this May’s state training institute.
We continue to work on improving the audio for our Facebook Live streaming coverage of the city council. We are getting five new mics and putting the audio directly into our live feed. So far, over the course of two meetings, we have 1286 views of city council proceedings. Our city Facebook page now has 2,392 followers, 36 additions in the last 30 days. During that time, posts on our page prompted 6,366 post engagement actions (i.e. likes. shares, comments).
The airport passed inspection on its fuel tanks. Also, there was a pre-design meeting with IDOT and others on the ramp expansion and airfield drainage projects with letting scheduled for November. Construction on the projects are scheduled to start in May of next year.
Alerts Sign-up