Syracuse Town Council Hears About Arbor Day Celebration
Posted
John DeGroff-
SYRACUSE - The April meeting of the Syracuse Town Council dealt primarily with two main issues.
The first main item of concern was the town's involvement in Arbor Day. Council President Paul Stoelting read a proclamation declaring April 27 to be Arbor Day in Syracuse.Part of the proclamation included a short historical summary of the celebration. In 1872, J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. Since that time, the concept has been embraced by the entire country and is celebrated annually.
Syracuse town forester Jerry Riffle announced to the council that there will be an Arbor Day Celebration to be held at Syracuse Elementary School on the 27th, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The event will include the presentation to the town of Syracuse the awards of Tree City, U.S.A., and the Growth Award for 2006.
Planned activities for the elementary students include a tree-planting demonstration, ray of light frisbee toss, relay races, and a worm farm/soil demonstration. The Kosciusko County Soil and Water Conservation District also has provided 100 blue spruce seedlings to be given out to the students for planting.
The next main issue of concern was presented before the council by Syracuse Town Marshal Tony Ciriello, who sought approval for the purchase of a records management computer program.
"This type of program allows us to track calls," Ciriello said. "With such a system, information that has already been entered into the system is almost immediately available to us. This is extremely helpful when preparing for a court case, or to track crime statistics."
There had been a possibility for a grant to pay for the system, but according to Ciriello, the department missed the opportunity for this. He wanted the council to approve using funds in the department's budget originally set aside for the purchase of a vehicle to purchase the records management system. The cost for the system, including two years of maintenance fees, is $18,099.98. The council approved the purchase.
In other police matters, the Syracuse Police Department answered 347 calls for service during the past month. Of these, 98 traffic warnings were issued, with 38 traffic violations issued. Nineteen arrests were made.
In other business:
* The council approved claims totaling $361,168.62 for the past month.
* Acceptance of bids for the South Corridor Storm Sewer project will be moved ahead a week, and a contract for the project will not be announced until the next council meeting.
* Tom Knopp, Dave Van Lue and Julie Kline were appointed to fill the vacant seats on the municipal building corporation board.
* The intersection in front of the high school is set to be re-graded. Due to the amount of traffic in the area, final repairs will not be completed for two weeks.
* The city utility department purchased 12 trees from Trelan Nursery, Roanoke, for planting throughout town. Cost is $2030.75.
* Initial work on the new water tower will begin Wednesday. This work involves the first stages of welding for the support structure. The entire project is scheduled for completion by the end of October.
* Syracuse will begin advertising for bids on the garbage collection contract.
Syracuse Town Council members are Stoelting, Brian Woody, Bill Musser, Larry Siegel and Cassie Cowan.
