City cracks down on contractors
By Jerry W. Kram
It was a busy night on Sept. 18 at the regular meeting of the New Town City Council. But the long agenda was mostly the council’s own doing.
In the council’s August meeting, council members noted that there were a lot of signs around the city naming contractors who were doing siding, gutters, painting and other improvements on property around New Town. The number of signs far exceeded the number of building permits the council has approved over the summer. So the board instructed city building inspector John Smith to contact some of the contractors to let them know that any home improvements worth more than a few thousand dollars needed a building permit.
The result was a regular blizzard of building permits the council had to review and approve. Along with a handful of new permits, the council approved 40 permits for the homes being built in the Elbowoods Clinic development and another eight for contractor E. Stanley. In total, the council approved 61 permits In all, the fees for the building permits totaled more than $20,000.
In other actions, the council also officially annexed the lots directly east of Alco where two hotels are being built. The council also approved changing the zoning on those lots from agricultural to commercial.
The council gave a 90 day extension to TERO to remove trailer next to the TERO office. TERO received a two year conditional use permit to put the FEMA trailer on the property that expired in August. Richard Hall said TERO had found a new location for the trailer but the deal fell through. He said the trailer would be removed well before the extension expired.
The council officially approved a 50 year lease with the New Town Community Ambulance for the property where the new ambulance garage is being built.
