City getting ready for National Day of Service

The Vader City Council met Thursday, July 9 with a quorum available to run the business of the city. Two regular council members were excused prior to the meeting.

Mayor Kenneth Smith opened the meeting with a note on the Fourth of July weekend: "The fireworks were an extreme success, and I believe we had a record crowd out here and we express our appreciation to Mr. Reggie Smith who made the fireworks available."

Mayor Smith moved to the next topic, "I thought it would be appropriate to the council members to remind you that September 11, we will be the beneficiaries to a group of individuals that will be providing service to the city of Vader as part of the Lewis County National Day of Service," said Smith. Mayor Smith went on to list ideas that the council has come up with in past meetings about how to best utilize their volunteers on the National Day of Service, "Some of these things include weed eating along the streets, and perhaps a chipping project at the entrance of our waste treatment plant. We've also had an idea to engage in a garbage collection event on that day as well," said Smith.

The council made a motion to approve the agenda for this meeting, and then approved the minutes of past meetings. After the council took care of regular business, they took the next segment to hear from the public. One resident spoke up, inquiring about how they would go about holding their own National Guard recruiting event in the town of Vader. The citizen noted that the National Guard is different in that it's members stay with their community. Mayor Smith told the man that they would meet sometime else to discuss the event. Another citizen spoke, Judy Costello, "We have an upcoming event, our August 1, the first Saturday of the month is a city wide garage sale. We also have our park board hot dog fundraiser on the same day," said Costello. If you want your address posted on a city map that will designate garage sales, contact Costello.

The council next heard from their Department of Public Works Director Tim Elsea.

"I'm here to give you an update on the Vader water system. First of all I'm here and happy to say the water loss in the system has gone down indefinitely."

Elsea detailed that they have gone from 60% water loss to 20% water loss with recent fixes of leaks.

The Mayor next addressed the streets that need to be repaved, but that aren't eligible for state grants. He listed 10th Street as well as Alpine Street needing repaving, and noted that the council is seeking bids for the street repair, but have not found a reasonable bid yet.

The council meeting came to an end and the council made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The next Vader City Council meeting is scheduled for July 23.