The City of Gluckstadt is taking steps to develop its own street department.
The city has been working with Madison County under a Memorandum of Understanding for assistance with maintaining its streets since its beginning due to not having the department yet set up. However, the agreement with the county ends on September 30th for this service, which means the city will either have to handle the street care in house or outsource the work. The city is beginning to make arrangements to take care of the streets themselves.
In February’s board meeting, the board of aldermen approved the purchase of a grapple attachment for the city’s tractor to pick up limbs and debris as well as an asphalt compactor for pothole repair. The cost of these items is approximately $5,000. The city anticipates taking over these responsibilities on October 1.
The city is also looking to hire two street department employees and hopes to have them hired by April 1.
“(These employees) will provide typical public works functions such as road and storm drainage repair, grass cutting and litter pick up,” Gluckstadt’s Planning and Zoning Administrator Mike McCollum said. “This will provide a more consistent workforce to respond to our citizens’ needs. Currently, we are relying on part-time help to accomplish these tasks.”
The city believes it is important to have their own department handle these tasks as they believe they can provide a higher level of service by doing it themselves.
“Ultimately, this is our responsibility and assuming it at this time is in furtherance of the development of the city,” McCollum said. “I want to thank the county for working with us to allow us to make this transition at this time. I also want to thank our citizens for their patience.”
