Hampton offers reminder about proper leaf disposal

The Hampton City Council discussed libraries, renovations, and leaf disposal during their regular meeting on Monday, November 8.

Normally Monday would be a workshop meeting, however the normal Thursday meetings have been pushed to Monday for the month of November due to the placement of Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving.

At the meeting the council met with Maggie Pearson, who approached the city about installing a little library at one of the city parks.

Pearson's family is building a small library for the community, where people can freely borrow or leave books, but she felt that it would get more use at a public location rather than her yard. She suggested placing it near the Hampton Aquatic Center, which would allow people the ability to find something to read by the poolside.

"I think it would be a good place," said Pearson. "It'd get more visibility at the pool than it would at my place."

The council agreed with the idea and will make plans to find a specific location when it is ready next spring.

On the subject of libraries, Hampton Public Library Director Kim Manning presented the council with the quarterly library report. Manning reported that library activity continues to creep up, averaging about 40 customers per day, but they're still not quite at the same levels they were before the pandemic.

"I would not say that we are at capacity like we were before the pandemic hit," said Manning.

Manning also noted that the library's carpet is in need of replacement and asked the city if unused budget allotment from the pandemic could be carried over and put towards building improvement. City Administrator Ron Dunt will look into exactly how the library funds are allocated to see what that process would look like.

Meanwhile, the council discussed building improvements of their own. Thad Long of SVPA Architects presented the council with some options for the long planned updates to the City Hall interior.

Two plans were presented, with estimates ranging between roughly $250,000 and $300,000, depending on whether or not the city includes an ADA compliant restroom and break room improvements in the renovation.

These plans come in significantly higher than the $150,000 that the city had budgeted for, however Long noted that it is unlikely that these costs will do anything but increase over time.

The council voted to seek out bids based on code compliance in a 6-1 vote with council members Bill Hodge, Dick Lukensmeyer, Jim Davies, Steve Birdsall, and Patrick Palmer voting in favor of moving forward.

Council member Barry Lamos, expressing that the cost is too high for his comfort, gave the dissenting vote.

In other business, Amanda Fender approached the council about continuing to work on plans for a dog park for the community. Fender has expressed interest in starting a fundraising committee to support the project, but would like the council to settle on a location before getting started. The council will put the discussion on the agenda for future workshops.

Finally, in public works reports, Public Works Director Doug Tarr discussed options with the council for a city wide clean-up day and offered residents of Hampton some friendly advice concerning the disposal of fall leaves.

- Do not put leaves in the storm sewer.

- Do not put leaves in the city street.

- Do not burn leaves in the city street.

Not only are these things a violation of Hampton's city ordinance, they also make extra work for a public works department that already has plenty on their plate.

"If people could help us out, that would be great," said Tarr.