New City Commission gets feet wet
By Lee Coleman
The Hazen City Commission, complete with a new mayor and city commissioner, convened last week for the first meeting of the retooled commission.
Mayor Jerry Obenauer presided over the meeting that lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours.
In the first item of the night, after Obenauer, Nancy Wolf and Jason Haack signed their oaths of office, funding for the Main Street Project was discussed. City Auditor Monte Erhardt told the commission the city had been approved for a bond in the amount of $2.515 million to pay for the project costs.
The money will come to the city July 9 and the city will be responsible for repayment on a 15-year issue, paying 2.67 percent interest. The bond was approved unanimously by the commission.
“The paving of Main Street is projected to start the third week of July,” Obenauer said. “The recent rain has pushed the project back from July 4.”
Prior to invoking an executive session to discuss the bidding on the 25 acres for sale by Basin Electric, County Planner Gary Emter gave the commission his blessings on proceeding with the bid process.
“This is an excellent opportunity for the city to get this land,” Emter said. “It could be very detrimental to the city if it is not obtained. We really have to take a look at this.”
Obenauer stated he was hopeful a developer would build residential housing on the sprawling lot, which has a little over 22 acres of usable land.
