Jackson board has empty agenda, but reviews study session items

For the first time in as long as anyone could remember, members of the Jackson Board of Aldermen faced an empty agenda when they arrived for their regular business meeting Monday night.

“This is the first time since I’ve been mayor, and probably the first time for a lot of us here, we have no agenda action items for our formal session tonight,” said Mayor Dwain Hahs shortly after he opened — and closed — the board’s regular meeting.

Although there was no business to deal with on the regular agenda, the aldermen addressed several items on their study session agenda with the low-water crossings along Hubble Creek in Jackson City Park topping the list.

City officials have recently requested an engineering firm’s recommendations about how to improve two low-water crossing points along Hubble Creek — one at Mary Street and the other at a one lane crossing commonly referred to as Hubble Ford.

In May, a 5-year-old girl had to be rescued by a group of boys after she was briefly pulled under the creek surface by water rushing into a drain pipe running under the low-water crossing at Hubble Ford. Meanwhile, at least two vehicles have been swept off the Mary Street crossing during flash floods within the past year, including one incident that happened Friday night.

“Fortunately, we haven’t had any fatalities, but we’ve certainly had our share of near misses at both locations,” Jackson city administrator Jim Roach told the aldermen.

Roach said he would like to see both low-water crossings replaced with more substantial bridges — a two lane bridge at Mary Street and a one-lane span at Hubble Ford — and further recommended the Jackson Park Board be asked for its input. In the meantime, he said city staff can look into the possibility of grant funding to help pay for bridge construction.

The aldermen agreed and the park board will be asked to make a recommendation to the aldermen.

Other discussion items

In addition to the Hubble Creek low-water crossings, other items discussed by the aldermen during their study session included:

Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs, left, addresses a group of Jackson aldermen, city staff, chamber of commerce representatives and others during the ceremonial opening of the roundabout at the intersection of East Main Street and Shawnee Boulevard on Monday morning.Jay Wolz

• Repeal of on-street parking on the east side of North Farmington Road between West Main and West Washington streets.
• A recommendation from Jackson’s Historic Preservation Commission to engage PDG Planning & Design of Omaha, Nebraska, to perform an architectural survey in the city, with 60% of the survey cost to be paid through a National Park Service grant.
• A request to develop a parcel of property along Greensferry Road that is partially within the Jackson city limits.
• Review of a proposed ordinance amendment related to cemetery operations, the sale/transfer of cemetery lots and the sale/transfer of niches in the city cemetery’s new columbaria area.

Roundabout ceremony

Earlier Monday, the mayor and several aldermen participated in a ribbon-cutting for Jackson’s second roundabout, which opened last month at the intersection of East Main Street and Shawnee Boulevard.

Hahs said traffic volumes along East Main Street are growing by about 12% annually.

“Putting a second (roundabout) in here was important,” he said as he acknowledged contractors and city staff involved in the $739,000 project, as well as Montgomery Bank, which paid for landscaping, including a flagpole in the middle of the roundabout.

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