By Kellen Olshefski
Correspondent
The City of Elkhorn Common Council voted 6-0 in favor of approving minimum standards for the City’s towing and recovery call-out lists at last week’s meeting.
Under the new standards, when City of Elkhorn Police Department officers call for towing services on a motorist’s behalf – whether it be for a stranded motorist or an accident scene – officers will first contact the qualifying towing companies that have asked to be included on the list and are within the City of Elkhorn limits proper first.
If those towing companies are not available at the time, or unable to respond in a timely fashion, officers would then reach out to companies on the list outside of the city limits.
Discussed heavily at previous meetings, councilmembers indicated they felt it was important to support Elkhorn businesses first and foremost by offering those towing companies the first opportunity before offering a towing job to other businesses.
All towing companies within the city proper that request to be on the list and are approved will be used in rotation and receive the opportunity first under the new standards.
In other business
In other business at last week’s meeting, the Council voted in favor of a $3,900 budget adjustment to cover the installation of new playground equipment at Elkhorn’s Rotary Park.
According to Recreation Director Karl Sorvick, the City had previously budgeted $10,000 for the replacement of the playground equipment.
However, after working with several playground equipment manufacturers, while $10,000 would cover the cost of the equipment itself, costs associated with shipping, installation and wood chips as a new surfacing would push the cost of the project over the $10,000 threshold.
In a memo to the Council, Sorvick noted that the gravel surfacing at the playground does not meet ADA standards, requiring the use of wood chips.
In total, Sorvick listed an estimate of $13,900 for the project at Rotary Park: $8,400 for the equipment, $2,850 for installation and freight, and $2,650 for wood chips.
“Park funds are available for situations like these, where we can take from the park funds,” Sorvick said, noting that those funds come from events like Night Under the Lights. “So, I was hoping to use that money to supplement the installation and putting in some new wood chips.”
The $3,900 budget adjustment was approved unanimously by the Council.
