By ADAM STEWART

Staff writer

Hillsboro City Council approved three real estate transactions at its Tuesday meeting: two sales and one purchase.

The city will purchase a right of way from Clark and Anna Wiebe along Jade Road for $5,000, contingent on receiving a legal description of the property to the council’s satisfaction.

The property is about two acres.

The city will use the property for air release valves and two air release vaults in a sewer line between the waste water treatment plant and the lagoon. The valves and vaults will allow unnecessary air to escape the pipe, City Administrator Larry Paine said.

Clark Wiebe had made changes to an earlier legal description of the property, but the changes could require a new survey, Paine said.

Linda Brunner will purchase Lot 7, Block 1 of the Willow Glen subdivision for $5,000. The vacant lot is within the radius of a restraining order a subdivision resident has against Brunner, Paine said.

The order will prevent Brunner from occupying the property until it expires, but that is not grounds for the city to refuse to sell the property, he said.

Gilbert Suderman purchased Lot 9, Block 5 of the Hillsboro Heights subdivision for $8,300. The lot is .83 acres.

Suderman and Mike Kleiber, who recently purchased an adjacent lot, plan to swap the lots, Paine said.

In other business:

• A 3 percent pay raise for Paine, retroactive to July, was approved. His salary was $81,474, and the raise will increase it to $83,918 per year.
• A team will interview three contractors today about a contract to inspect construction on Ash Street. They are Kirkham Michael, of Ellsworth; Campbell & Johnson, of Concordia; and HWS Consulting Group, of Manhattan. The team interviewed three other contractors Tuesday. They were Tran Systems, of Wichita; EBH & Associates, of Great Bend; and BG Consultants, of Manhattan.
• Mayor Delores Dalke appointed Gita Noble to the Hillsboro Convention and Visitors Bureau to replace Lola Unruh, whose term had expired. The council approved the appointment.
• Sales tax receipts through November were about $17,000 more than at the same point in 2008.

The next meeting will be at 4 p.m., Dec. 15.