Durham Christmas celebration is Saturday
The annual Christmas in Durham celebration is set for 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21. Joyce Medley, city clerk, brought up the topic at the city council meeting Dec. 3, and the council made arrangements for making posters and getting out publicity.
Ben Goertz, vice mayor, presided at the meeting in the absence of Mayor Glennon Crowther due to illness.
Medley had received a communication from Big Brothers Big Sisters asking for a donation. Asked what the city's contribution had been in previous years, she looked in the old minutes and found $200 had been donated last year.
"My feeling is that we ought to give them something. It's a good cause," said Verlin Sommerfeld.
"I don't have any problem with it," Gary Unruh remarked, "but does anyone know whether it is legal for us to use taxpayers' money for that purpose."
"Nobody has questioned it yet. Have they?" Sommerfeld replied.
Reinhold Winter moved to donate $200 to Big Brothers Big Sisters. On a second from Sommerfeld, the motion carried.
Goertz pointed out that Mayor Crowther had done some time-consuming work and made a trip to Salina for supplies to prepare the Christmas lights. He suggested the council should pay him something.
Sommerfeld moved to pay Crowther $50 for his work. Unruh seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
"I've had a problem develop with the AquaMag pump," Marvin Rediker, water supervisor, reported. When the pump quit working, he called the company's representative, who suggested pulling the head and checking the wiring. Although Rediker could find nothing wrong with the connections, the pump started running when he put the head back on. He said if a new pump is ever needed, the cost would be over $200, but for now the present one seems to be doing its job.
Unruh commented that if the pump causes more problems, he would recommend getting the new one.
Rediker reported 447,630 gallons of water were pumped in November and asked Sommerfeld how much had gone through the meters. "My records show 415,000," replied Sommerfeld. "I think that's closer than we usually are." The lift pumps ran 39 hours.
Asked if he had any collection problems to report, Sommerfeld said, "I think that this is the first time in a long time that everybody has paid the water bills."
Bills approved for payment included $1,294 to ElCon for wiring for the Christmas lights, $1,009.85 for cleaning and inspecting the water tower, and numerous routine expenses.
