City of Blue Grass, Iowa

City Hall Hours

Monday through Friday and 5:00 p.m. on the 15th day of the month, if the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday, City Hall will be open until 5:00 p.m. the first business day after the 15th.

The Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Blue Grass has declared a "winter weather emergency" effective immediately today, January 24, 2020 until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 25, 2020. The City's Public Safety Building, 606 West Mayne Street, Blue Grass, Iowa, will be open to the public in need.

The City asks that vehicles NOT be parked on City Streets to allow emergency vehicles and snow plows to have full access.

If you have any questions, you may contact Mayor Pro Tem Donna Kinzer at (563) 381-7686.

NOTICE OF VACANCY

Notice is hereby given that the City Council of the City of Blue Grass, Iowa intends to fill the vacancy by appointment for the position of Mayor. This appointment will take place at the regular City Council meeting February 18, 2020, at 7:00 p.m. to be held in the City Council Chambers, 114 N. Mississippi Street, Blue Grass, Iowa.

Eligible electors wishing to be appointed to fill the vacancy must attend the February 18, 2020 meeting. The appointment shall be for the period until the next regular election on November 2, 2021.

The electors of the City have the right to file a petition within 14 days after the appointment is made, requiring the vacancy to be filled by special election. Such petition shall include the names, signatures and residing addresses of the eligible electors who are entitled to vote, equal in number to 15 percent of those who voted for candidates for office at the last municipal election, but not less than forty-one signatures. If such petition is filed as prescribed by Iowa law, the Mayoral appointment shall be temporary until the results of the special election are canvassed. If no such petition is filed, the Mayoral appointment shall be for the period until the next pending election as defined in Section 69.12 of the Code of Iowa.

This notice is hereby given as required by Section

372.13 (2) of the Iowa Code.

Dated this 21^st day of January, 2020.

Submitted by: Ann M. Schmidt, CMC, City Clerk/Financial Officer

PUBLIC NOTICE

CITY OF BLUE GRASS, IOWA

Public notice is hereby given that the City Council of the City of Blue Grass, Iowa, are accepting written offers of purchase of real estate on Parcel #0536426020 located in the Prairie Woods Estates Subdivision, Muscatine County, zoned R-2 Two-Family Residence District, more particularly described in Exhibit “A”; hereto, attached. Minimum bids shall start at the fair market value of not less than $9,000.00.

Bidders shall provide a sealed written offer to purchase clearly identifying their offer to purchase to the City Clerk/Financial Officer, 114 N. Mississippi Street, Blue Grass, Iowa. The sale must close no later than 90 days of acceptance and payment shall be in the form of a certified check or bank draft, payable to the City of Blue Grass.

Once an offer(s) to purchase is received, the City Clerk/Financial Office shall present the offer(s) to the City Council at a regularly scheduled Council meeting at which time the Council will publicly open any and all sealed bids and either reject and/or accept such bid. If the Council accepts an offer to purchase on said real estate, a public hearing date will be set to publicly announce their actions to allow any resident or property owner of the City, to give either an oral or written objection to the above action. After all objections have been received and considered, the Council will at this meeting, accept or reject such bid.

The City of Blue Grass reserves the right to consider or reject without consideration any and/or all bids.

This notice is given by order of the Blue Grass City Council, as provided by sections 364.7 of the State Code of Iowa, as amended.

Dated this 21^st day of January, 2020.

Submitted by: Ann M. Schmidt, CMC, City Clerk/Financial Officer

EXHIBIT “A”

Parcel #0536426020: Recreational area South of Prairie Meadow Drive, Prairie Woods Estates Subdivision, containing approximately .81 acres more or less, located in Muscatine County, City of Blue Grass, State of Iowa.

City Offices will be closed on the following dates:

MEDIC EMS is a team of caring and altruistic Emergency Medical Service professionals providing both emergency and non-emergency ambulance transportation, dispatching, and electronic patient care record hosting services. We host a number of community programs and certification classes throughout the Quad City area. As dedicated healthcare professionals, we are committed to delivering the highest standards of care for every patient!

To sign up - visit: https://www.medicems.com/community-training-courses/

CENSUS JOBS! $21.00 per hour for Scott County

Earn extra income while helping your community. The Census is hiring for a variety of temporary jobs including census takers, recruiting assistants, office staff and supervisors. Pay rates are $21.00 per hour for Scott County jobs. Apply for one of thousands of temporary #2020CensusJobs.

Apply online at https://www.2020census.gov/jobs external link . For more information or help applying, please call 1-855-JOB-2020. #2020Census

Drop your "box tops" off at City Hall to help the Blue Grass Elementary School earn more money. Let's partner with the elementary school and give them a hand by dropping off your "box tops" at City Hall (which can be found on most General Mills products-check the date, make sure they are not expired). Thank you for your support!

Blue Grass Residents: Just a friendly reminder, please remove all refuse containers within 24 hours after the designated collection day. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Republic Services is asking that residents leave at least 3 foot or more space between your garbage and recycling cart in order for the driver to successfully dispose of its contents. Thank you.

Blue Grass Municipal Code: 8.14.140 Refuse Containers ─ Location for and penalty.
D. Residents are to return their refuse and recycling containers onto their premises and removed from the street and/or alley within 24 hours of the designated collection day or the Residents shall be issued a municipal infraction and upon conviction shall be subject to a penalty of $25.00. This includes removal of refuge and recycling containers from all sidewalks, boulevards, curbs and rights of way. Residents whose refuse and/or recycling service was interrupted or missed on the designated collection day shall remove their container immediately and shall not be penalized. (Amd. 17-05, eff. 11/27/17)

Chapter 9.40 FIREWORKS: As used in this section “Consumer Fireworks” shall mean and include “Consumer first-class consumer fireworks and second-class consumer fireworks as those terms are defined in Iowa State Code §100.19, subsection 1. Consumer Fireworks includes, but is not limited to, such items as: Aerial shell kits and reloadable tubes; Chasers; Helicopter and aerial spinners; Firecrackers; Mine and shell devices; Missile-type rockets; Roman candles; Sky rockets and bottle rockets; Multiple tube devices that are manufactured in accordance with American Pyrotechnics Association 87-1, section 3.5.

Consumer fireworks does not include “Novelties” as defined and enumerated in chapter 3 of the American Pyrotechnics Association’s standard 87-1 or “Display Fireworks” as defined and enumerated in chapter 4 of the American Pyrotechnics Association’s standard 87-1 as published in December 2001.

Dates and Times as specified. Consumer Fireworks may be used on July 3 and July 4 from 2 p.m. until 11 p.m. and on the night of December 31 from 10 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. The Council may approve by Resolution special occurrences in its discretion for additional dates and times. The special occurrence dates and times so approved do not carryover from year to year.

Permit. A permit to use display fireworks may be issued by the Blue Grass Fire Department’s office pursuant to the criteria and standards adopted from the Uniform Fire Code.

Penalty and Enforcement. Use of any Consumer Firework at a date or time other than those allowed pursuant to subsection B or the use of Display Fireworks without a permit is prohibited and punishable as a simple misdemeanor as follows:

First Offense $125 Second Offense $200 Third and Subsequent $325

Public Notification

Vehicles, recreational vehicles, motor homes, boats with trailers, buses, trucks, utility, construction and enclosed trailers, camping trailers, travel trailers and hauling trailers:

A. Vehicles, recreational vehicles, motor homes, boats with trailers, buses, trucks, utility, construction and enclosed trailers that comply with Chapter 8.16 Junk and Abandoned Vehicles, may be parked on residential driveways or parked adjacent to an existing driveway with a four foot setback from any curb, sidewalk or street edge as to not obstruct the view of pedestrians and/or residents exiting their property. No more than a total of two of the following types shall be permitted for each family living on the premises: recreational vehicles, motor homes, boats with trailers, buses, trucks, utility, construction and enclosed trailers, camping trailers, travel trailers or hauling trailers. Said recreational vehicles, camping trailers, travel trailers, hauling trailers or boat trailers may be parked or stored on any driveway or parked adjacent to an existing driveway during the months of April 1^st through October 31^st only. Said recreational vehicles, camping trailers, travel trailers, hauling trailers or boat trailers shall not be parked or stored during the months of November 1^st through March 31^st unless they are located behind the front yard building line, except as authorized on appeal to the Zoning Board of Adjustments. A 16’ (sixteen foot) utility trailer or a 16’ (sixteen foot) pull behind pop-up camper may be stored directly behind the residence all year round. To determine a front yard building line, see Frontage and yard requirements, Chapters 17.24.060; 17.28.060 and 17.32.060, with the exception of a corner lot. For purposes of this section, corner lots shall have a front yard building line only on the side of a property where the front door to the residence is located. Under no circumstances shall a recreational vehicle or camping trailer, travel trailer, hauling trailer or boat trailer be parked or stored in the public right-of-way or City Street. Refer to Chapter 10.24.130. Certain Subdivision covenants shall also apply to this chapter. (Amd. 10-08, eff. 07/26/10) (Amd. 16-07, eff. 07/13/16)

B. Trucks and trailers. No truck exceeding sixteen thousand and one pounds (16,001#), licensed, or utility type trailer or construction type trailer exceeding 16’ (sixteen foot) shall be parked or stored in any residence district, with the exception of utility company service trucks, unless the truck is parked or stored in an enclosed garage. (Amd. 05-05, eff. 09/29/05) (Amd. 16-07, eff. 07/13/16)

C. Vehicles, boats with trailers, recreational vehicles, motor homes, buses, trucks, utility trailers, construction trailers, camping trailers, travel trailers, hauling trailers, boat trailers and enclosed trailers under no circumstances will be parked on the front yard. (Amd. 16-07, eff. 07/13/16)

Golf Cart/ATV/UTV Application

images/files/users/aschmidt/GolfCartATVUTVRegistrationApplication.pdf

New Golf Cart Ordinance:

images/files/users/aschmidt/Ch10.70GOLFCARTS.pdf

New ATV Ordinance:

images/files/users/aschmidt/Ch10.80ALL-TERRAINVEHICLES.pdf

New UTV Ordinance:

images/files/users/aschmidt/Ch10.90UTILITYTASKVEHICLES.pdf

Municipal Code Book

2017 08 28 Blue Grass Municipal Code

The last update was implemented October 1, 2018; therefore, Amendments made after that have not yet been implemented. Please contact City Hall if you have any questions or inquries. Thank you.

Notice:

CENSUS ADDRESS CANVASSING OPERATION

Be aware that Address Canvassing is commencing.

Census workers will be working throughout communities until October 18th, verifying locations of houses, apartments, shelters and other places where people could live or stay.

The purpose of Address Canvassing is to ensure the census address list is accurate and complete for the 2020 Census.

When will Census Bureau employees be in my neighborhood?

Census Bureau employees will be in your neighborhoods knocking on doors from early August through mid-October.

How do I know the person at my door works for the Census Bureau?

Census employees will have:

Badges with photo IDs
Black canvas bags and laptops with 2020 Census Logos

How is the Census Bureau informing the public of the Address Canvassing operation?

The Census Bureau will work with local authorities to inform the public about when Census Bureau workers will be in your area.

Who can I contact to find more about Address Canvassing in Iowa?

Chicago Region (AR, IL, IN, IA, MI, MN, MO, WI):
312-579-1500
Chicago.rcc.partnership@2020census.gov

CENSUS 101

What is a census and why is it important?

Once a decade, America comes together to count every resident in the United States, creating national awareness of the importance of the census and its valuable statistics. The decennial census was first taken in 1790, as mandated by the Constitution. It counts our population and households, providing the basis for reapportioning congressional seats, redistricting, and distributing more than $675 billion in federal funds annually to support states, counties and communities’ vital programs — impacting housing, education, transportation, employment, health care and public policy.

HOW THE CENSUS BENEFITS YOUR COMMUNITY

Federal funds, grants and support to states, counties and communities are based on population totals and breakdowns by sex, age, race and other factors. Your community benefits the most when the census counts everyone. People in your community use census data in all kinds of ways, such as these:

Residents use the census to support community initiatives involving legislation, quality-of-life and consumer advocacy.

Businesses use Census Bureau data to decide where to build factories, offices and stores, and these create jobs.

Local government officials use the census to ensure public safety and plan new schools and hospitals.

Real estate developers and city planners use the census to plan new homes and improve neighborhoods.

The next census is coming in 2020. Counting an increasingly diverse and growing population is a massive undertaking. It requires years of planning and the support of thousands of people.

Ultimately, the success of the census depends on everyone’s participation. The Census Bureau depends on cross-sector collaborations with organizations and individuals to get people to participate.

The 2020 Census is important for you and your community, and you can help.

Learn more about the 2020 Census.

Blue Grass Elementary School
226 Sycamore
Blue Grass, IA 52726
Phone: 1.563.381.1712

Principal: Diane Simmons