Agreeing with councilman Ken Herington, that “there is no way we can do this ourselves,” the Kalona Council Monday approved a new two-year law enforcement contract with the Washington County Sheriff’s Department. The first year of the contract, 2000-01, cost is $96,887, an increase of $940.77 over the current year. The second year, 2001-2002, cost is $99,787.19.

“It amounts to a total increase, over the two years, of three percent,” said City Clerk Karen Christner.

She added that the department had asked that the contract be returned by January 10.

“They have gotten the contract to us sooner so that we can plan for it in the budget. Before, we had to just estimate.”

With the recently completed water improvement project, the council listened to consulting engineer Dave Nelson of Garden & Associates outline the next large-scale water project: a possible new water tower.

City Administrator Doug Morgan stressed “that we do not have a pressing need,” but agreed that planning for another tower or additional water storage is necessary.

Nelson noted that Kalona has two basic problems with water: distribution and pressure. In fact, the north area of the city has areas that have less than 45 pounds of pressure.

The critical part of that is for “fire flow,” said Nelson, explaining that 2,500 gallons per minute is required for downtown, 1,500 gallons per minute for schools and 750 to 1,000 gallons per minute for residential.

“Currently, you have 1,650 gallons,” he added.

Ideally, a new water tower would aid not only distribution but also with pressure, especially for the northern part of the town.

Nelson suggested that a new tower be approximately 870 feet high. The current one is 821 feet.

Other possibilities are additional storage tanks, including a 400,000 gallon one.

Other parts of the project could involve new, larger water mains, especially in the downtown area.

Nelson said he would get figures for the council and set up a time table in a presentation to the council next month.

In other business, the council:

•unanimously approved the formal sale of city land to Lynn Helmuth and Dwight Bender for $1,400 each. The sale finally resolves a more than 50-year encroachment on city land. The city will later obtain utility easements from the two landowners.

•learned that the Department of Natural Resources has set a time limit of June for Mahlon Yoder of rural Kalona to have treatment plans and facilities in place for his proposed custom butchering business on his farm. As a result, the city will permit Yoder to use city treatment facilities for waste disposal until June.

•reviewed the city snow policy and were told by Morgan that “we will clean up the streets early Tuesday.” The recent snow did not leave heavy accumulation, but turned city streets into ice-covered roads.

•presented outgoing Mayor J. D. Boyd with a clock in recognition of his eight years as mayor and another eight with the council.