Coyote traps set – please be aware!
The City was contacted by River Valley Wildlife on January 23rd and were informed snare traps were being set for coyotes in a couple locations on the City’s property located NW of the Woods estates property.
The traps will be set on the 23rd and 24th.
The traps will be on City property, out of view, just off Circle Dr / Fieldcrest, and also further to the west, adjacent to the Woods property. River Valley will provide more specific geo-locations on a Google Earth aerial map, which will be published on the City’s website and included in our next newsletter.
On River Valley Wildlife’s recommendation, approval was given to switch to a snare trap instead of setting the leg traps discussed earlier. A snare trap is a cable loop about 5” in diameter, set at coyote head height above the path. Leg traps will not work in the deep snow that fell this weekend. If the coyote were to trigger a leg trap, and it failed to capture the animal, they will be less likely to be captured with a second effort. Hence, the shift to snare traps.
The snare is set with sufficient tension to capture the animal and hold it until it can be dispatched in the early morning hours, much the same as for a leg trap. Pets and other non-predatory wild animals will be released. Coyotes will be euthenized.
Jason noted that their trail cameras have captured what they think is the Alpha coyote on video, along with other lower-ranked coyotes, and they have some expectation of snaring it, too. They’ve also see multiple deer, turkeys, and some very healthy raccoons on camera.
We’ve requested they share some of the images of our wildlife. When we receive them, we will post them to the website and the City’s Facebook page.
The monthly Mayor’s Town Hall meeting is set for this coming Sunday (October 21st) at 2pm in Council Chambers at City Hall.
WORK SESSION FOR THE MAYOR, COUNCIL, RESIDENTS OF RIVERDALE AND ANY OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES.
Please come with your thoughts, comments and fresh ideas!
The Riverdale City Council voted to authorize the City’s engineering firm, MSA Professional Consultants, to begin the process of supervising a video inspection of the City’s sanitary sewer lines. The inspection, conducted by the Bettendorf Public Works department, will help identify breaks in the sanitary sewer line where stormwater and other chemicals can mix with the raw sewage and, more importantly, where the raw sewage might be able to seep out into the ground surrounding the sewer line.
Assessing the state of the sewer lines in the City is important because Davenport, Bettendorf, Panorama Park and Riverdale are all entering into a negotiation concerning the joint sewer lines owned and managed by the four cities. Each city pays for its section of the sewer line (which eventually runs into the waste treatment facility in West Davenport) according to the amount of material flowing through the line.
In short, the tighter and more secure the line, the less material mixes with the sewage and the less “flow” coming from the City. Lower flow means lower costs.
Today’s the start of something new – maybe. Maybe not.
One thing’s for sure, by the time voting wraps up on the evening of November 6th and the last votes are counted (sometime around mid-November), the political landscape of our county, state and nation will have changed yet again.
For some, this is really upsetting. Change can be hard to take. Especially if you’re not ready for it.
Especially if you’re not in control of it.
But, you see, that’s the great irony to all of this. We are, in fact, in control of the amount of change our elected officials bring on our communities. We have the ultimate power.
Riverdale residents can count ourselves fortunate for living in Scott County, where we have a strong, bi-partisan interest in making sure elections are free, fair and accessible. Our County Auditor, Roxanna Moritz, provides a lot of essential voter information on the County’s website (click here to open it in a new browser window).
If you’re going to vote before November 6th (and a lot of people – including yours truly – do), keep in mind that the polls officially open October 9th (today) at the Assessor’s office in downtown Davenport and at other, satellite locations starting Wednesday, October 10th (click here for a full list).
The most convenient places for Riverdale residents to vote early are probably Scott Community College (tomorrow only from 10am to 4pm) and the Bettendorf Public Library starting Monday, October 15th and running through Saturday, November 3rd). Not all early voting stations are open during the same times. So, voting early might mean taking off a little early from work or over an extended lunch hour, to make sure your vote gets cast.
Once you’ve figured out where to vote, you might want to make sure your voter registration is valid. Fortunately, that’s easy to do online (click here).
Have more questions about early voting? Here’s a link to the page on the County Auditor’s website that provides all the answers.
If you forgot your ID, you can sign an oath attesting to your identity and vote a regular ballot. But that rule is in place for THIS YEAR ONLY. After this November, you must provide an ID, have another registered voter attest to your identity or vote a “provisional” ballot will not be counted until you’ve presented a valid ID to the Auditor’s office.
So, does all this seem like a big hassle?
Maybe so. But if you want things to change, there’s only one way to take control and make sure that change happens.
Even if it’s a hassle.
Residents are advised that bulky waste pick-ups are scheduled to start at 7am on Saturday, October 20th. In order to make sure your bulky waste is picked up that day, please have it out the night before.
At the Mayor’s Town Hall meeting on September 23, Council Member Anthony Heddlesten announced that he was working out the details for a citywide clean-up day on October 20th.
Council Member Heddlesten said he had already contacted the Waste Commission of Scott County about helping to provide iLiveHere garbage bags, gloves, tongs and safety vests. The vests, tongs and left-over materials will need to be returned to the Waste Commission after the event.
The date for the citywide clean-up corresponds to the bulky waste pick-up date the City has scheduled with its waste hauler, Republic Services.
Council Member Kelly Krell said that she hoped to recruit residents to form a team focused on park clean-up that day. If you’re interested in learning more, want to participate in cleaning up your yard and neighborhood, or would like be part of a team cleaning up the City’s parks or roadways, please let us know by clicking here.
A meeting of the Planning & Zoning Commission of the City of Riverdale has been called for Thursday, October 18th at 7:00 pm. The meeting will be held in the Community Room at City Hall. An official notice will appear in the Quad-City Times on Thursday, October 11th and will be posted to the City’s public notice board on the North side of City Hall.
The meeting is a public hearing and will involve reviewing the final plat for the first phase of the Woods Estates of Riverdale Subdivision, developed by Seth Woods and Woods Development.
Notices will be sent to every resident of Riverdale, per City code.
The Woods Estates Subdivision is a 94.69 acre residential subdivision located southwest of Manor Drive and northwest of State Street/US 67 and was formerly known as the Welch farm. Phase I of the subdivision covers approximately 17.7 acres and includes thirteen sign family lots and two outlets for the stormwater management detention basins which will be used for the entire subdivision.
Written comments must be received by 5pm on Thursday, October 18.
City to consider spring road project.
In a memo dated, September 27, 2018, Mayor Mike Bawden asked the City’s engineering firm, MSA Professional Services, to develop a proposal for up to $650,000 in road repair and maintenance work to begin in the spring of 2019. Funds for the project(s) would come from the unspent reserves in the City’s general fund and from the City’s road use tax fund.
MSA was asked to make a presentation to the Council at or before its first meeting in November (11/13/18) so members could consider the recommendation and pass a resolution to begin the project in time for construction to start the following spring.
A copy of the memorandum to MSA can be found by clicking here.
A regular meeting of the Riverdale City Council will take place on Tuesday evening, October 9th at 7pm. The meeting will take place in the Community Room at Riverdale City Hall.
A copy of the agenda for the meeting can be found by clicking here.
A copy of the information packet sent to Council Members can be found here.
A copy of the City Engineer’s report from MSA can be found here.
Meeting minutes will be posted following their approval at the following meeting of the City Council on October 23, 2018.
The final 2018 Fall Festival meeting was held last night at City Hall and there were a number of suggestions as to how the event can be even better next year. You’ll find them in the minutes of the meeting, posted here.
A survey of feedback from attendees was also reviewed at that meeting. The findings of the survey are summarized in this slide show (for more details, we suggest joining the 2019 Fall Fest Committee for next year’s event (you can do that by sending us an email).
The final meeting of the volunteers and organizers for the 2018 Fall Festival will be held today in the Community Room at City Hall, starting at 6pm. The meeting is intended to be an opportunity to say “thanks” to everyone involved and to review the results of the satisfaction survey conducted following the event.
There’s even the “rumor” going around that Council Member Kelly Krell will be trying to line up volunteers to work on Fall Fest ’19 for next year.
Come down to City Hall, have fun and join in the celebration!
The City Council began a general discussion about the nature of Riverdale’s snow removal plans and the current state of the City’s contract with the contractor handling snow removal this coming season.
It seems every winter there are complaints about speed of service, knocked down mailboxes and cost. Those complaints, in fact, may be inescapable. But this year, the City will proactively meet with the contractor and clarify its expectations of service for the coming season, document those expectations and share them with the community.
1. The City Riverdale is working out a cooperative arrangement with the City of Bettendorf to spread brine on Fenno Road Hill prior to approaching snow storms to reduce the accumulation of snow and ice on that street. That will make the hill (which crosses Valley Drive) much safer and should, in theory, cut down on the amount of snowplowing services required in that neighborhood.
2. The City is currently reviewing the work part-time employees do during a weather event to create a more structured plan for snow removal from the MRT and other city-owned/managed property. This is an effort to manage costs and to establish clear responsibilities for both City workers and the contractor.
Look for future updates on the City’s 2018-19 snow removal strategy in coming weeks and months.
Questions arise about turkey hunting in Riverdale.
There were questions raised at the Mayor’s Town Hall meeting on September 23rd concerning hunting practices in the City. Specifically, someone wanted to know if people were authorized to hunt turkeys in Riverdale.
As we reported on the website a few weeks ago, the City has authorized a limited deer hunt in Riverdale to start on September 16th and run through January 12th. The vendor authorized to conduct the hunt, Kingsley Wildlife Management, was restricted to bow hunting for deer and coyote at least 100 yards from any building or occupied property.
The action taken by the City Council does not permit turkey hunting of any kind. In addition to that, the only person authorized to hunt deer in Riverdale is Kingsley Wildlife Management and anyone else who wants to hunt deer in Riverdale has to work through Steve Kingsley (and, if necessary, appropriate property owners).
Hunting resolutions are an annual affair in Riverdale. And, as a result, citizens with concerns or offering other ideas for consideration by the City Council are encouraged to bring them forward so they can be included in future conversations as they relate to the 2019-20 hunt which will begin sometime in September of 2019.