A report was given to city council on Monday night on how the city is addressing concerns from the residence in the Iron Bridge sub-division over maintenance in the area.

Some of the concerns included:

  • Poor maintenance of the park spaces.
  • Presence of Foxtail and broadleaf weeds.
  • Poor conditions of the west and south berms including weeds and dead trees.
  • Gopher infestations.
  • Conditions of pathways and catch basins.
  • Conditions of pathway lights.

When it comes to catch basins, councilors felt it was concerning that they are built by contractors and the sub-division ownership is handed over to the city just to have them needing repairs in seven or eight years.

"I've raised this issue several times in the past. The city allows these developments, then we sign off on them and assume responsibility for them and much too soon we're spending money to repair them," said Coun. Brian Swanson.

City manager Jim Puffalt said he couldn't speak for Iron Bridge because it was before his time, but there are currently policies in place so it doesn't happen again.

"Certainly West Park is probably the best example where we are not accepting ownership of it until all the deficiencies are met," Puffalt said. "That's already in the development and servicing agreements that that has to be done and it's up to us to hold the developers accountable to meet that standard and we've been doing that at least for the last two years since I've been here."

In the report, director of parks and recreation Derek Blais laid out a summary of the maintenance activities that have been completed in Iron Bridge in 2020.

He noted that mowing in irrigated park spaces and non-irrigated park spaces, the south berm, ditches, and swales are consistent with the rest of the city.

Mowing at the west berm was behind schedule in July as it was only cut twice. The second cut wasn't completed due to reseeding in June and difficulty mowing in July because of moisture.

Weed trimming and weed control have also been behind schedule in Iron Bridge as well as the rest of the city. Weed trimming crews usually in the area every two to three weeks and spraying in done by mid-July.

Blais said gopher control measures were done twice on the berms and once in all areas of Iron Bridge, which is more frequent than the rest of the city.

About $267,000 worth of improvements and repairs were noted in the report. It will be taken to the Iron Bridge Community Association to prioritize the work for future budgets.