Arcadia Wounded Warrior event OKed

Arcadia council members approved a motorcycle ride and outside music event that support the Wounded Warrior organization.

The council last Wednesday authorized a special event license for Aug. 19 for the annual event that organizers say has generated $140,000 for injured military veterans. The council had earlier expressed some reservations about event parking and how access to an outside music event would be handled.

The special event permit allows parking along West Main Street to be blocked for ride participants. The street itself will remain open. The council also extended the liquor license for Uncle Sam’s bar to an area behind the tavern for live music.

“This ride has been peaceful and respectful for 11 years,” Walter Koltenhouser, one of the organizers, told the council.

The council also approved agreements that will allow the city to tap into a $14.6 million state grant in earlier phases of city flood control projects than initially anticipated. The amendments between the city and the Department of Natural Resources will include using the grant money to cover cost overruns for an internal drainage project, a step that city clerk and treasurer Angela Berg said would save the city about $370,000 in interest payments.

The city will also use some of the state grant to cover a design by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a larger flood control project and for some of the initial costs that will include buying properties to make way for an expanded levee along Turton Creek.

In other business, the council:

• Heard from an East Wilson Avenue resident that children and pets are being threatened by drivers speeding along the street and rolling through stop signs.

• Approved a job description that makes park manager a temporary full-time position.

• Will consider looking at banking options to get a better rate on city investments.

• Approved annexing a parcel of land on East Wilson Avenue.