Lovell council ups direct deposit limit due to overtime issues

In the briefest of gatherings, the Lovell Town Council covered a bit of ground at the July 9 council meeting.

Of primary importance is a decision by the council to increase the daily automated clearing house limit for the Bank of Lovell direct withdrawal for payroll by $5,000. Town clerk/treasurer Colleen Tippetts said overtime accrued by the police department pushed the payroll over the ACH limit of $40,000 for the direct withdrawl system on a couple of occasions recently, which created problems.

“$5,000 should get us by,” Tippetts said, and the council did just that, increasing the limit to $45,000.

In the only other item of business on the agenda, the council voted to approve the special use permit for Mountain Construction to have its office on West 10th Street in a residential zone.

Under reports, Tippetts said phase two of the Armory Park project has begun, with Midway Construction and Dirtwork starting demolition of the fencing and dugouts at the softball field last week.

She also said town administrator Jed Nebel was working with Verkada Security Cameras to install cameras in the town parks in an attempt to reduce vandalism. A company rep was to visit with Nebel on Friday.

Finally, Tippetts said the town is looking at a project to create an alley along the south side of the bus barn for better access to homes in the area, having discovered that the town owns the land and an alley is already platted.

Councilwoman Carol Miller said she visited Armory Park recently and found that tall weeds were growing in the landscaping of the skate park. Tippetts explained that the area had been hydroseeded last year but got packed down by skate park users. It has been reseeded and protected, but the weeds were growing faster than the new grass. Tippetts said the weeds were mowed after Miller expressed her concern, and the area may need to be hydroseeded again.

Miller also noted that the blue granular rubberized material on the playground at Armory Park is all over the splash pad and is hot and smells bad at the playground. She asked if the town has the money to replace the material with something else.

Mayor Tom Newman said some playgrounds have a spongy pad around equipment and that he would look into the matter.