City staff outlines water‑tank work, Greystone leak, new street sweeper and plans to replace online payments

City staff member Marcus reported multiple operational updates during the council’s staff‑report segment. He said contractors are scheduled to connect a transmission line into the Lions Park tank around April; after the connection the tank will need to be drained for the final work, and contractors estimate the isolation/connection work could take about four to seven days. Marcus warned that staff may ask residents to monitor water usage during that period and said staff are checking isolation valves to limit outages.

Marcus also reported an identified leak on the Greystone water tank. He said Sunrise Engineering had been engaged and that the repair cost came in “less than $20,000,” an amount staff indicated is within their discretionary spending authority to proceed quickly as an emergency repair.

On other items, Marcus announced that the city has a fully functioning street sweeper after years with an unreliable vehicle and floated a community naming and school art contest idea to wrap the sweeper with student artwork. Council members responded positively to the community‑engagement suggestion.

Marcus said staff have also identified problems with the current digital payment system (complaints from residents and extra staff time to process issues) and will prepare a side‑by‑side comparison with a more widely used vendor; a contract change and council consideration are expected at the next meeting.

Separately, staff notified council that building rentals have produced repeated problems (damage, parties). One council member suggested limiting rentals to Hyde Park residents; staff noted both residents and nonresidents have been responsible and said they would bring options back for council consideration.

No formal votes were taken on these operational items at the March 11 meeting; staff committed to return with proposals or to take action under existing spending authority where appropriate.