Public works
a 1-man show

By FINN HARTNETT

Staff writer

Goessel public works director Alex Goossen — who already heads the street and water departments — will train to become the city’s waste-water operator as well, the city said at a council meeting Monday.

“He’ll be the do-it-all,” city clerk Jennifer Bliss said.

Goessel hired Goossen as public works director in December. He previously worked as a wildlife director at Meade State Park.

After the city’s previous waste-water operator, Paxton Van Rossun, decided he didn’t want the job full time, the city hired Andrew Bruce of Galva as a contract operator.

After Goossen becomes certified, he will take over from Bruce.

“This brings us back up to a full-time employee that we hadn’t had for quite some time,” Bliss said.

While the operator-in-training program he is enrolled in lasts for a year, Goossen can test at any point to become certified.

He already is quite busy managing the city’s other public works departments, however.

It is Goossen, for example, who has been plowing roads after recent snowstorms.

“Our side streets are a little bit icy, but our main streets have been treated really well,” Bliss said. “It just comes down to only having the one person. It’s very time-consuming.”

Also discussed at the meeting Monday was Goessel’s cat ordinance.

After months of back-and-forth, the council resolved to leave things as they are listed in city code.

There is no limit to how many cats one can own, but each cat must be vaccinated against rabies.

Residents are strongly discouraged from feeding cats that are not their own.