Street, restroom problems discussed

A business owner and local citizen proved that you can take on city hall, you just don’t always win.

Ray Duclos had a lot to say about a pavement issue near Harvest Foods, the family business, and the cleaning of a restroom at Mason City Park at last Wednesday’s town council meeting at Coulee Dam.

It was the second time Duclos has asked the town to fix a pavement problem where the Harvest Foods and Coulee Dam Casino parking areas empty out onto Roosevelt Way.

Councilmember Shawn Derrick replied that the council was about to put together the budget for 2015, and he would bring it up.

“That delays it until next year,” countered Duclos, a former council member. “We pay a lot of taxes and have made a substantial investment in the town. I would like to see the street budget and what it has been used for.”

There was no resolution of the pavement problem.

Duclos brought up the issue of a restroom overflowing at Mason City Park and that he observed it continued for several days.

“The town does things well, that’s our image,” Duclos said. Then he went on to say that he opens the restrooms at 7 a.m. each day and that on consecutive days one restroom was a mess.

“What the hell do you have to do to get the toilets cleaned up?” Duclos asked.

Later, after Duclos had left town worker Tim Lynch stated that the restrooms had been cleaned but on repeated occasions one toilet had been plugged. It had been cleaned each morning, but no personnel are available on weekends.

Duclos volunteers to open the restrooms and often ends up closing them.

Mayor Greg Wilder said he will work with police Chief Pat Collins to see if police can do this so they can advise city personnel when there is a problem.

The city doesn’t have staff available to check and correct problems at Mason City Park on weekends.