VIENNA — The Vienna City Council is asserting more control over the lights on the ballfields at the park with a few more rules about who has keys to the lights and how long they can be left on.

At the Vienna City Council’s March meeting, it was reported new locks will be installed on the light control rooms on the baseball field, which is commonly called the upper diamond, the softball field, and for the youth building. Tyler’s Lock & Key is doing the work and the keys the city will have can’t be duplicated. The council decided to do this because there were too many keys “out there” and they didn’t know who had them. Also, leaving the ball field lights on for an extended time before and after games is costing the city a lot of money. The ball field lights also are old and extra caution is needed.

Utilities Superintendent Shon Westart asked they set a time for turning the lights on and off. Before a ball game, he suggested turning the ball field lights on 15 minutes before sunset. People can find out what time the sun sets on their smart phones and turn on the lights accordingly. He said people don’t need to have the lights on five hours before the ball game. When the game is over, the city asks the ball field lights be turned off within a half hour of the games being over. 

The council members said there are many youth building keys they don’t know who has them as they were never returned. This lock will be replaced as well. 

Mayor Tyler “TC” James said getting new, better locks will give the city more control. To get a key for the youth building, persons will need to come to city hall and pay a deposit and it will need to be returned to city hall as well. For the ball fields, coaches can get a key and be asked to return it by a certain date. He said it’s not all fine tuned just yet.

South Ward Alderwoman Brenda Davis asked about those who leave at the end of the ballgame and don’t turn off the lights. Westart said the city will have master keys and keys for the coaches for the lights. They will let the coaches know what the city expects with the lights when they have the coaches meeting. 

South Ward Alderman Jesse Jones asked about putting timers on the lights, so they turn off after a certain period of time. Westart said he thinks that will be too expensive. He said this has been a problem for some time. The city utility workers get off work at 3:30 p.m. and sometimes the lights are already turned on at that time, which is entirely too early. 

Mayor James said the city will be doing a reset on the light procedure and locks in order to get more control. He added the city will begin scheduling the fields at the coaches meeting, which at the meeting was set for March 10. 

In other business at the March Vienna City Council meeting:

—City Clerk Karen Dudenhoeffer was not present at the meeting due to illness. Mayor James said they don’t have a financial report. He hopes to have one soon as they need to begin working on the budget as well as other needs with this information.

—In old business, James said Vienna Fire Chief Mike Smith sent him a message with the price of what the fire department has spent repairing the fire department’s ladder truck. However, James said the council really can’t talk about what the city can spend helping to pay for the truck’s repairs until the council members can see the city’s financials.

—James said the city clerk and the city attorney are keeping a close eye on the procedures needed to bid out the city’s trash services. The current provider, Republic Services, will need to be notified the city is putting this out for bid for the following year. 

—There was not much to report about the horse arena. There is not much room there to work with to make too many changes.

—The council approved using a portion of two city streets for a Maries R-1 Band fundraiser on Saturday, April 23, beginning at 4 p.m. Ramona Chambers previously made the request to the city council, which gave its approval for a street dance that evening. They approved for the event to use part of Fourth Street in front of the courthouse through South Coffey Street. 

—The council briefly discussed the Spring City-Wide Clean-up on April 29 and the 2022 Spring City-Wide Rummage Sales set for Friday and Saturday, May 6 and 7. The council members think if possible they would like to rescheduled the City-Wide Clean-up to the week after the rummage sales. In the past this is how it was arranged as what people with rummage sales could not sell, they could throw away the following trash pickup day.