WAPELLO, Iowa —  Two Wapello residents told the Wapello City Council that a recent bullying incident and a rash of burglaries in the community is increasing their concern for the safety of themselves and their families.

During the Council’s meeting Thursday, Terri Winslow, 518 S. Second St., said her 8-year-old son was thrown against a wall at the swimming pool earlier this summer and she and other relatives were subjected to verbal abuse and obscenities when they confronted another youth over the incident.

“Things are getting tough around here,” Winslow told the Council, explaining part of the problem was the age of the lifeguards at the pool.

“These girls are too young to handle it,” she said.

Mayor Ron Durbin said city officials had met to discuss the incident, but did not provide any details on any solutions that had been proposed.

Winslow, who acknowledged the problem is not unique to Wapello, said whenever a family member is at the pool now, she will drive by on a regular basis to check on them.

Mitzi Richmond, 411 S. Second, said her concern was over the increasing break-ins that were occurring in the community. She said a stereo had recently been stolen from her daughter’s car. That, coupled with a recent break-in at a Wapello home where several handguns had been stolen, made for a disturbing trend.

“I’m not blaming the police department,” she said, explaining that criminals know when the Wapello Police Department does not have any officers on duty. She said part of the blame goes to the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office for not providing coverage when the city police were off-duty.

“Why can’t the sheriff’s office be cruising this town at night when (the city police are off)?” she asked.

Durbin said the city was making an effort to increase its department staff, but said financing was a big problem. Council member Shawn Maine agreed.

“We’re trying to do the best we can with the money (we have),” he said.

Council member Adam Parsons, who is the assistant Louisa County Attorney, said Richmond should discuss her concerns over the lack of response and assistance from the county sheriff’s office with the Louisa County Board of Supervisors.

“You’re not the first person to bring that up,” he reported.

Maine said when the question over additional county coverage had come up before, he had investigated and discovered funding was the main issue then.

“The response I got was if the city paid a little more to the county (it might get more coverage),” he said.

Wapello Police Chief Wayne Crump said his office has been short-handed because one officer resigned earlier this year and another has been attending law enforcement academy training. However, the academy training is nearly complete and the city has hired another officer, so more officers will be available for patrols and Crump said he is already planning more enforcement efforts.

“We’ll be putting an officer on late night and if we find kids roaming around, we will cite the kid and the parents (for curfew violations),” he assured the Council.

In other action— The Council approved plans and specifications for installing a new storm sewer to help drain Commerce Drive in the Wapello Industry Park, following a public hearing over the project. Bids for the work were also presented, with the low bid of $204,993 submitted by Hagerty Earth Works, Muscatine. Other bids submitted included Sulzburger Construction, Muscatine, $208,102; and Lawson Construction, Kirksville, Mo., $267,640.

— The Council agreed to continue its participation with other local governments in Louisa County and Mercer County in Illinois that are investigating the re-establishment of a ferry system across the Mississippi River. A committee of the local governments was formed several years ago to work on the proposal.

Local committee members Forrest Bartenhagen and Pat Murphy told the Council the committee hoped to meet with political leaders in Washington D.C. to continue to lobby for the project. However, they said if any of the local governments — which include the supervisors in both counties, the city councils of the county seats in Aledo and Wapello, and the cities of New Boston, Ill., and Oakville — failed to support the latest effort, the committee would drop the entire ferry project.

Bartenhagen said the committee hoped to obtain federal funding to complete environmental studies on the proposal.

— The council agreed to delay any final decision on repairing a spare fire truck it had sold through bids to a Texas fire department. According to officials, the Arroyo City, Texas, volunteer fire department had submitted the only bid and the Wapello council had accepted the $2,600 offer.

However, before the Texas firefighters were able to come to Wapello and pick up the engine, Wapello city staff used it to install sand points to lower the water table on a construction project. During that work, the clutch on the truck failed and the city was forced to repair it for around $1,100. After that repair was completed, it was discovered the rear differential and axle also needed repairs. Public works director Mike Delzell said another vehicle that had been slated for salvage had parts that match the fire engine, but he was unsure what the labor installation costs would be.

City officials directed Delzell to learn the cost before the Council took any more action.