Conversation during the October work session of the city council once again briefly turned towards the issue of the school zones in front of Washington Middle School and Ring Elementary School. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

Complaints about the school zones near Washington Middle School and Ring Elementary School aren’t going away.

City Council members are still receiving questions from the public as to whether or not it would be possible to combine the two school zones into one. Past discussion on this issue has focused on the confusion of having two different school zones so close together, including a note that the 30 miles per hour speed limit decreases to 20 in front of Ring, returns to 30 and then goes back to 20 in front of Washington. Officials from the Public Works Department have also said in the past that the state does not allow for a school speed zone longer than 1,300 feet.

The question was posed again at the early October city council work session by Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large and Public Safety Committee chairman.

“I know we’ve talked several times about the school zone over at Washington School,” Russell said. “I still get questions about it. Can we get, or have we received a definitive answer on whether we can combine those two school zones? Can we get a definitive answer from the state if we are able or allowed to do that?”

Russell said the idea would be to get rid of the short 30 mile per hour area and make it one 20 miles per hour school speed zone between the two areas. Mark Roetzer, city public works director, said he was not sure of who to contact to go about getting that answer, but it is something they are working on.

“I want to be able to go back, and I had a conversation with the superintendent the other day about it and I want to be able to give a definitive answer whether we are able to do that or not,” Russell said.