The other major change in people was the replacing of Milton Price as town clerk. Sonja Churchill was named in his stead. With a new clerk came a change in where the city office was located. Churchill’s living room became the unofficial city hall. Council meetings were still held at the school house. Also changed was the town's legal counsel. Attorney James W. Hall was hired to replace Earl Gritton.
The second council began working at their first meeting. The town was starting to accumulate money by this time. (The first council had received some money in 1957 but, other than paying for the maintainer, held the money for the next year.) Jack Stuart was appointed as the Pleasant Hill fire chief but there was no fire department nor equipment.
Arrangements were made with the Altoona Fire Department to provide protection. The town accepted “full responsibility for perpetual maintenance of Oakwood Cemetery.” Janet Peterson was appointed to supervise the selling of burial plots. The Altoona Herald newspaper was designated as the official town paper for publishing council proceedings. Finally, plans were started for the development of a water system. James Hall was directed to negotiate with the city of Des Moines to obtain water.
Following the recommendation in the comprehensive plan, the council created a Planning and Zoning Commission. The commission’s task was to act as an advisory board on the orderly growth of the town. Appointed to the first commission were Ralph Grant (chairman), Luther Hines, Fred Arpy, James Bianchi, John Fogle, and Frank Niccum..
Historic Chapel Razed
When Pleasant Hill appealed the lower court ruling, Des Moines school district became part of that appeal. The Iowa Supreme Court listened to the arguments presented on both sides. In an unanimous ruling on May 30, 1961, the people of Pleasant Hill lost their school tax base. The court upheld the proposed plan and rejected all eight arguments to end the plan. Des Moines school district’s arguments were ignored since Des Moines had not been part of the proposed reorganization.
The council was working on a number of different projects almost at once. They approved building ordinances. They looked after the health of the people by appointing Dr. Leo J. Luka as health officer. Negotiations were carried out to buy land from James Bianchi at $3,500 for the town maintenance building. A contract to put up the building was let on October 15,1959.
The council also wanted to have a real town hall. In December of 1958, Anderson Engineering was authorized to make a preliminary survey of a combination town hall and fire station. Then in March of 1959 Mayor Voshell signed a contract with architects Russell and Lynch to draw up plans. The project went so far as to pay the architects $1,755 for the plans. However, the site of the hall was not finally determined and the council found other, more pressing, business. The idea was tabled for the time being.