Call this meeting to order of the Haywards City Council. This is a regular
City Council meeting on Wednesday, June 24th, 2026 at 5:30
p.m. We are in the City Hall the City offices in the Council Chambers
room. Uh, we have approval of the June 10th,
2026 regular meeting minutes. Could I get a motion for approval,
please? >> So moved.
» Second. >> [snorts]
[laughter]
» Do you want to Did you get that?
» Oh, yeah. >> Okay.
» [laughter] >> No.
» Oh, okay.
Uh, Derek, you made a motion, didn't you?
» Yes. >> Christie, did you second it?
» Sure. >> Okay.
» Love it. >> I thought I heard you.
Uh, all those in favor, please say I. >> I.
» I. >> Opposed?
Passes 5 to 0. Okay. Approval of the June 24th, 2026
claims for payment. Motion, please.
» Motion. >> Okay, Trevor has got the motion.
» Second. >> Second
was Ben. All those in favor, please say I.
» I. >> I.
» Opposed? >> Abstain.
» Passes 4 to 0 with a one abstention. The claims have been approved.
At this time, we have open business from the community. Would anyone like to
speak up at the podium at this time?
» My time again. Every 2 weeks. John Gress still living
in Hayward. Um, let's see. I still haven't received
any reason from the council why they um um
did not advance my desire to buy a street. I think it's 26th Street off
Avenue D that dead ends to my property. Serves no other useful purpose.
And the city has stated that they would do maintenance on our request and I had
told them previously it would be 1 year, 2 year
before that happened. Well, now I'm going to ask that
the city put that on the next agenda to open that street because I do not
believe the city staff uh by Iowa law
is authorized to obligate the city to that. So, it would come up for a council
vote to open that paper street up so that it can be used as a public
right-of-way, which it is. Um the next item I would like to discuss
is I've been uh
not confronted. Several people have come up to me and asked why the city or what
the city has against me. And I
tell them I don't know innocently. And uh that's concerning the sale or
stopping the normal statutory process of having a public meeting to sell that
street. And the only thing I can think of is as
a concerned citizen when I saw a problem and brought it to the city council
the meeting prior to that had to do with the catalyst grants of
the four buildings downtown when I showed the city council
that all of the grants were out of compliance with the agreement
that uh
it had with IEDA and the serious issue with the conflict
of interest that wasn't uh recused
or mitigated. Now, a very wise man told me that
if every small town in Iowa had to recuse from grants that
they would never get grants. And that sort of goes in line with
what happened uh
at the soccer meeting or the soccer game that the announcer said that uh
all the people's names similar and the same name, whatever,
that we must be marrying our cousins and it's got to be pretty interesting at the
dinner table. And that
was left up to be dealt with by the school board, which I think is wrong.
They can deal with it, but I think city government,
the ones we elect to represent the city, should also address it in a council
meeting. So, what I think what it looks like is
the following meeting after I brought up that grant
the grant problems, when I asked you guys just to clean up
the paperwork concern that IEDA would claw it back,
um nothing was done. In the next meeting, I had that request for a open
meeting or a public meeting to buy that land,
and it was shut down. The people are uh
coming to me, like I said, and they um say it appears to be retaliatory.
I don't know if it is. I have no no take on it,
but that's what the public is thinking. Now,
with that, uh I'm not going to stop coming to meetings. I'm going to be here
every Wednesday unless I'm dead or what? I'm at a funeral. That's it. Every
Wednesday. And I'll be up here for my 5 minutes, 3 minutes, whatever.
Now, at that same meeting that they had the
you shut down the sale or not the sale, but the statutory
requirement for a public meeting. I um
had requested the meeting prior to that that the city administrator put on the
agenda Catalyst Grant so that the council could discuss it legally, right?
He came back at that meeting, I believe it was that meeting, and said that
because it was on the agenda that he had been in contact with IEDA. IEDA said,
this is not a direct quote, that everything was fine.
Where is it in writing? If it's not on paper, in writing, then
as far as I'm concerned, it didn't happen. I don't know what questions were
asked of IEDA. I'm sure he didn't say, "Hey, is it all right if the our grant
writer is writing a grant for a building that her husband owns
and that those two buildings are sold now or two buildings from the grant are
sold now and we haven't done any ownership change to you, is that all
right?" Cuz they're not going to go ahead and
put it in writing that yes, we don't care about federal law, we don't care
about state law, conflict of interest means nothing to us.
I think that's not going to happen. So,
that's all I got. Thank you.
» Okay. Anyone else?
We'll move on to the mayor's report. I had the opportunity to be on the Daily
Grind show on Sioux County Radio 93.9 FM, I think it is. Um
got a chance to talk about uh some of the good things that are happening in in
Haywood and and uh got to uh brag
up our uh economic development uh director and uh our police chief.
So, I was happy to be able to do that. Um
and um would like to congratulate Carol.
Um the Northwest Iowa development
is um was uh announced that Carol
was one of the persons that has officially earned
her certified zone specialist credentials
through the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones.
This certification strengthens the region's capacity to support
manufacturers, streaming trade operations, and enhance
global competitiveness across Northwest Iowa.
Her achievement reflects a shared commitment to providing high-quality
guidance to businesses engaged in importing, exporting, and value-added
production. We
I'm sure we at least I uh
am not aware of all of the things that uh would fall under that category, but
to think that, you know, we are um
in the global market is exciting. And uh we thank you, Carol, for
all of your work on that.
Moving on to staff reports.
» I just want to say thank you to all the residents that are working on their
properties and getting stuff cleaned up. Uh it is noticeable and very
appreciated. I know that we have uh a lot of work to go and uh
but I just want to say thank you to those that are putting in some effort.
» Yeah, it's been noticed. Travis.
» Um our tree pile, the chippers are here. That's great news.
Um also good news, SCS engineers, they're
working on an environmental covenant for our landfill. Uh this will be the last
step in ending the post closure. We had a good walk-through last two Thursdays
ago. Um with the Iowa DNR, and everything
looks good. They are um
willing to sign that uh environmental covenant once uh the engineers get that
written up. Uh so, what that means to us is we still
need to city staff needs to inspect and maintain the area. And but we don't we
don't have to do any more um water samples or testing. Um and we just
have to do one engineering inspection every 2 years.
And then give that report to the DNR, so.
It's good It's good time. Uh more good news, uh new sport court
for French Park uh will ship this week, and it'll be installed sometime in the
next couple weeks. Uh same company that did our basketball courts out here.
Um one caveat is we went with red
uh red courts with blue outline, so just kind of opposite the colors here.
That was uh funded by the Siouxland Foundation grant, community foundation
grant. Um
Iowa Homeland Security, uh we did a audit um with them, and just
finalized that on Tuesday. Everything went well for one of the um projects
for the FEMA funding, so all the paperwork, everything was good there.
They were happy to get that closed out. So.
That's it. >> Good.
You've been busy. Misty.
» Nothing to report. >> Thank you.
Uh Jenny is not with us tonight. Chief De
Priest. >> Uh yeah, just a quick update on nuisance
abatement. Uh so far this year we've sent out 139 letters
uh to property owners about nuisance conditions on their property. But as
mentioned by the city administrator and the mayor, um there has been lots of
progress. Still a ways to go, but looking much better.
Uh also we are putting the finishing touches on a scooter uh bicycle safety
program and keeping an eye on the weather, but if it cooperates we're
looking at the end of next week. And so once we have the details hashed out, we
will uh push that out to the public and get those details available.
» Very good. Thank you. Carol. [clears throat]
» Uh thank you for those kind words. Um yeah, being a certified zone specialist
has um definitely been a a great achievement. I'm thankful to have
accomplished that. We are definitely in the global market here in Hawarden. Um
one of our largest employers does use our trade zone um very effectively, so
we'd like to continue that with other businesses within our Northwest Iowa
region. Um also our annual partner meeting for
Northwest Iowa is July 31st. It's a luncheon at the Grand Falls Casino. I'd
like to invite everyone to attend. It's a great event. I can get any RSVPs out
to any of you. Um also we've had quite a few uh I
shouldn't say quite a few. We've had a few residents come in and take advantage
of the housing trust fund kind of going along with the nuisance abatement um
getting some new roofs, paint, and windows put in one particular home um
moving forward with two others. So the the trust fund is available to all. So
please let me know and I'll point you in the right direction.
» Great. Thank you, Carol.
At this time we have council comments. >> Thanks for working so hard on the
nuisance abatements. Uh glad to see that's moving forward right directions.
» Do they Do they track how um many of those have been resolved?
Do they follow up on those? >> Yeah, so I everything that gets an
initial letter, I go back by the property after the given timeline that
they begin that they they received, and then if further communication, then we
send them a follow-up letter with uh a new timeline, and then we can move to
either a municipal infraction on it or um
have the city crew
uh take care of it and assess the cost to the property owners.
» Have you had to take that step in any of the properties yet?
» I'm So, yeah, so I'm really trying to work with
folks. Um there is one property that
I just had a conversation today about um getting some junk vehicles removed, but
uh we haven't actually had to uh issue the citation as of yet.
» I just want to say good job, Carol. Thanks for all the hard work you do. Uh
you really are an asset to us, and I'm thankful for everything you do.
» Jacob, was April 8th the council packet where we discussed the cattle grant?
» Uh do not know off the top of my head, but
I can check. >> Okay.
And in that there was some correspondence shared with the
economic development the Iowa Economic Development Council, correct? Okay, I
just wanted to reaffirm that.
» Okay. [clears throat] Seeing nothing else, we will move on.
Item number three is a public hearing for authorizing the final disposition of
real property. Uh I will declare that the public
hearing is open at this time, and uh Jacob, do you have anything to um
refresh our memories what this is? >> Yeah, so this is uh basically we are
going to be doing uh a land swap with the property next to those uh FEMA lots,
giving them just a little bit more section
uh on the their west side uh the FEMA lots east side, and then acquiring the
same amount of land on the north side of their lot, which is technically our farm
ground that we've been using and that we lease out and uh have a an an exchange
with those uh uh residents as well for for that land
cuz they own part of it, so this will just kind of make some of that better.
» Okay. Uh would anyone like to speak at this
time?
Okay. Uh then I will declare the public
hearing closed and we will move on to item B, which is the resolution um of
that same disposition uh 2026-22,
authorizing the final disposition of real property.
» So moved. >> Okay, we've got
a motion by Klucky. >> Second.
» And a second by Allen. We will do a roll call
starting with Boza. >> Aye.
» Klucky. >> Aye.
» Skelling. >> Aye.
» Warner. >> Aye.
» Allen. >> Aye.
» Passes 5 to 0. Thank you. That resolution passes.
Moving on to number four is a public hearing on ordinance 764 amending zoning
regulation. I declare the public hearing is open.
Um do you have any
uh opening comments?
» Uh not really. Again, this is just uh changing a lot of that stuff associated
with the detached accessory buildings, increasing the size, allowing more for
the roof, but keeping a lot of the regulations still the same, allowing a
second additional accessory building as long as it stays under I believe it's
144 square foot inside that ordinance, so that doesn't need to have
a special exception hearing just to have that.
Um and then adjusting the heights, uh it was 2/3 primary buildings, now it is
going to be either equal with the primary building or um 23 ft. Uh
» Covers lower. >> And whichever one is lower of that one.
So, that kind of helps out people that have one-story buildings, so that they
if they build a garage that's not attached, it lets them have a
normal-size garage not attached and not 2/3 the height of their house, so.
Um >> 22 ft.
» 22 ft. >> [clears throat]
» Just for >> clarification.
» At this time >> Yeah.
» Did you have more? Uh at this time is there anyone else that would like to
speak to this ordinance change?
If not, I will declare that the public hearing is closed and will move on to
item B, which is the final reading of ordinance 764 amending the zoning
regulations.
Is any any further discussion? If not, I'd take a motion.
» So moved. >> Second.
» From Allen, motion from Allen and a second from Skilling.
Uh we will also do a roll call vote on this. We'll start with Klucky.
» Aye. >> Skilling.
» Aye. >> Warner.
» Aye. >> Allen.
» Aye. >> Bosa.
» Aye. >> That ordinance change has passed 5 to 0.
Thank you. Moving right along.
Item five is the approval of a street closure for
one crazy night downtown block party. By the chamber.
» Yeah, so this is the party's downtown. They are
requesting to have that street closed during the party to
ensure that people can walk to and from and all around it just like prior years.
So.
» We've got a motion by Clucky. >> Second.
» A second by Warner. All those in favor of approving the
street closure, please say I. >> I.
» Opposed. Passes 5 to 0.
We don't have anything on the consent agenda tonight. So we're down at
adjournment. Could I have a motion, please?
» So moved. >> Moved by Boza and a second.
» Second. >> By Allen. All those in favor, please say
I. >> I.
» Opposed. Passes 5 to 0.
Thank you for your time and your work >> today.
» We are adjourned.