[0:00] to order. Please join me in the pledge
[0:02] of allegiance.
[0:04] I aliance to the flag of the United
[0:07] States of America and to the republic
[0:10] for which it stands. One nation under
[0:13] God, indivisible with liberty and
[0:16] justice for all.
[0:18] >> Mandy, will you please call the role?
[0:21] here.
[0:22] >> Here
[0:28] » city councils adop adopted a code of
[0:30] civility as elected officials. We pledge
[0:32] to promote civility through extending
[0:34] respect to others listening to
[0:36] understand disagreeing without
[0:38] disrespect engaging collaboratively and
[0:40] speaking up to address in civility. This
[0:42] meeting is being recorded. As a
[0:44] reminder, this meeting is being recorded
[0:46] and broadcast for Pella TV. Anyone who
[0:48] speaks to council, please come to that
[0:51] podium and microphone before you begin
[0:53] speaking so those listening at home can
[0:55] hear your comments and see you on
[0:57] camera. Can I get a motion for approval
[0:59] of the tentative agenda?
[1:01] >> So move.
[1:02] >> Support.
[1:03] >> Brander Horseman Stryland. Any
[1:05] discussion?
[1:07] Okay. All in favor, please say yes.
[1:09] Close. No. Mandy, please call the role.
[1:12] >> Yes.
[1:15] Cross.
[1:16] >> Yes.
[1:18] >> Motion passed. [clears throat] This time
[1:21] I get the honor of uh reading a
[1:23] proclamation recognizing and thanking uh
[1:27] Chad Hardman for 26 years of service as
[1:30] a fellow police officer as he's going to
[1:33] head into retirement. So Chad, would you
[1:35] come up here and meet me here? I'll read
[1:39] this proclamation.
[1:45] All right. Proclamation thanking
[1:47] Sergeant Chad Hardman for 26 years of
[1:49] service as Pella police officer. Whereas
[1:52] the city of Pella has been safeguarded
[1:54] by the steadfast commitment and
[1:56] dedication of its law enforcement
[1:57] officers. And whereas Sergeant Chad
[2:00] Hartman has exemplified the highest
[2:02] standards of professionalism, integrity,
[2:04] and courage as a member of the fellow
[2:06] police department. And whereas Sergeant
[2:08] Hart Hartman has served the citizens of
[2:11] our community with distinction for an
[2:13] impressive and commendable period of 26
[2:15] years. And whereas Sergeant Hartman's
[2:18] exemplary service has contributed
[2:20] significantly to the safety and
[2:21] well-being of our residents, fostering a
[2:24] sense of security, and trust within the
[2:26] community. And whereas Senator Hartman
[2:29] has demonstrated leadership, resilience,
[2:31] and commitment to upholding the
[2:33] principles of justice throughout his
[2:35] distinguished career. And whereas
[2:38] citizens of Palo a debt of gratitude to
[2:40] Sergeant Hartman for his selfless
[2:43] devotion to the protection of life and
[2:45] property. Now therefore be it resolved
[2:48] by the city council of the city of Pella
[2:50] Iowa that on behalf of the city council
[2:53] staff city staff and citizens of Pella,
[2:56] we acknowledge the outstanding service
[2:58] of Sergeant Chad Hartman and extend our
[3:03] heartfelt appreciation for his 26 years
[3:05] of dedicated and honorable service to
[3:08] the city of Pella. This is the first day
[3:11] of September 2026.
[3:14] Congratul All
[3:16] >> [applause]
[3:31] [clears throat]
[3:37] » right. At this time, we have opportunity
[3:38] for public forum. Anyone wishing to
[3:40] address council regarding any agenda
[3:42] item, please step forward with the
[3:44] microphone. State your name and address.
[3:46] Please limit your comments to three
[3:48] minutes.
[3:51] » Okay. Oh,
[3:58] » Anna Rupert, 1104 Key Street. Um, I'm
[4:01] here to voice my support for the
[4:03] proposed re uh rental inspection program
[4:06] on the agenda tonight as well as the
[4:07] revitalization committee. Um, I
[4:10] understand that Pellet is not yet
[4:12] required to have a rental inspection
[4:13] program because we are under 15,000
[4:16] residents, but I see that as an
[4:18] opportunity for Pellet to be proactive
[4:20] rather than reactive, especially given
[4:22] the significant amount of rental
[4:24] development being proposed through the
[4:26] Imagore urban renewal project. Imagine
[4:29] is proposing as many as 1350 rental
[4:32] units. Uh whether or not that entire
[4:34] number ultimately comes to fruition, I
[4:37] think it raises an important question.
[4:39] What do we want the standard for rental
[4:41] housing in Pella to be? This is an
[4:44] important issue because more than a
[4:45] third of Pella's occupied housing. Three
[4:48] uh sorry 37.4%
[4:51] according to the current comprehensive
[4:52] plan is renter occupied and Pella has
[4:55] experienced a shortage of quality rental
[4:57] housing for a long time. Like a lot of
[5:00] people who moved to Pella, I once was a
[5:02] renter and I have a lot of friends who
[5:04] are renters. Numerous renters I know
[5:07] from a variety of property owners and
[5:09] management companies have or are
[5:11] currently dealing with problems
[5:12] including sewage, mold, water damage,
[5:15] bed bugs, rodents, electrical hazards.
[5:19] Our 2015 comprehensive plan identified a
[5:22] rental vacancy rate of just 1.2%. When
[5:25] vacancies are low and the cost to own a
[5:27] home in Pellet is high, tenants have a
[5:30] very little leverage. With long waiting
[5:33] lists, high rents, and very few
[5:34] short-term lease options, there isn't
[5:36] much incentive for a landlord to make
[5:38] improvements, and tenants may be
[5:40] reluctant to report serious problems
[5:42] because they don't want to risk losing
[5:43] their housing or being unable to find
[5:45] another place. The uh the situation has
[5:48] improved somewhat. The current
[5:50] comprehensive plan draft identifies a
[5:52] vacancy rate of around 3.4%
[5:54] and suggests that rental demand may be
[5:56] declining. If 1350 rental units are
[6:00] eventually built, increased competition
[6:02] may encourage landlords to invest in
[6:04] more in their properties. But I don't
[6:07] think that we should rely on market
[6:08] competition alone to ensure that people
[6:10] are living in safe and sanitary
[6:12] conditions. We have already seen rent uh
[6:14] several rental properties and town homes
[6:17] included in the Imagine More urban
[6:18] renewal area identified as blighted. I
[6:21] can't help but wonder how much of that
[6:23] deterioration might have been prevented
[6:25] if regular inspections and basic
[6:27] standards had been in place earlier. And
[6:30] inspections provide a way to identify
[6:32] problems without putting the entire
[6:34] burden on tenants to speak up. That
[6:36] matters because renters may be
[6:38] particularly hesitant to report problems
[6:40] when their landlord is also their
[6:42] employer, school, or another institution
[6:44] with whom they have an ongoing
[6:46] relationship. People who want to live in
[6:49] Pella already pay a high price to be
[6:51] part of this community. I don't think
[6:53] that they should also have to pay a
[6:55] price in their health, safety, or
[6:56] quality of life. For those reasons, I
[6:59] believe a rental inspection program is a
[7:01] timely and reasonable investment in the
[7:03] long-term quality of housing in Pella.
[7:06] Thank you.
[7:08] [clears throat]
[7:11] » Anyone else?
[7:14] All right, move on. I'll entertain a
[7:16] motion for approval of the consent
[7:17] agenda.
[7:18] >> So support
[7:20] >> Benstra. Any discussion?
[7:23] >> Okay. All in favor, please say yes.
[7:25] Suppose no. Mandy, please call the role.
[7:28] >> Yes.
[7:29] >> Horse.
[7:30] >> Yes.
[7:30] >> Father,
[7:31] >> yes.
[7:31] >> Carl,
[7:32] >> yes.
[7:32] >> Motion passed. Moving on to resolution
[7:35] number 7110
[7:37] entitled resolution ordering
[7:38] construction of the north tower recoding
[7:41] and fixing a date for hearing thereon
[7:43] and taking of bids. Therefore, Mike.
[7:45] >> Yes, Mr. Mayor. I'd be happy to explain
[7:47] this item. And for those in attendance,
[7:49] I'd like to direct your attention to the
[7:50] big board for a brief presentation on
[7:52] this item. As Mayor Dwart stated this
[7:54] evening, what this resolution really
[7:56] does is it sets the public hearing date
[7:58] for proposed north water tower painting
[8:01] project that we have. So, this would be
[8:02] the paint the water tower that invites
[8:05] Lincoln Elementary School on it. And a
[8:07] little bit of background on the tower.
[8:09] It's roughly 3/4 of a million gallons
[8:11] tower on it as well. do for an exterior
[8:14] painting. Now, the engine engineer's
[8:16] opinion of probable cost on this power
[8:18] project is $675,000.
[8:21] Council to approve this resolution. What
[8:23] that really does is sits the wheels and
[8:25] motions for soliciting bid for the
[8:26] project. We'd hold the bid letting on
[8:29] the project on September 24th.
[8:30] Hopefully, we'll have a little bit to
[8:32] present to council on October 6th.
[8:34] That's the day of the public hearing on
[8:36] it. Council proceeds with the
[8:38] construction contract on that evening.
[8:40] We be looking at a final completion date
[8:42] of September 1st, 2027. Staff is
[8:46] recommending approval of the resolution
[8:47] this evening.
[8:49] >> Okay. Thank you, Mike. Can I get a
[8:50] motion for approval?
[8:52] >> So move.
[8:54] >> Brandon Horse Carl Stone. Any
[8:56] discussion?
[8:59] >> Okay. All in favor, please say yes.
[9:08] » Community
[9:10] like to go ahead and direct that
[9:11] question over to our engineer Bob Beans.
[9:15] >> Currently, because there's no logo on
[9:17] it, we've got it so that the it's a
[9:19] single color. The city gets to pick the
[9:21] color. So, it doesn't have to be white.
[9:24] Once the contractors picked, if you want
[9:25] to have a different color, you can do
[9:27] that. If you wish to add a logo to it,
[9:30] we can discuss that. But right now,
[9:32] because it was all white, the thought
[9:34] was we would start with that. But the
[9:36] color is to be selected by the city.
[9:39] Just for frame of reference, the actual
[9:41] painting won't occur until next summer
[9:43] when school's out. So we're bidding it
[9:45] now because we want to get on the
[9:48] schedule of biders because it's a very
[9:51] tight window. And so if you wait too
[9:53] long, that window will close. There'll
[9:56] be nobody available or the price goes
[9:57] up. So may seem like we're way ahead of
[10:00] ourselves, but we're doing that for a
[10:01] very strategic reason.
[10:03] We want to talk about a different color
[10:05] or a logo or something that I think at
[10:09] this point want to get the project out
[10:11] for a bit.
[10:13] >> Last time they painted just the inside.
[10:15] Is this inside and outside?
[10:17] >> This is inside and outside. And the
[10:19] paint on the outside is lead paint. Um
[10:22] so we've got when they when it gets
[10:24] painted there'll be a full like a canvas
[10:27] enclosure around it so that when they
[10:29] sand blast it off all of that will fall
[10:33] inside that containment. Um so that we
[10:36] won't have that they don't have to go
[10:37] around and pick up all any of that lead
[10:40] paint that gets blasted off. Um it may
[10:43] or may not be u
[10:46] in containment when they actually do the
[10:48] painting. If they want to spray paint
[10:50] it, they have to put the containment
[10:51] back up. If they want to roll it on,
[10:53] which and the wind has to be less than
[10:56] 10 miles an hour, there's an option for
[10:58] them to do that. They could do that
[11:00] without containing it. So it may it'll
[11:02] definitely be have a a canvas
[11:04] containment around it when it gets
[11:06] blasted sand blasted off the old paint.
[11:08] It may or may not when they put the new
[11:09] paint on.
[11:15] » Okay. Anything else?
[11:17] [clears throat]
[11:18] All right. We'll mo vote on the motion.
[11:20] All in favor, please say yes. Oppos? No.
[11:22] Mandy, please call the role.
[11:24] >> Yes.
[11:25] >> Carl,
[11:26] >> yes.
[11:30] Motion passed. Ordinance number 1091
[11:34] entitled an ordinance approving the
[11:36] addition of article 9.05 to the m
[11:39] municipal code of the city of Pella Iowa
[11:41] authorizing participation in the state
[11:43] of Iowa set off program. This is the
[11:45] second reading. Mike.
[11:48] >> Yes, [clears throat] Mr. Mayor. I'd be
[11:48] happy to explain the mayor stated what
[11:51] this ordinance proposes is participation
[11:53] in the Iowa set off program. Now, a
[11:56] little bit of background on the setup
[11:57] program. administered by the Iowa
[11:59] Department of Revenue and it allows
[12:02] public agencies such as the city of
[12:04] Pellet to recover past two debts that
[12:06] are owed to the city of Helen. The most
[12:08] likely sources of this could be utility
[12:10] collections. It could be ambulance
[12:12] billings that we've had been
[12:13] unsuccessful in collecting as well. But
[12:15] with that um there's a process that you
[12:18] would go through to enroll the debt with
[12:20] the state. And then what the state does
[12:23] is it checks for any individual that
[12:25] does owe money to the city of PO that we've enrolled in the program or
[12:28] submitted to the program. That
[12:30] individual has a state income tax
[12:32] refund, casino or sports wager wagering
[12:35] winnings, lottery winnings, any of those
[12:37] types of items before the state issues
[12:40] any dispersements on it, they would pay
[12:42] the debt that the individual owes to the
[12:43] city of Pella. So we view this as a
[12:45] win-win situation for the city of Pella.
[12:48] also hopefully allow us to get a higher
[12:50] percentage collection rate on our past
[12:52] few due receivables as well. So let's go
[12:54] ahead please Heidi.
[12:57] Now that first bullet point that we have
[12:58] up on the slide is the efforts city
[13:01] currently undertakes to collect past due
[13:03] debts on them as well. And with this we
[13:05] believe that this would be a good option
[13:07] for the city and collecting past debts
[13:09] to the city of Pelis. So with this we
[13:11] are recommending approval this evening.
[13:12] Mr. Mayor be more than happy to answer
[13:14] any questions the mayor council may have
[13:16] on this item.
[13:17] >> Okay. Thank you, Mike. Can I get a
[13:18] motion for approval?
[13:19] >> Some move.
[13:20] >> Mr. Carlstone. Any discussion.
[13:25] » Okay. All in favor, please say yes.
[13:27] Oppos? No. Mandy, please call the role.
[13:29] >> Yes.
[13:30] >> Carlson,
[13:31] >> yes.
[13:34] >> Motion passed. [clears throat]
[13:36] >> I'd like to make a motion that we
[13:38] suspend the rules and wave the third
[13:40] reading.
[13:43] » Okay. Sansra and Carl Stone.
[13:47] Is there any discussion on that motion?
[13:50] Okay. All in favor, please say yes.
[13:52] Suppose no. Mandy, please call the roll.
[13:55] >> Yes.
[13:55] >> Carlson,
[13:56] >> yes.
[14:00] >> Motion passed.
[14:02] >> Move to adopt.
[14:04] >> Support.
[14:04] >> Benryland. Branderhorse. Any discussion?
[14:09] All right, we'll vote on that motion.
[14:10] All in favor, please say yes. Opposed?
[14:12] No. Mandy, please call the role.
[14:15] >> Yes.
[14:16] Yes.
[14:17] >> Charleston.
[14:18] >> Yes.
[14:20] >> Motion passed. Can I get a motion for
[14:22] approval of abstract bills number 2206?
[14:27] >> Move to approve and issue warrants.
[14:31] >> Rander Horseman Stryland. Any discussion
[14:33] or questions?
[14:35] Okay. All in favor, please say yes.
[14:37] Pose. No. Mandy, please call the role.
[14:39] >> Yes.
[14:43] >> Carlson.
[14:44] >> Yes.
[14:45] Motion passed. Any council member have
[14:48] any other business you'd like addressed
[14:50] this evening?
[14:51] >> I would like to thank the police
[14:53] department for their quick response to
[14:56] the incident at the high school last
[14:59] week. To get there in three minutes is
[15:02] amazing. Thank you so much for what you
[15:04] do and [clears throat] staying on top of
[15:06] everything.
[15:09] I'd like to make an announcement that
[15:11] Thursday night here in this chamber,
[15:13] we're having a meeting about t tax
[15:15] incremental financing, explaining the
[15:17] ins and outs of it, how it's works and
[15:20] where it's useful and you're welcome to
[15:23] go
[15:27] six o'
[15:33] Okay.
[15:34] All right. Any member of the public have
[15:36] any other business you'd like to address
[15:38] council with this evening? If so, please
[15:39] step forward the microphone, state your
[15:41] name and address. Please limit your
[15:42] comments to three minutes.
[15:47] [clears throat and cough]
[15:51] Good evening, Ron Rosenville, uh, East
[15:54] First Street. U,
[15:57] I want to thank John for bringing up the TIFF program u that you're going to
[16:02] put out.
[16:04] That's that's uh that's great for once.
[16:07] I'm not going to yell at anybody. Um
[16:10] it's uh I think that's great. Everybody
[16:12] needs to know what that that is. And the
[16:15] last time I was here, lady was in about
[16:17] the library. I stopped by the library
[16:19] and took a look and
[16:23] they would write on everything they said
[16:26] library could use a little uh little
[16:27] facelift. So I'm in support of that. So
[16:31] hey, let's write this down on the
[16:32] calendar. Good night. [laughter]
[16:40] » Okay, seeing no one else, we will Oh,
[16:44] Harry,
[16:45] >> I was waiting to see if anybody else
[16:46] came up.
[16:48] >> Yeah, Harry, 725 Countryside Lane. Two
[16:53] comments on item I one. This trail
[16:58] that's being suggested, I think it's a
[17:00] good idea. I think that it's needed
[17:03] because otherwise traffic and vehicle
[17:07] potential conflict of bicycles and
[17:10] pedestrians through the parking lots is
[17:11] not a good thing. So should have a
[17:13] designated
[17:15] bike way or whatever. So I think it's so
[17:18] whoever came up with that thought had a
[17:20] good suggestion. I would encourage you
[17:23] to consider once it's in there possible
[17:26] lighting for it. It doesn't look like
[17:30] there's any lighting, but that's could
[17:32] be something that could be developed as
[17:34] we go. And then also on I2
[17:38] the whole revitalization
[17:41] grant committee report I'm a new member
[17:43] of that committee, but I did attend
[17:45] previous two meetings and I'd like to
[17:48] thank Councilwoman
[17:50] for her leadership and Mr. Nardini's
[17:54] staff support on it because they did a
[17:56] lot of analysis a lot of discussion when
[17:59] you look at that report
[18:02] you might look at it and think that it's
[18:04] over
[18:06] analysis etc but for a community that is
[18:08] developing it's something that's
[18:10] important and way back in my history I
[18:14] was in charge of program and it's
[18:18] important especially for safety
[18:21] health and safety code issues etc so
[18:24] I've told you that
[18:27] go ahead to continue
[18:30] and give direction to the committee to
[18:32] keep working. Thank you.
[18:34] [clears throat]
[18:40] » All right, seeing no one else, we will
[18:42] move into our adjourned policy and
[18:44] planning. Our first discussion item is
[18:47] the proposed trail connection at the
[18:49] sports park to University Street. So
[18:52] Mike,
[18:53] >> yes, Mr. Mayor, I'd actually like to
[18:54] turn the floor over to Mr.
[18:56] to explain the site. Council
[19:01] » with the construction of the indoor rec
[19:03] center extension of University Street,
[19:06] it appeared that there would be a demand
[19:07] for pedestrians and bicyclists to want
[19:10] to go from University Street down to the
[19:12] sports park. The plan right now is
[19:15] eventually there would be a trail
[19:16] connection on University to baseline and
[19:19] then south on baseline, but that's not a
[19:21] part of the current project. also that
[19:24] took pedestrian and traffic and
[19:26] bicyclists across the driveways of the
[19:28] pedest of the indoor rec center. So the
[19:31] thought was it might be a good idea to
[19:34] construct a trail from the trail that's
[19:36] in the sports park, the loop that's just
[19:38] north of the rec building up to the
[19:42] University Street. So that's what's
[19:43] shown in yellow. Um how that fits into
[19:46] the longterm plan is right now the trail
[19:48] on University Street would not go east.
[19:51] So we wouldn't have any trail crossing
[19:52] the
[19:53] really wouldn't go anywhere and
[19:55] eventually it would extend east over to
[19:57] baseline and south to baseline tie back
[20:00] into the sports park at that way but
[20:02] that's probably a few years down the
[20:04] road. So the current project would be to
[20:06] construct that trail. The goal basically
[20:09] alignment it follows just west of the
[20:11] parking lot on the west side of the rec
[20:13] center and continue south pretty much
[20:16] along the west broccoli line. If you
[20:18] back and look at the longterm plan for
[20:20] the sports park, there's two more ball
[20:23] fields that are west of the two westerly
[20:25] ball fields. There's also a drain that
[20:28] extends south. So we're trying to stay
[20:30] west of that. Stay out of many of those
[20:32] evergreen pine trees that are there.
[20:35] sort of in the west side of the unused
[20:37] area north of the rec building. So the
[20:39] plan is to go ahead and try to build
[20:41] that trail, get it open by the time the
[20:44] rec center opens next summer. The
[20:46] comment earlier about lighting, that's
[20:48] something we could consider. What we're
[20:51] trying to do right now is to get procure
[20:55] that contractor through what's called
[20:58] competitive quotation. So instead of
[20:59] going out for a formal bid similar to
[21:02] what we just you just did on the water
[21:04] tower, there's a procedure by which we
[21:07] can invite contractors.
[21:09] We have to by a minimum of three
[21:11] contractors to submit a price proposal
[21:14] at a certain time and then we would
[21:16] propose to do that later in September
[21:19] again. Come back to the October 6
[21:20] meeting, give the contractor the choice.
[21:23] They can either build it this fall or
[21:25] they can build it next spring. they need
[21:27] to be done by the time the rec center is
[21:29] done. And then
[21:31] we would suggest that you not
[21:33] incorporate lighting with it. It's it's
[21:35] almost two different kind of
[21:36] contractors. We're trying to appeal to
[21:39] concrete contractors who have small
[21:41] overhead who could give us a very
[21:43] favorable pricing. They couldn't do the
[21:45] electrical work. They'd have to
[21:46] subcontract that out. So we
[21:48] [clears throat] want to at some point
[21:49] consider lighting the trail. It's
[21:51] probably better just to go ahead and do
[21:53] a separate procurement for the lighting.
[21:56] because that way we're not paying to
[21:58] have one contractor mark up a
[22:01] subcontractor. The lighting may also
[22:04] push us over the limit which we couldn't
[22:05] use competitive quotations and that's an
[22:08] expedient process which we like to use.
[22:10] So we don't have to have a public
[22:12] hearing. We don't have to invite
[22:13] everybody to bid. We can select who we
[22:16] go out and solicit for. So because under
[22:19] competitive quotations the project
[22:21] wouldn't come to council normally
[22:23] similar to what just
[22:25] tower. The thought is it be good to come
[22:27] to policy and planning to see if the
[22:29] council had any concerns with moving
[22:32] forward with the procurement of the
[22:34] trail with the goal to get that
[22:35] connection in by the time the rec center
[22:38] opens next summer.
[22:40] >> So Bob question um
[22:45] the trail from with the extensive
[22:48] university is going to run on the south
[22:49] side of university right so this would
[22:52] be easy to hook into that once you get
[22:55] The trail right now runs on the north
[22:58] side of university to the schools with
[23:01] an intersection there. What have do we
[23:04] have a how how's that going to be
[23:07] addressed? The crossover
[23:10] uh
[23:13] >> to that
[23:13] >> that's a part of the university street
[23:15] project.
[23:16] >> Yeah.
[23:16] >> Brad, do you want to comment on that?
[23:18] might be he's the most
[23:20] knowledgeable of that.
[23:23] Yeah. So that crossing would be on the
[23:25] east side of 240th um from north to
[23:28] south across University Street and then
[23:32] following University Street um on the
[23:34] south side. And there is yeah
[23:38] there will be a cost savings on the
[23:40] University Street project. It was
[23:42] proposed to be extended over to Baseline
[23:44] Drive and so we have the exact number of
[23:48] feet that'll be eliminated but there'll
[23:51] be a portion of that eliminated from the
[23:53] University Street contract.
[23:55] >> So where the where you cross the road
[23:58] now and the trail goes north it'll just
[24:01] it will be right there then go south to
[24:04] Yeah, I think it I think it jogs just a
[24:06] little bit to the east before it crosses
[24:08] but it's at that stop intersection
[24:10] there.
[24:15] Okay, thanks Brad. [clears throat]
[24:20] » Any other questions?
[24:21] >> Just curious, what's the procurement?
[24:24] Um, is there a threshold where you have
[24:26] to go to bid versus doing this the
[24:28] simpler procurement method?
[24:30] >> If it's under about $68,000, we don't
[24:33] have any state procurement at about
[24:35] $225,000
[24:37] we have to go out to the competitive
[24:38] bidding. That's not the exact number,
[24:40] but that's really close to where it's
[24:41] at.
[24:42] >> Okay.
[24:42] >> So, we're out in the midway between the
[24:45] 70,000 and the 225. It's so we're in
[24:48] that mid-range.
[24:52] » Well, it's going to be a great addition
[24:54] to the sports park. The whole bike trail
[24:56] out to the sports park is an exciting
[24:59] part of this whole project.
[25:01] [clears throat]
[25:01] >> So, this will be great. Based on the
[25:04] discussion tonight, I think we'll move
[25:05] forward with the procurement and then
[25:08] we'll be back hopefully on the 6th of
[25:10] October with the results of the
[25:11] quotations.
[25:13] >> Okay. Thanks, Bob. [clears throat]
[25:15] All right. Uh we'll move on to the
[25:17] recommendations of the neighborhood
[25:18] revitalization grant committee.
[25:23] » Yes, Mr. Mayor. I'll be happy to explain
[25:25] this item. As Mayor Ward stated, um
[25:27] we're here to talk about the
[25:28] recommendations for the neighborhood
[25:30] revitalization grant committee that
[25:32] we're making this evening. Little bit of
[25:34] background on this. The council recent
[25:37] appointed originally appointed at this
[25:39] committee to make a recommendation on
[25:41] developing a grant program for low and
[25:43] moderate income families to identify
[25:46] initiatives um for improvements to their
[25:48] homes on it as well and also to identify
[25:51] initiatives to improve neighborhoods
[25:52] throughout Pella. Now, the first we have
[25:55] three things we're going to be here
[25:56] talking about this evening. Actually,
[25:58] multiple items that we're going to be
[25:59] talking about this evening. We're going
[26:01] to start off with the low and moderate
[26:03] grant um program that we have that the
[26:05] committee was originally charged with.
[26:07] Now, when we were originally appointed
[26:09] the committee, we started off with and
[26:11] we thought we had a revenue estimate
[26:12] over the next 15 years of about $1.5
[26:15] million in funds. where we're getting
[26:18] those funds was previously under state
[26:21] law through tax increment financing
[26:23] which is council member Butler says
[26:25] there's going to be a public information
[26:26] session on it this Thursday night on
[26:28] that under the old laws is for a grant
[26:32] award we had to dedicate a portion of
[26:34] those tax increment financing revenues
[26:36] and dedicated towards improving or
[26:37] assisting low and moderate income
[26:39] families
[26:41] recent tax legislation that was passed
[26:42] this past year by the state of Iowa
[26:44] eliminated that requirement and so we're
[26:47] no longer required and we've been
[26:48] advised by legal counsel, we cannot
[26:50] withhold those funds. So, in essence,
[26:52] when we looked at the committee's
[26:54] budget, we started off with an estimate
[26:55] of 1.5 million and thought we'd be able
[26:58] to do a lot of good with the community.
[26:59] We still can on it, but our funding
[27:02] source has changed. What it looks now is
[27:04] we have about $60,000 of funds available
[27:06] to support this. And so, the committee
[27:09] spent a considerable amount of time
[27:10] looking at our options and what we could
[27:12] actually do um with that. and we uh
[27:15] actually reached out. We developed a
[27:16] grant program and we thought about the
[27:18] administration of the grant program
[27:20] internally at the city and then we
[27:23] decided to contact Habitat for Humanity
[27:26] and talk options with them. And with
[27:28] that, we had a presentation from Miss
[27:30] Amy Meyer, that's the director of
[27:32] Habitat for Humanity, and it's also in
[27:34] attendance this evening on the ability
[27:37] to administer those funds for us and
[27:39] specifically the critical home repair
[27:41] program. We did included extensive
[27:44] summary of the critical home repair
[27:46] program in the council package as well.
[27:48] But that was the committee's
[27:49] recommendation. They felt that Habitat
[27:51] for Humanity had the framework already
[27:53] in place to administer a program to
[27:56] assist low and moderate income families
[27:58] in Pawa. And then also with the change
[28:00] in funding from 1.5 million down to
[28:02] 60,000, that's a significant decrease in
[28:05] the budget as well. So we thought with
[28:07] limited funds in the short term that we
[28:09] have with this that we the better option
[28:11] would be to contract Habitat for
[28:13] Humanity on this. And so before we go on
[28:16] to the next item of discussion, I'd like
[28:19] to turn the floor over to Council Member
[28:20] Brand Horse for any additional com
[28:22] comments on this or anything that I may
[28:23] have may have failed to mention.
[28:25] >> I think that you have uh covered it all.
[28:28] Um in speaking with Amy and seeing what
[28:33] her organization could do for our
[28:36] community, it was clear to us that the best selection was to partner with
[28:42] Attack for humanity and uh so I'm in
[28:46] full endorsement of that move.
[28:52] » Okay, let's go ahead and dive in number
[28:55] two. As we stated earlier in the
[28:57] presentation, when this committee was
[28:59] originally appointed, we started off as
[29:00] an LMI committee or lower moderate
[29:02] income committee along with an
[29:04] additional charge on any other
[29:05] initiatives that can help improve the
[29:06] quality of life and neighborhoods
[29:08] specifically in Pella. Now, one of the
[29:10] items that we did take a look at is we
[29:13] conducted a blight assessment of the
[29:14] Huber Street area. Now, when we talk
[29:17] about Huber Street, it's this area.
[29:19] We're looking at this red highlighted
[29:21] area up there on the Bayboard. And
[29:22] generally, it's south of University
[29:24] Street, east of Main Street, and it goes
[29:27] all the way down to north of Cuber
[29:29] Street, and just west of Carson Street.
[29:32] We hired a consultant to go out and
[29:34] review this area. Roughly, there's about
[29:36] 65 properties within this assessment
[29:38] area. Now what the consultants report
[29:41] and the finding on it included was about
[29:43] 55% of the property they felt contained
[29:46] item items of light in this
[29:48] neighborhood. So that's a significantly
[29:49] higher percentage when you look at this
[29:51] area on it. So Heidi, let's go ahead
[29:54] please.
[29:55] Now when we looked at the blight
[29:56] assessment and our committee spent a lot
[29:58] of time on the blight assessment really
[30:00] re researching what options actually
[30:02] work in communities if you're going to
[30:03] eliminate blight or reduce blight in
[30:06] communities. And what we found out just
[30:09] to summarize on this is there's no one
[30:11] approach that seems to work for
[30:12] eliminating blight. The most effective
[30:15] approach is multiple approaches to
[30:17] reducing blast a concentrated effort to
[30:20] do this. So what we have up here is just
[30:22] a few points um on approaches to blight.
[30:25] Now the first thing when anytime you
[30:27] tackle blight or you want to improve
[30:29] neighborhoods, the very first thing you
[30:30] got to know is where you stand within
[30:32] those neighborhoods. That was the
[30:34] purpose of the blight assessment on it
[30:35] to see what we're at, where we're
[30:37] actually at if the neighborhood was
[30:38] blighted, what percentage of properties
[30:40] were blighted under there as well. So
[30:42] for that first one, as it applies to
[30:44] Hubert Street, that neighborhood
[30:45] assessment we've already taken care of.
[30:48] Now, in researching this item, what a
[30:50] lot of places will tell you is that you
[30:52] need to strengthen your property
[30:53] maintenance codes. And this goes for
[30:55] nuisance abatement, weeds and tall
[30:57] grass, junk vehicles on it. City needs
[31:00] to take an aggressive stance on it. And
[31:02] that's been successful in other places
[31:04] also with dangerous and dilapidated
[31:06] structures as well. And that's something
[31:09] that for you know been fortunate I can
[31:11] say I've been fortunate to be city
[31:13] ministry for for a while now and I would
[31:16] say communitywide I've always felt that
[31:18] hey the community takes care of this
[31:19] issue and there's not a lot of blight in
[31:21] pel and we're very very fortunate but
[31:23] the issue is is our housing stock gets
[31:25] older in nature this could become more
[31:27] of an issue in the future as well and so
[31:30] the strengthening of the property
[31:31] maintenance code by the committee didn't
[31:32] make a recommendation on this item that
[31:34] should be an item for discussion at
[31:36] future council meetings to to look at a
[31:38] potential approach for reducing blight.
[31:41] We're going to talk about the
[31:42] residential rehabilitation program.
[31:45] Actually, we just did with Habitat for
[31:47] Humanity. The committee was recommending
[31:48] to contract with Habitat for Humanity
[31:50] for our main funds on that as well. Now,
[31:54] one item that keeps coming up and all
[31:56] the research on it when you talk about
[31:58] reducing blight, usually one of the
[32:00] first items that's being recommended is
[32:02] a rental inspection program on it as
[32:05] well. We'll talk about the rental
[32:07] inspection program in detail as well.
[32:09] But what the rental inspection program
[32:11] lets us do and in essence there's a
[32:14] strong correlation between blight
[32:16] neighborhoods and rental properties as
[32:18] well. What the rental inspection program
[32:20] would a do is identify how many
[32:23] properties we actually have that are
[32:24] rental units in the city of Pella. We'd
[32:26] also have a guaranteed actually a
[32:29] rotating site one when we'd inspect
[32:31] those rental programs for life and
[32:32] safety items as well, but someone would
[32:34] actually be on the inside of the units
[32:36] inspecting program. So, more to come on
[32:38] that here in just a little bit. The
[32:40] other approach to um reducing blight if
[32:43] you wanted to look at the rental
[32:44] inspection program and I call this the
[32:45] carrot and the stick program on it as
[32:48] well. So, if you wanted to take a look
[32:49] at the carrot is a urban revitalization
[32:52] area. We're going to be talking about
[32:54] that very very soon as it flies the
[32:56] Hubert Street area. But the thought is
[32:58] if you could encourage economic
[32:59] development or redevelopment in this
[33:01] area that would take care of some of the
[33:03] blight issues as well. So if you wanted
[33:05] to look at that would be the potential
[33:06] cure. I hate to use the word stick with
[33:09] the rental inspection program because
[33:10] there's a lot of benefits on it but that
[33:12] would be the code enforcement aspect of
[33:14] it as well. Now, one of the items that I
[33:17] think we've seen in Pella and that holds
[33:19] true in other communities and I think
[33:20] it's a big item for the city on a go
[33:22] forward basis and it's always been a
[33:24] huge it's always been a significant item
[33:25] for the city of Pella is to invest in
[33:28] your public infrastructure. If you look
[33:30] at neighborhoods when the city redes the
[33:32] streets
[33:35] actually improves the streets on it,
[33:37] improves sidewalks when there's
[33:39] additional landscaping green space areas
[33:41] around there that tends to really shape
[33:44] up and reduce blight in those areas.
[33:45] Now, I can think of the Huber Street
[33:47] area. If you looked at our capital
[33:48] improvement program, we have planned
[33:50] repairs, University Street, East First
[33:53] Street. There's also going to be an
[33:54] electrical underground conversion
[33:56] project on East First Street where we're
[33:57] going to be burying transmission lines
[33:59] around this area as well here in the
[34:01] next two years on that. And then we look
[34:04] at the Charles S. Far Charles Farber
[34:07] Park, which is the old power plant site,
[34:08] and what the city's planning to do and
[34:10] really turning that in from an old power
[34:12] plant site into what I is going to be a
[34:14] very nice public park as well. So, we
[34:17] have a lot of these items that we're
[34:18] currently planning for and I didn't even
[34:19] mention the storm water improvements
[34:21] that we're working on as well. But that
[34:23] is an important item as far as reducing
[34:25] blight is invest in your public
[34:26] infrastructure as well. So, in summary,
[34:29] when we talk about approaches to
[34:31] reducing blight, there's no
[34:32] oneizefits-all. It's usually a
[34:34] combination of approaches that you have
[34:36] to take to actually make a dent in
[34:38] blight. And this would be something that
[34:40] the committee looked at and we thought
[34:42] we kind of prioritized the ones that we
[34:44] thought would have the most impact on it
[34:46] overall. And with that, I think the
[34:48] census was that the city is has plans to
[34:50] invest in public infrastructure as well
[34:52] as landscaping with the Charles Charles
[34:55] Harbor Park coming in the horizon as
[34:57] well as the repairing of the electrical
[34:59] power line, storm water improvements and
[35:00] street improvements in this area. on
[35:03] this. Um it's a policy decision when you
[35:05] look at strengthening property
[35:07] maintenance codes and that be something
[35:09] we certainly could follow up on as well.
[35:12] But what the committee looked at the two
[35:13] items that we're currently not doing
[35:15] here would be the urban revitalization
[35:17] area and the rental inspection program
[35:19] and that's what we're here to talk about
[35:21] the rest of the program this evening. So
[35:24] with that, council member Brown, do you
[35:26] have any additional comments to add as
[35:27] far as reducing light?
[35:28] >> Nope. Good.
[35:30] >> Okay. I I had one question about the the
[35:33] study. Um you mentioned a couple of the
[35:35] commercial buildings and they actually
[35:37] put a picture of deriders there and then
[35:39] also mentioned Jimmy John's for for
[35:41] traffic going on to Huber. Did did they
[35:44] count those as part of the
[35:48] those properties actually assessed for
[35:50] blight or were they just comment
[35:51] commenting on that for generalities? I
[35:54] >> think generalities I'll verify that but
[35:56] I do not believe they were included. And then also on the map that they give,
[36:00] did they they talked about 36 of 65? Did
[36:03] they identify which ones on the map that
[36:05] we got or did they have a another
[36:08] supplemental piece that showed which
[36:10] ones that aren't attached here?
[36:12] >> I'm sure we can get that. Okay. Find out
[36:14] the detail on those.
[36:16] >> Okay. I don't need to see it, but I was
[36:18] just curious how they I was looking at
[36:19] the math how they came up with the
[36:21] numbers on that.
[36:22] >> Okay. I think they also Calvin looked uh
[36:25] in the in the blight assessment there's
[36:27] also a safety evaluation and so I think
[36:30] some of the the things uh like the uh
[36:33] photograph of the writer and the uh
[36:36] mention of Jimmy John's and going into
[36:40] business were part of the safety
[36:44] >> because they also looked at safety for
[36:46] children.
[36:47] >> I just didn't know if that figured into
[36:49] the math or not.
[36:50] >> Um no I don't believe it does. I think
[36:52] it's numbers of of actual lighted
[36:56] property, but then they do have a caveat
[36:59] in that study uh mentioning safety.
[37:03] So, it's a good point. Thank you.
[37:10] » Okay, let's go ahead and let's talk
[37:13] about kind of the continuation of the
[37:15] Huber Street area. And when we talked
[37:17] about economic development, economic
[37:19] development is very important in
[37:20] communities with it. And the thought is
[37:23] when you look at economic development,
[37:25] usually we're talking about urban
[37:26] renewal plans. We're going to be there's
[37:27] going to be a lot of discussion on urban
[37:29] renewal plans on Thursday night. This is
[37:31] another approach uh to for economic
[37:34] development. It's called an urban
[37:35] revitalization plan um with it. And so
[37:39] with urban revitalization, it has a lot
[37:41] of the same framework as urban renewal
[37:44] does on it. It's very similar as far as
[37:47] adoption. We'll have to formalize it if
[37:49] the council proceeds with an urban
[37:51] revitalization plan. We'll have to
[37:52] develop a plan document as well. There
[37:56] be adopted via there will be an urban
[37:57] vitalization ordinance as well. In
[38:01] addition, the notification requirements
[38:03] for urban arrivalization areas are more
[38:05] significant than urban renewal plans.
[38:07] There'll be actually in addition to
[38:08] advertising for public hearings, there
[38:11] actually be mailed notices to every
[38:12] property that's within this district as
[38:14] well. we move forward. So, it's a little
[38:16] bit more intensive as far as
[38:18] notification requirements of urban
[38:19] renewal, but the basic framework is the
[38:22] same. Now, overall, if you're looking at
[38:24] urban revitalization, we're talking
[38:26] about 65 odd properties. With urban
[38:29] renewal and economic development, we've
[38:30] been focused a lot on those properties.
[38:32] A lot of times with urban renewal, what
[38:34] you're looking at is one property owner
[38:36] that's developing their property on it.
[38:38] It's a little different when you go to
[38:40] an established neighborhood and you're
[38:41] dealing with multiple property owners
[38:43] throughout the area. When you look at
[38:46] those properties and my sense is
[38:48] particularly at the residential
[38:49] properties that you could potentially
[38:51] have if you wanted to try to accomplish
[38:53] economic development a lot of smaller
[38:55] projects instead of one large project
[38:57] there could be multiple small
[38:59] improvement projects as well. So what
[39:02] urban revitalization was most commonly
[39:04] used for in Iowa is tax abatement on tax
[39:07] abatements for new improvements within
[39:10] the area. And so what our committee
[39:12] talked about and these aren't set in
[39:14] stone. The purpose of tonight's
[39:16] discussion is to see if there's interest
[39:17] in going forward with council with an
[39:20] urban realization plan. So just taking a
[39:23] stab at this to throw something out
[39:25] there for discussion purposes. What our
[39:26] committee talked about is the projects
[39:29] that would be eligible for active date
[39:31] would be residential rehabilitation
[39:34] including additions and expansions
[39:36] construction of new single family to and
[39:38] multifamily residential housing as well.
[39:42] Now, I will say this, um, with it, we
[39:44] approached this from a policy
[39:45] standpoint. We certainly could have had
[39:48] more in-depth conversations on these
[39:50] eligible improvements, and there's
[39:51] different perspectives on things such as
[39:53] multifamily housing out there with our
[39:56] committee. But we thought that just in
[39:58] throwing putting these up for proposals
[40:01] that if council was interested in this,
[40:02] there' be additional discussions on this
[40:04] as well. Hopefully the NRG committee be
[40:06] able to share some additional feedbacks
[40:08] and additional recommendations if
[40:10] council is interested in going forward
[40:13] or further exploring an urban
[40:14] vitalization plan. The committee also
[40:17] talked about this item that we have and
[40:19] that's the fourth bullet point down is
[40:21] under state law there's a requirement of
[40:23] the urban vitalization plan will have as
[40:25] a threshold as far as the minimum
[40:27] improvement. I initially had the number
[40:30] proposed significantly higher than
[40:31] $10,000 for minimum improvement. Um the
[40:34] committee had a lot of talk and
[40:36] discussion about that and we settled on
[40:38] 10,000. Now whether that's the right
[40:40] number or not um that's up for
[40:42] discussion as well. There is a
[40:44] requirement under state law when you
[40:45] look at tax abatement that the
[40:47] improvement or the new construction has
[40:48] to lead to at least at least a 10%
[40:51] increase in valuation for the property
[40:53] as well. So how that plays into 10,000
[40:55] that would probably need further um
[40:58] further research on that as well. Now if
[41:01] we did we're going to move forward with
[41:03] urban revitalization plan and area on
[41:06] it. We could offer a maximum tax
[41:08] abatement under state law of up to 100%
[41:11] of eligible improvements for up to 10
[41:12] years. Now, this would exclude the
[41:15] school district levy. So, if you looked
[41:17] at the tax rate and backed out to
[41:18] school, you'd be looking about half of a
[41:20] typical property tax bill in which is
[41:22] significant. So, again, what the idea
[41:25] with this is you'd be incentivizing
[41:28] property owners to improve their
[41:29] property. You'd also be incentivizing
[41:32] developers to go into this area and
[41:34] potentially conduct smaller projects and
[41:36] improve the neighborhood as well.
[41:38] Hopefully with the goal of eliminating
[41:40] or reducing blight on it. That would be
[41:42] the ultimate goal with this. So Heidi,
[41:45] let's go ahead please.
[41:48] Okay, let's back up if we could please.
[41:50] So again, I mean I would tell you with
[41:53] urban renewal plans, we've done a lot of
[41:55] urban renewal plans, a lot of
[41:56] development agreements on urban renewal.
[41:58] I see the advantage of like this. If we
[42:01] establish an urban revitalization plan
[42:03] in an area and you identify the Heber
[42:06] Street area, I view a lot of just
[42:08] improvements could happen just
[42:10] organically without the city getting
[42:12] involved. It would just be handled down
[42:13] at the county auditors, county
[42:15] assessor's office when you look at those
[42:17] improvements. So the smaller projects
[42:19] could take place without necessarily
[42:21] having a development agreement with the
[42:22] city of Pella. And I think that's
[42:24] significant to it as well. And so the
[42:27] hope would be with the tax abatement
[42:29] that set up for smaller improvements.
[42:31] And again, what we're trying to do is
[42:32] incentivize economic development in this
[42:34] area. And so with that, I'd once again
[42:37] like to turn the floor to council member
[42:38] Brandon Wars to add any additional
[42:40] comments on this.
[42:41] >> Right. I think the most important thing
[42:44] uh to note is that the committee is uh
[42:47] focusing on developing neighborhoods
[42:51] uh getting individuals uh to get into
[42:55] these homes and send their children to
[42:58] Pella schools, shop in the Pella grocery
[43:01] stores and shops. It's it's about
[43:04] neighborhood revitalization just as its
[43:06] title is. It's about eventually seeing
[43:09] kids riding their bikes up and down the
[43:11] sidewalks in a safe and healthy
[43:14] environment.
[43:16] It's not if if you live in that area,
[43:19] which I do, it doesn't mean that we're
[43:22] going to have the bulldozers
[43:24] ready to go and sit at the top of the
[43:27] hill. No, we're going to walk alongside
[43:30] of of families that believe in this area
[43:33] and want to breathe new life into it.
[43:38] » [clears throat]
[43:38] >> So, it's the Habitat for Humanity
[43:42] Partnership you talked about, is that
[43:44] within this revitalization plan or is
[43:47] that something?
[43:49] >> Well, [clears throat] it certainly could
[43:50] cover it. So, we sent out letters right
[43:53] away to specifically to this district to
[43:55] let them know that our program is
[43:56] available to them. So, um, for the owner
[43:59] occupied homes, especially the ones
[44:01] under like $200,000 assessment, they've
[44:04] already been made aware that this is an
[44:06] option for them. So, um, some of them
[44:08] might take, you know, more work than
[44:11] that.
[44:17] » I think the humanity programs anywhere
[44:19] in the city.
[44:24] » Thanks. But we're certainly happy to
[44:26] target that area as well.
[44:29] >> Mike, [clears throat] when you talked
[44:29] about that 10% increase in value, do
[44:32] they use the assessed value as the
[44:34] baseline of preassessed value and a post
[44:37] assessed value?
[44:38] >> We believe so, but that's something we'd
[44:40] have to verify. Okay, Google council.
[44:46] » Okay. Any other questions about the
[44:47] urban revitalization plan? So, I think
[44:50] you're going to move into the inspection
[44:52] program.
[44:57] I should say is anybody opposed to
[44:59] pursuing that?
[45:05] » Okay, let's talk about the rental
[45:06] inspection program and with this again
[45:11] the committee was looking at it and we
[45:12] originally started discussing the rental
[45:14] inspection program when we looked at
[45:16] items that were successful as far as
[45:17] reducing blight. But when you look at
[45:19] the city and the growth of the city on
[45:21] it and with the rental inspection and
[45:23] we've been involved in I would say a
[45:25] little bit of background on on this as
[45:27] well, we do typic not typically
[45:30] occasionally hear about complaints from
[45:31] renters at the city as well. This seems
[45:34] to be an area that you know we're not
[45:36] quite at the $15,000
[45:38] 15,000 population, excuse me, level
[45:41] where we'd be required to have a rental
[45:42] inspection program, but we're bumping
[45:44] up. We anticipate bumping up that here
[45:47] in the next decade or so. Now, with
[45:50] that, again, for a population of 15,000,
[45:53] we'd be required to have this program.
[45:56] And what the committee looked at the
[45:57] rental inspection program and some of
[45:59] the difficulties the city's had on
[46:01] rental inspection. And we'll talk later
[46:03] on this evening about public safety and
[46:05] some of the issues with the public
[46:06] safety departments as well. But as it
[46:09] applies to blight, there is in other
[46:11] communities a high correlation between
[46:13] blight and rental rental properties, not
[46:16] only in the Hebrew Street area, but
[46:17] throughout the city of Pel. That could
[46:19] be the case as well. So other
[46:21] communities that are under 15,000, for
[46:24] instance, that have adopted a rental
[46:25] inspection program. This could be the
[46:27] city of Knoxville. This could be the
[46:28] city of Oscaloosa. This could be the
[46:30] city of Grenell. All of those cities
[46:32] have adopted the rental inspection
[46:33] program. A lot of cities have adopted
[46:36] just looking at life and safety, health
[46:38] and safety issues that are listed up
[46:39] here on the board. So this would be
[46:41] smoke and carbon monoxide alarms,
[46:43] electrical hazards, heating and plumbing
[46:45] systems, sanitation within the within
[46:48] the home, property maintenance items as
[46:50] well as structural items as well. So
[46:53] cities tend to focus on on those items
[46:55] when you go through. So, we're not
[46:56] looking to bring the entire housing
[46:58] structure up to code, but we are focused
[47:00] on life and safety issues and health and
[47:02] safety issues as well. So, let's go
[47:05] ahead, please, Heidi.
[47:08] Now, one of the benefits we think with
[47:10] the rental inspection program is a lot
[47:12] of rental inspection programs require an
[47:14] annual registration of all rental units
[47:16] within the city of Pella. And one of the
[47:19] items if you were to ask folks, how many
[47:21] exact rental units do we have in Pella,
[47:23] you always get this kind of good look.
[47:25] Well,
[47:26] on it. We don't have an exact count. We
[47:28] would have a handle on it, but that's
[47:30] not the sole reason for doing this with
[47:32] annual registration. I think one of the
[47:34] hidden benefits of this is we would also
[47:37] ask for a local property manager or
[47:39] emergency contract on it. So, when we
[47:41] have a public safety call on this, that
[47:44] information would be very very bene
[47:46] beneficial to our public safety
[47:47] departments and I'll let them talk about
[47:49] it here very very soon on that as well.
[47:52] Now, as far as the frequencies of
[47:54] inspections, the city council, that's a
[47:56] policy decision. The city council would
[47:57] have to decide how often we would
[47:59] inspect the rental units, but our
[48:01] committee talked about them. Most rental
[48:04] inspection programs are anywhere from
[48:05] two to four years initially on it as
[48:08] well. And the fees for it for the
[48:11] cities, there are some firms that
[48:12] conduct the rental inspection programs
[48:14] that the city would hire that they would
[48:15] bill out the property owners directly on
[48:18] it as well. Now, we did contact one
[48:20] contractor performs numerous rental
[48:22] inspections throughout Iowa. Their fees
[48:25] would be $125 for the first unit. This
[48:27] would be for the property owner and $50
[48:29] for additional units as well. So
[48:32] overall, we thought again we originally
[48:35] started on this as a blight reduction
[48:37] item, but there's a lot of other
[48:39] benefits with this as well. And I'd like
[48:41] to start off with if I could call on
[48:44] Chief Bogard of the fire department to
[48:46] talk a little bit from the fire
[48:47] department's perspective on proposed
[48:49] rental inspection programs.
[48:51] [clears throat]
[48:55] In a recent meeting I had with Mike, we
[48:58] discussed the public safety aspect of
[49:01] rental inspection program.
[49:03] Um for the record, fire department would
[49:06] definitely be in favor of initiating
[49:08] such program. I believe it helps serve
[49:11] as a leveling the playing field so to
[49:14] speak of all the property owners. To be
[49:17] clear, there are many, many good,
[49:19] trustworthy, responsible property
[49:21] owners, rental property owners in right
[49:25] now, they're already providing and even
[49:27] overproviding what's required. This
[49:30] discussion is really for those that
[49:31] aren't and they are out there.
[49:35] Uh, I discussed with Mike a recent call
[49:37] that we had where a young couple had
[49:40] rented a duplex, had only been living
[49:42] there about a week or so, and the young
[49:44] man noticed there was no CO detector
[49:46] present. He took it upon himself to buy
[49:49] one and put it into service. Two days
[49:52] later, all three agencies here responded
[49:56] to that unit with a CO activation call.
[49:59] We went in and discovered some of the
[50:01] highest readings I've ever seen. The
[50:03] furnace had malfunctioned
[50:06] and these folks might not have survived
[50:09] because it was in the middle of the
[50:10] night. They were sleeping. That
[50:14] activation woke them up. They took it
[50:16] seriously, called 911 and evacuated.
[50:22] Without the presence of that detector
[50:24] that he installed himself, the outcome
[50:26] would have been completely different.
[50:30] They were lucky. Consequently, we were
[50:32] lucky.
[50:33] I'm not comfortable relying on luck
[50:36] regarding public safety. I think we can
[50:39] do better. Thank you for listening.
[50:44] » Chief McH.
[50:49] » Yeah, the police department is very much
[50:51] in favor of this. You know, a lot of
[50:53] people look at public safety as siloed.
[50:55] You know, fire department, police
[50:56] department, ambulance. We're not. Um we
[50:58] all, you know, situation arises, we all
[51:02] come together and so we have a lot of
[51:04] the similar concerns and and actually
[51:06] the same issues
[51:08] from the police department standpoint.
[51:10] You know, I look at anything that
[51:12] improves the quality of life in this
[51:14] city, a positive thing. So, public
[51:17] safety, that's that's my lens. That's my
[51:19] focal point. Uh, also when we talk about
[51:22] contacts, there's there's just numerous
[51:24] times throughout, you know, different
[51:26] calls for service where we need contact
[51:29] information of who owns this apartment
[51:31] or who owns this house. And sometimes we
[51:34] don't have the luxury of time. And so
[51:36] having, you know, this compiled in one
[51:40] um in one section which would come
[51:42] through the police department, we have a
[51:44] very robust uh CAD system uh already in
[51:47] place. So we wouldn't have to spend any
[51:48] money to do this. uh is super important
[51:51] and I echo a lot of the same comments as
[51:54] chief
[51:56] >> take Boston.
[51:59] >> Um I'm also going to echo the same uh
[52:02] same views as Chief Bogar. I'm going to
[52:04] bring a remembrance to some people from
[52:06] about six years ago. We got called to
[52:09] the manor. You all know the manor here
[52:11] has a lot of individuals that live
[52:13] there. Um, and we actually we have
[52:16] carbon monoxide detectors on our bags
[52:18] and we were there for somebody that was
[52:20] sick and they were feeling sick and our
[52:23] alarms went off the minute we walked
[52:24] into that that building and we had to
[52:26] evacuate it. It was evacuated for
[52:27] several weeks while they fixed the
[52:29] carbon monoxide leak. Had we not had
[52:31] that luck of having a carbon dioxide
[52:34] detector on our bag and detecting that,
[52:36] how many people could have perished from
[52:38] that? And this could all be rectified by
[52:41] having a program where detectors like
[52:43] that are in place. So,
[52:50] and before we turn over our
[52:53] recommendation, council member Brander
[52:54] Horse, do you have anything to add?
[52:56] >> No, I I I want to thank each and every
[52:59] one of the department heads that spoke.
[53:02] Um, some of you um have been chatting
[53:05] with me about this for eight plus years
[53:09] and it it's not only time, it's past
[53:12] time and uh to Ry's point, you know
[53:17] what, one incident like that is one too
[53:20] many. So, appreciate your input greatly.
[53:27] I see the fees here, but what are the
[53:30] penalties for not complying? Are they in
[53:33] here somewhere that I read?
[53:35] >> Yeah, but that you didn't talk about the
[53:37] non-compliant or the reinspection fees.
[53:39] We had to verify that. So, if council's
[53:42] interested in the rental inspection
[53:43] program, that's kind of a nice segue.
[53:45] Council member Butler, if I can jump in.
[53:47] What our thoughts are is at the NRG
[53:50] committee, we talked about things on a
[53:52] broad policy level. We didn't into the
[53:55] details other than what we're talking
[53:57] about here. We wanted to make sure
[53:59] before we looked at additional details
[54:01] on it that council was in favor of even
[54:03] pursuing it in the first place. Other
[54:06] cities do have a fee for reinspections
[54:09] on those and it automatically triggers
[54:11] if you have issues. The follow-up
[54:13] inspection is given amount of time to
[54:15] the property owner to come into
[54:16] compliance on it. And so there are fees
[54:19] for reinspection, but this assumes a
[54:21] clean build first time the units
[54:23] inspected. But there would be additional
[54:24] fees if they had to come back out most
[54:26] likely. Okay. And I I would recommend
[54:30] random inspections, not scheduled
[54:37] because
[54:38] if they know the schedule,
[54:41] it's too easy to fix stuff.
[54:45] You want to correct stuff.
[54:51] The business I was in when I got in the
[54:54] grain business, we had random warehouse
[54:56] inspections. You never knew when the guy
[54:58] was coming. [snorts] You walked in,
[55:00] dropped his satchel, and you were under
[55:03] the gun. So, you know, just you can
[55:06] figure out how to do it randomly.
[55:18] » The one thing we have to think about
[55:20] There are some laws that since there's
[55:22] tenants there there there's a notice
[55:25] requirement. I don't I don't know if
[55:28] that can be overridden by state code or
[55:30] not but that just that's what a
[55:32] committee's for right to research this.
[55:34] >> Yeah. I think for tonight I think we
[55:35] might be digging too deep into details
[55:38] here. I think we expect I think
[55:41] >> I would assume based on the three
[55:45] >> Yeah. what we just heard that we want to
[55:47] move in the direction of establishing a
[55:50] rental program, inspection program.
[55:52] >> So, let's start there. Committee can
[55:54] work with staff,
[55:56] >> lay out the parameters, then we can
[55:58] start picking the parameters part if we
[55:59] want to.
[56:01] >> Because when I look up there, I think
[56:02] two to four years, if you only do it
[56:04] every four years,
[56:06] that would what good would that do? I
[56:08] mean the CO2 detector could go out
[56:13] three years and you know anyway but I
[56:15] think all those details we would
[56:18] anticipate coming back with an actual
[56:20] policy to discuss
[56:23] >> and to your point it is an incredibly
[56:27] detailed committee. Everyone on there is
[56:30] a detailed person and they will really
[56:33] rise to the occasion.
[56:38] Okay. So, just to make sure we're all on
[56:41] the same page, let's go. Excuse the next
[56:42] slide, please. Heidi. So, with that,
[56:45] staff is planning on proceeding with the
[56:47] LMI grant program, Habitat for Humanity.
[56:50] There'll be a formal contract. We
[56:51] already have a contract of Habitat for
[56:53] the program. We'll most likely have an
[56:56] additional contract for the remaining
[56:58] LMI funds that we will have on that.
[57:00] probably take that just for review of
[57:03] the NRG committee before it proceeds to
[57:05] county to the the council, excuse me.
[57:09] Two, um, with the urban revitalization
[57:12] plan for Cuber Street area, we'd like to
[57:14] go back to the NRG committee and talk
[57:16] about the details of that program before
[57:18] we hold another work session on it at
[57:20] council as well. And the last item that
[57:23] we have as far as the rental inspection
[57:25] program, we'd ultimately like to go back
[57:28] to the city council as well, but I also
[57:30] would like to to mention that we are
[57:32] planning on holding work sessions on the
[57:35] commercial building code, especi
[57:38] specifically on interior renovations on
[57:41] existing buildings as well. So, we had
[57:43] thought with that that time when we
[57:46] talked about enforcement and property
[57:48] owners that we would talk about the
[57:49] rental inspection program. Again, we
[57:51] don't have to do that. We can send this
[57:53] directly back to the committee and work
[57:55] independently of that sessions on the
[57:58] commercial building code independently
[57:59] of the rental inspection program. So, um
[58:03] with that, Mr. Mayor, don't have any
[58:05] suggestions. Well, I I just think based
[58:07] on discussion,
[58:09] uh, we definitely want the committee to
[58:13] hammer out more details about a rental
[58:15] inspection inspection program for
[58:18] >> for housing, rental housing, the
[58:21] commercial code. I see that as a
[58:23] separate discussion, commercial code,
[58:25] building code discussion. So I would
[58:29] expect the the committee to start having
[58:33] more discussions about the rental
[58:35] inspection program
[58:37] >> bring something council to actually
[58:40] approve.
[58:47] » Yes sir. Thank you.
[58:49] >> Okay. [clears throat]
[58:51] We'll move on to Pella Historical
[58:52] Society proposal regarding the trolley
[58:54] station. I see we have a few members of
[58:57] the historical society here. Uh are they
[59:00] doing this? Are you going to do it or
[59:02] >> I'll do a brief mayor before we turn the
[59:04] floor over and a little bit of
[59:06] background. The fellow historical museum
[59:08] is in the process of renovating and
[59:10] build Wells Fargo Bank that's located at
[59:12] 712 Washington Street. And here's their
[59:14] approved design commit by the city's
[59:17] community development committee to the
[59:18] building that we have up here as well.
[59:20] Little bit of background on the
[59:22] facility, including the hours of
[59:24] operations. It'll be seven days a week
[59:26] from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. And we do
[59:28] have listing of the exhibits inside
[59:30] there. Is important to note the building
[59:32] will contain proposed to contain public
[59:34] restrooms. What we're here to talk about
[59:36] this evening is a proposal that we've
[59:38] received from the public historical
[59:40] museums and specifically at the end of
[59:42] the discussion we're looking for
[59:44] direction if we want to move forward in
[59:46] drafting considering a draft contract
[59:48] with the historical museums on this for
[59:51] the public restrooms as well as the
[59:53] proposed alley upgrade that's being
[59:55] proposed. So, as far as their proposal
[59:58] this evening, what we're looking at in
[1:00:00] exchange for allowing the public to use
[1:00:02] public restrooms within their new
[1:00:03] building, they're asking or requesting
[1:00:06] an $8,000 stipen to help support the
[1:00:08] operations of of the public restrooms.
[1:00:11] In addition, the item number two, which
[1:00:14] is somewhat new to the city council,
[1:00:15] we've talked about this alley before at
[1:00:17] city council meetings as well. What they
[1:00:20] are proposing and requesting city do is
[1:00:22] take ownership and upgrade the alley
[1:00:24] that's along the northern boundary of
[1:00:26] the station as well. And I believe we
[1:00:28] may have a map of the alley here as
[1:00:31] well. So this is the alley that we're
[1:00:34] back here looking at as well. It's this
[1:00:37] green highlighted area that we have
[1:00:40] Wells Fargo building is located right
[1:00:43] over over here as well. So now as far as
[1:00:46] staff's understanding of this, it's our
[1:00:49] understanding that the property owner,
[1:00:51] the legal property owner of the alley is
[1:00:53] willing to donate the property to the
[1:00:55] city. The PEL his Historical Museum say
[1:00:58] a preliminary cost estimate for the
[1:01:00] alley improvements. They range somewhere
[1:01:02] between 60 to $80,000. If we were going
[1:01:04] to hire a contractor, the 80,000 would
[1:01:07] be as if we repaid it with a brick inlay
[1:01:09] on it as well. So from staff's
[1:01:12] perspective, we are looking for
[1:01:14] direction. Um there's a lot of details
[1:01:16] not on the historical society or the
[1:01:18] historical museum's part, but on city
[1:01:21] staff's part that we would need to firm
[1:01:22] up before we formally consider this
[1:01:25] item. So we're simply looking for
[1:01:26] direction this evening on it. Before we
[1:01:29] turn the floor over, we'll jump to the
[1:01:31] questions that we're going to be asking
[1:01:32] at the end of the presentation. So let's
[1:01:34] go ahead, please.
[1:01:37] If council would like to proceed further
[1:01:38] with these two projects and consider
[1:01:40] them, what we would do is we'd go back
[1:01:42] and we we would develop a project budget
[1:01:44] both for the public restrooms as well as
[1:01:47] get an updated cost estimate for
[1:01:49] upgrading the alley. One of the items
[1:01:51] that we're going to take a look at is
[1:01:53] whether we can do it with city crews or
[1:01:54] not. That would significantly reduce the
[1:01:57] cost of that alley down. So, we'll look
[1:01:59] at the feasibility on that as well. And
[1:02:02] we'll also have a draft agreement that
[1:02:04] we would work on with the historical
[1:02:06] museums as well, both for the restroom
[1:02:08] use as well as the alley project on it.
[1:02:10] And so again, we're simply looking for
[1:02:13] direction this evening. And as Mayor
[1:02:14] Dart stated, we do have representatives
[1:02:16] here tonight. I'm sure we'd love to
[1:02:19] speak and get their perspective on the
[1:02:21] project. So mayor before we turn the
[1:02:23] floor over.
[1:02:25] >> Yeah.
[1:02:26] Comments.
[1:02:29] » Well, my two cents worth. I'm not big on
[1:02:32] the brick. I'll leave it at that. You
[1:02:34] know, a lot of old people coming through
[1:02:36] there. Weather conditions, wet, ice,
[1:02:40] brick is sleep, slippery. We get a lot
[1:02:42] of comments on the downtown business
[1:02:45] district in front of the big trees and
[1:02:47] so on. I'm not big on brick and brick is
[1:02:50] more expensive. So you may disagree but
[1:02:53] that's my comment.
[1:02:55] We look at the press brick and so on
[1:02:57] that exists in Gell which is very
[1:03:00] attractive and it's not as slippery.
[1:03:08] » When is the renovation plan to be done?
[1:03:11] >> Our hope is mid March 2027.
[1:03:17] So, so my question kind of comes from
[1:03:19] back my first term that the question of
[1:03:21] the legal ownership of that alley was up
[1:03:24] for debate. Has that been settled?
[1:03:32] What I from the discussion I've had with
[1:03:33] Mike, the city attorney has has
[1:03:35] determined Ted Nancy actually in a
[1:03:38] position they could authorize the sale
[1:03:42] or the gifting of that ele
[1:03:48] » and they're willing to do that.
[1:03:49] >> Well, I think I'm I'm 100% in favor of
[1:03:52] moving forward
[1:03:54] >> because it's going to be with the
[1:03:56] trolley
[1:03:58] Yeah.
[1:03:59] >> Yeah, I agree.
[1:03:59] >> I look at the walkway to hit the salty.
[1:04:02] >> Well, I mean, downtown restrooms,
[1:04:06] we've all had that question a million
[1:04:08] times.
[1:04:10] So,
[1:04:12] yeah, I think we move forward with this
[1:04:15] project and get it done. [clears throat]
[1:04:17] >> I do, too. I I think that we've looked
[1:04:20] at this project before, but at that
[1:04:23] point, we were looking at a bank. We
[1:04:26] weren't looking at something that is a
[1:04:29] citywide attraction and this most
[1:04:32] assuredly is and it has great purpose
[1:04:35] and great aesthetic value. And I'm
[1:04:38] probably going to make Bob off his chair
[1:04:40] at this point because it's really hard
[1:04:42] to get a doubleian individual to change
[1:04:46] her mind
[1:04:48] and you all just saw it. But I do with this is very purpose driven now and
[1:04:55] We have our trolley driver here. So,
[1:04:58] >> make it much easier to drive in and out
[1:05:01] if they can go through that.
[1:05:03] >> Yeah. No, it's it's shows extreme
[1:05:06] creativity and wonderful project. So, I
[1:05:11] would be in support.
[1:05:12] >> Yeah. And I think Harold brings up a
[1:05:14] good point. I think get the get the
[1:05:18] ownership of the alley and all that.
[1:05:19] Then we can have a couple we can have
[1:05:21] some options on details about how to how
[1:05:24] to hard surface the alley from there
[1:05:27] once we get this other stuff done.
[1:05:33] » Okay. I think
[1:05:35] >> got support to move forward.
[1:05:37] >> All right. Thank you.
[1:05:39] >> All right. Any any upcoming items you
[1:05:42] want to point out here? Yeah, the next
[1:05:45] um actually the next meeting is going to
[1:05:47] be a rather long meeting that we have.
[1:05:49] There'll be numerous not maybe not
[1:05:51] numerous items items on for September
[1:05:54] 15th. We'll have the parks master plan
[1:05:56] discussion on that as well. We'll also
[1:05:59] have the pill municipal airport layout plan discussion
[1:06:03] for September 15th. And then we
[1:06:05] anticipate the other permit ordinance
[1:06:07] will be presented to council on October
[1:06:09] 6 as well as the investment policy
[1:06:11] changes or proposed changes to the
[1:06:13] investment city's investment policy on
[1:06:15] October 6th as well. So that's our
[1:06:18] upcoming project report.
[1:06:20] >> Okay, with that I'll entertain a motion
[1:06:22] to adjurnn.
[1:06:23] >> So moved.
[1:06:25] >> Answer Brandor. All in favor please say
[1:06:27] yes. Opposed no. Mandy, please call the
[1:06:29] role.
[1:06:30] >> Yes.
[1:06:32] >> Be in strike.
[1:06:33] >> Yes.
[1:06:34] >> We are ajourned.