[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:46] And good evening, everyone. Welcome to the regular meeting of the Mason City City Council. This is the first meeting of the new year, January 7th of 2025. I'm Mayor Bill Shickel, and the first order of business tonight is a roll call. Diana, would you call the roll? Lee? President? Adam? President? Ishesky? Misson? Latham? Simons? President? Let the record reflect that all members are present.
[1:16] Welcome everybody. We are so delighted to have you with us this evening. Welcome to Mason City's
[1:23] first annual state of the city address. Do you remember when you first learned to write a bike?
[1:31] You know, it was something that most of us could never forget. And no matter when that was for you,
[1:38] it may have been one of the first times you learned to keep moving and keep improving.
[1:43] continuing. Keep moving and keep improving, which is the theme of my remarks tonight.
[1:52] Ladies and gentlemen, Honourable Members of the City Council, City staff, Distinguished
[1:59] Guests, Citizens of Mason City. Here's the State of the City. 2024 was a breakout year
[2:07] for Mason City. In the new year, Mason City is poised to become America's new outdoor
[2:15] recreation destination with more amenities at a lower cost than any city in the
[2:22] nation. When we hold the grand opening for the Prairie Rocks Trail System, the
[2:28] destination Iowa Bike Park and the Riverwalk District will showcase recreation and
[2:34] and other opportunities for every walk of life.
[2:37] The closest similar facility will be Bentonville, Arkansas, which draws a thousand cyclists
[2:43] a week.
[2:45] So what does all this mean for you?
[2:47] If you're a cyclist or if you simply enjoy nature, it means fellowship, fun, and fitness.
[2:56] It also means visitors are helping to pay the, for our police and fire departments, street
[3:01] Department through the local sales tax. By the way, even if you're not a cyclist yet,
[3:08] it's never too late to try. I know I am. And here's the breaking news tonight. Ben Moldro works
[3:16] with the Main Street communities across the country. He recently told our team that City has the
[3:22] lowest cost of living for a community with our amenities than anywhere in the country.
[3:28] And here's a little more breaking news tonight.
[3:32] The Iowa bicycle coalition is announcing that Mason City will be a study for an economic
[3:38] impact report to be released in January, January 25th at the Iowa Expo in Des Moines, which
[3:46] draws about 5,000 people.
[3:48] Here's how Mel Drow put it.
[3:50] I've literally never heard of a community that has what you have.
[3:55] Preliminary estimates are that cycling generates $364 million in statewide economic benefit.
[4:04] At the Expo, Mason City will be showcased as a shining example of what's possible.
[4:11] Earlier this evening, Luke Hoffman,
[4:18] with the Iowa Bicycle Association, Iowa Bicycle Coalition,
[4:23] presented this map of our Prairie Rock Trails to the city in recognition of our designation of a case study throughout the state.
[4:33] And Luke Hoffman with the Iowa Bicycle Coalition and his team are with us this evening.
[4:38] Luke, would you stand and be recognized?
[4:39] Welcome, we're delighted to have you with us.
[4:48] Now I know you probably couldn't care less about recreation if you can't afford the price of eggs.
[4:54] And I know that the cost of housing is a dream killer.
[4:57] For more than a decade, housing construction has failed to keep up with changing households
[5:03] throughout the United States.
[5:05] This has driven a nearly 50% increase in the median household sale price.
[5:11] And rent is outstripping gains in local households.
[5:15] To cut housing costs, Mason City is building, building, building.
[5:21] It's been decades since we've seen this much building in Mason City.
[5:26] More than 200 units in just the past year.
[5:30] So what does all this mean for you?
[5:32] When you increase supply, it's just this simple.
[5:35] When you increase supply, you cut cost.
[5:37] In the new year, the City Council is planning on housing for residents, rebounders, and breadwinners.
[5:44] And with everything that we're doing, it's all going to be necessary.
[5:47] A city council goal for the new year is expanding housing availability of every kind in every price range.
[5:57] Our economic development team has even established a new housing development corporation with this very purpose.
[6:07] If you don't mind, would you allow me to share a story?
[6:10] Kathy was facing challenges, very challenging circumstances, to say the very least, the kind
[6:18] of dream-killing circumstances I was referring to earlier.
[6:22] Then she discovered habitat for humanity of North Central Iowa.
[6:28] She learned that owning a home might not be an impossible dream after all.
[6:34] Sure, it'd take blood, sweat, and tears, but today hope has been restored.
[6:41] I experienced the joy of celebrating her beautiful new home in the South Jackson neighborhood.
[6:48] Now a paraprofessional at John Adams Middle School, Kathy was able to enjoy with her daughter
[6:54] Abigail, her 11th birthday, in their new home yesterday.
[6:59] day. The darkness of despair today, there is the light of life in that neighborhood.
[7:06] Kathy and her daughter Abigail are with us this evening. Would you stand to be recognized?
[7:10] Please Kathy, Abigail.
[7:21] Another Madison Heights touchstone.
[7:28] Well, there is another Madison
[7:29] Heights touchstone and I'm going to tell you about it right now because Kathy is not
[7:33] alone, not at all. Another shining example is Kailara. Three years ago, she found the courage
[7:40] to leave in abusive circumstances. By this day, I was talking just a few minutes ago. By
[7:46] this time next year, maybe even before, Kailara and her three children will be living in their
[7:52] own four bedroom home in the New Madison Heights development. It's one of 13 beautiful new homes
[7:59] for Habitat and the Habitat and their partners, many of them here tonight are sponsoring in
[8:05] that neighborhood. Another Madison Heights touchstone is the community garden at park. I
[8:11] don't know if you've seen it, it's fantastic. The city, the school district and so many others,
[8:17] along with many, many volunteers, are honored to be able to partner in this inspiring undertaking.
[8:24] Yes, today it was an abandoned school site, today it's a neighborhood renaissance.
[8:30] We have Klara with us this evening, Klara, would you stand and be recognized?
[8:40] Along with Melissa and the entire Habitat team, Melissa and team from Habitat, Habitat, would
[8:46] you, can we show our appreciation, would you be recognized please?
[8:58] And I'd also like to recognize our city staff and our economic development corridor, toward
[9:03] Chad with the Economic Development Court or Shelley and everyone working on these housing
[9:09] initiatives in Mason City to all of our housing partners, thank you very much.
[9:16] And we've only just begun.
[9:19] Another case in point is the historic West Downtown neighborhood.
[9:24] The homes have already been renovated there and we're investing in lighting and landscaping
[9:31] and street improvements in this historic neighborhood.
[9:35] A new congregation is restoring the historic church at 318 North Adams, Pastor Eric Voss,
[9:42] stopped by a city council meeting.
[9:44] He spoke of focusing the mission of this new one church in Mason City to the immediate surrounding
[9:51] neighborhood.
[9:53] Yesterday it was a dilapidated building, today it's a vibrant congregation with restored landmark
[9:59] mark in a shining the brightness of new life in this historic district.
[10:03] Pastor Eric Voss is with us.
[10:05] Pastor, would you stand and be recognized?
[10:07] Thank you, Pastor.
[10:14] And what about our neighborhood schools?
[10:17] The Iowa Department of Education says Hoover Elementary in Mason City, listen to this now,
[10:24] scored the highest percentage of proficiency in the low of absenteeism of any school in
[10:30] the district.
[10:32] That's a big deal.
[10:33] Congratulations to principal Sarah Grimmand, everybody at Hoover, lighting the fire of learning
[10:41] in our future police, plumbers and physicians, teachers, nurses, and welders, all those people
[10:48] that we need so desperately here in Mason City.
[10:51] And of course hats off to NIAC for that 7% increase in enrollment and the new facilities
[10:56] out at Newman Catholic are absolutely stunning.
[10:59] A big shout-out to Sarah Grimm and everyone at Hoover Pat Hamilton.
[11:03] Thank you for joining us along with Bridget Eczman and all of our educators, Councilman
[11:08] John Lee, from the School of Joe Patterson, from NIAC.
[11:12] All of our educators can be sure appreciation to this great team.
[11:24] Thank you to the men and women who are stepping forward to protect and serve.
[11:31] Mason City hired a record seven new police officers this past year.
[11:36] I'm inspired by their enthusiasm and their sense of purpose.
[11:41] The support of family and friends I see among these men and women.
[11:46] It takes me back to when I had the distinct honor of administering their oath of office.
[11:52] How can their words not inspire you?
[11:56] On my honor I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character or the public trust.
[12:03] I will always have the courage to uphold myself and others accountable for our actions.
[12:10] I will always uphold the Constitution, my community, and the agency I serve.
[12:17] We owe so much to our great Mason City police officers.
[12:22] And by the way, you should see their new updated headquarters, their state of the art,
[12:28] along with the fire department headquarters, they're looking great.
[12:30] And so, what does all this mean to you?
[12:34] The improvements and the hiring of these great men and women.
[12:38] We mean we have the ability to attract others and great people that are protecting you and serving you.
[12:45] People like our outstanding new officers and recruits that are with us tonight.
[12:50] Officer Will, Elemanderas, officer Matt Clark, officer Kelsey Hammerstad,
[12:56] That officer, Brendan Van Horn, and new officers at the Academy, as we speak tonight.
[13:03] Officer Wyatt Portis, Tristan Rice, and Brendan Zahnel.
[13:08] Would you, outstanding officers, please stand up and be recognized.
[13:11] Thank you so much for your service.
[13:23] Thank you, Chief Brinkley, and thanks to all of our officers.
[13:27] Speaking of public safety, once in a generation rebuilding is underway on Highway 65 South, you probably notice that.
[13:35] Reconstruction of Highway 122 West in the Mercy Quarter will begin this spring.
[13:41] What does this mean for you?
[13:42] The two-year project means a beautiful new gateway to Mason City, better medical center access.
[13:49] It'll also improve signalization, traffic flow, and pedestrian access in that area.
[13:56] And don't panic, there'll be two way head-to-head traffic pattern during the whole time through there.
[14:00] you'll be able to get through that area with easy access to the medical clinic during
[14:04] that whole time.
[14:07] And oh, by the way, we opened a new airport terminal, renewed a three-year contract with
[14:12] the United Airlines for direct service to Chicago.
[14:17] A $15 million downhound Kinses Hot Petality Hotel is set for groundbreaking this summer.
[14:25] Overlooking the new Riverwalk District, it'll be linked to the legendary Music Man Square
[14:30] with a convention hall in the old Yonkers location.
[14:36] Along with the first time ever community ownership,
[14:41] life and lighting are returning to the mall.
[14:44] Four new businesses have located there
[14:46] and just recently with Mordecaum.
[14:57] This year we'll put the finishing touches
[14:59] is on.
[15:00] On our River City, Renaissance, which will dovetail perfectly with our plans to become an outdoor
[15:06] recreation destination. And it seems that everybody is following Mason City's lead. Just look
[15:12] at the headlines.
[15:15] No wonder IEDA gave Mason City its covered a thriving community designation.
[15:24] The PRT Trail System, destination Iowa Bike Park and Riverwalk District, opening all this
[15:31] summer will be touchstones of healthy outdoor recreation for young and old alike in Mason City.
[15:39] I met a dad. He was with his son out on the Evans Preserve Trail. He said that trails like this are
[15:47] helping keep young people out of trouble. Here's how he put it to me. He said, if we had something like
[15:52] this when I was a boy, I probably wouldn't have gotten in the trouble that I did. Evans preserve
[15:57] of yesterday a magnet for littered drugs and crime today a tapestry of
[16:02] transformation tomorrow and enhanced natural habitat and gorgeous recreation
[16:08] destination but it gets even better. Evans Preserve is one of a dozen new about a
[16:14] habit dozen new world-class PRT trails in Mason City. By the way don't you
[16:20] love the names the rapids the riverwalk the river hawk the brickyard the the
[16:25] Little Hawk, and another one, the Murphy-Chapark Trail with a new Winnebago River Footbridge is
[16:31] generating waves of excitement. It'll attach them used nor a softball complex to the
[16:37] new script road trail all the way out to the NIAC trails all the way out on the east.
[16:43] Scores of young people and people in general are walking and getting healthy
[16:47] on the PR tree trail system already. Even before they're finished, people like the students from
[16:54] John Adams Middle School, better known as the Adams Ambassadors.
[16:59] Thank you, Adams Ambassadors and Principal Laurie Curtis and Missy and the whole gang
[17:04] for being with us this evening.
[17:06] Can we show our appreciation to these partners?
[17:08] Would you stand and be recognized by the Adams Ambassadors?
[17:22] This brings me to the main point.
[17:25] Lies are being changed for the better.
[17:28] Yes, we're building awesome amenities here in Mason City.
[17:31] But we're also building what I call human capital, human potential, the most vital asset any community can have.
[17:40] It's the very, very best return on investment possible.
[17:45] The investment in this case happens to be a $4.5 million destination Iowa grant.
[17:51] If you're excited about what we've talked about so far, just wait till you see what's happening with our destination Iowa Bike Park
[18:01] up in the north end by the way.
[18:03] Yesterday an abandoned meat packing plant,
[18:06] tomorrow America's new outdoor recreation destination.
[18:10] Situated at the southern tip of the 500 acre
[18:14] lime creek conservation area,
[18:17] a two-story shelter house draws its inspiration
[18:20] from local prairie school architecture,
[18:22] be watching for the grand opening date this summer.
[18:26] Thank you to Matt Curtis and everyone
[18:29] from North Iowa Human Power Trails, the Active Living and Transportation Commission with us tonight.
[18:38] Members of the Park Board, Mason City Park Board, Lindsay and everybody from Visit Mason City.
[18:43] I see a lot of the board members here.
[18:46] Thank you for your participation in this partnership.
[18:49] Can we show our appreciation to these great people?
[19:01] There's even more excitement at our new Southern Gateway, just south of the mall.
[19:06] A long-held dream coming alive before our very eyes.
[19:11] Yesterday, an eye sore, today, a total transformation.
[19:16] The new Mason City Riverwalk District will showcase stunning artwork and landscaping,
[19:22] celebrating the rich heritage of music, art, and nature that we have right here in River City.
[19:29] Two shaded, the tree shaded trails with rotating sculptures on parade will highlight the water
[19:35] foreign plaza. Harmony and light is a centerpiece sculpture by the renowned
[19:40] Habakazo Studios. It takes its inspiration from Mason City's incredible cultural
[19:46] heritage. Laser-cut cylinders resembling sound waves will feature prairie
[19:52] school tapestry of daylight shadows and nighttime lighting. You know what is
[19:57] Frank Lloyd Wright himself that said describe the relationship between music,
[20:02] architecture and nature as a language beyond all words.
[20:06] So what does all this mean?
[20:07] What does it all mean for you?
[20:11] With the grant opening this summer, the New River Walk District offers a profound opportunity
[20:18] for connection, discovery, and recreation.
[20:22] Not to mention more people chipping in to pay for things like police and fire in our local
[20:27] option sales tax.
[20:29] It will all be linked by the High Line Trail through the heart of Mason City.
[20:33] We're privileged to have with us tonight the architect for the River Walk, a Christy King along with Joe Andersren from Berglinton Cram here in Mason City.
[20:42] Artistic advisors, Peggy Bang and Joe Hardinger, would you, the gang from Berglinton Cram and all of you please stand up and be recognized.
[20:48] Thank you.
[20:59] At the dedication for Evans Preserve I talked about how our trails are linking and connecting our community.
[21:07] tonight I talked about building human capital. Both are linked. When we come
[21:13] together in support one another we are a flourishing community, a safe amenity
[21:20] rich community destination with the lowest cost of living. To see the promise of
[21:27] Mason City look not at our amenities beautiful as they are, rather look in the
[21:33] mayor and say and ask what can I do every day in every way to make this city we love better and better and better.
[21:45] Keep moving, keep improving Mason City. Thank you, congratulations and God bless.
[21:51] Thanks,
[22:02] and we'll take a 15-minute races.
[36:23] And
[36:33] good evening, once again, we'll continue with the rest of the city council meeting. Now, the next item of business is the adoption of the agenda. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? So moved, motion in the second discussion. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. All those opposed, same sign, the motion carries.
[36:54] Next is the public form. This is your chance to publicly comment on any item that is on the agenda. If there's an agenda item that you would like to comment on,
[37:02] You can step to the podium now, state the number of that item and the floor is yours.
[37:11] Here's no public comment at this time, close the public hearing and I'll move to the regular consent agenda.
[37:19] We have the minutes followed by the claims and the permits and the November financial report.
[37:26] Then item number six is the administrator recommending approval for authorization to be able to provide block parties close off streets for
[37:34] block party a certain time during 2025. Item 7 is a resolution adopting the policy
[37:40] agenda and work plan for the calendar year, 2526, great plan, a lot of work by the
[37:45] city council put into that, a lot of things I was able to talk about a few minutes
[37:49] ago or square in there. Item number 8 is a resolution approving and order, a change
[37:56] order with Hinkle construction for the Mason City Fire Department dormitory
[38:01] addition and item nine is a resolution accepting work and ordering payment.
[38:07] This is for the 12th Street Northeast Bridge replacement and the 12th Street Northwest and 19th Street Southwest bridge rehabilitation projects.
[38:18] Those are done now some great infrastructure work in Mason City.
[38:21] 9a and 9b, 9a is hiring Ethan Blanchard as a police officer.
[38:26] 9-B is hiring Kira Quinn, Jordan, as an accounting and reporting analyst.
[38:34] Members, those are the items on the consent agenda.
[38:37] Any that you would like to act on separately?
[38:39] Number eight.
[38:44] With the exception of item number eight, is there a motion to approve the agenda?
[38:49] We have a motion by Councilman Yushesky.
[38:51] Second.
[38:52] Second by Councilman Latham.
[38:55] Diana, would you call the roll?
[38:57] Yushesky?
[38:58] Latham?
[38:59] Yes.
[38:59] Simmons?
[38:59] Yes.
[39:01] Miss Saan.
[39:01] Yes.
[39:02] Adams Lee.
[39:03] Yes.
[39:04] The motion carries.
[39:05] Thank you.
[39:05] Move to item 8.
[39:06] A resolution approving.
[39:07] A change order.
[39:08] Do we have a motion?
[39:09] Move approval.
[39:10] Motion by Councilman Adams.
[39:12] Seconded by Councilman Yuchesky.
[39:14] Councilman Adams.
[39:15] Chief, just a question.
[39:16] So there's nine change orders in this.
[39:18] A lot of them are relatively small.
[39:21] In terms of overall cost of the project.
[39:23] Plumbing and electrical work for most part.
[39:25] The large one is like $168,000.
[39:30] It looks like for an alert call system that wasn't a part of the base bid, just go over
[39:37] what it is and why it's being added if you don't want to.
[39:39] You bet.
[39:40] So the alert call system will ultimately manage the station lighting, the security features,
[39:47] the audio system throughout the entire building, and a few years ago, we had initially planned
[39:52] for adding an alert call system to the original building, just the original building, and we
[39:57] We actually had a CIP set for that, and it was approved.
[40:02] We held off on that project when we started planning for a station renovation.
[40:06] We were considering that this could get much bigger.
[40:09] The project could be much bigger, and we would need more parts of that system built out.
[40:15] So now that we have all the living spaces being renovated with the addition as well, just
[40:20] for it to be a good time to have a station wide replacement of the audio system that will
[40:25] allow for the station alert tones.
[40:27] We have paging and the door chimes,
[40:29] again tied into the security system
[40:31] to put in at this time, excuse me.
[40:34] There's a, with a technology that's in place right now
[40:37] would be a bit difficult, well pass difficult,
[40:40] to tie into it with the features that we want in the system.
[40:44] Basically, the way it was described to me
[40:46] is what we have in place is a two-wire speaker system.
[40:49] So it basically allows you to output sound.
[40:52] And with the new system, it needs to have addressable speakers.
[40:56] So the entire system, I believe, will have 44 speakers, 19 individual, individually
[41:05] zoned areas.
[41:07] There will be tied to the Security Alert button so that they're addressable as well, so
[41:13] that if we, you can call it a panic button throughout the station at different locations,
[41:19] to hit that button, it'll actually address the location of it.
[41:23] We realize now that we have such a much larger footprint, it's a longer walk to get or
[41:28] a longer run to get to those locations, so we want that to be addressable as well.
[41:32] Most of that technology wouldn't be able to tie into what we have existing, so we really
[41:38] need to have that upgrade and just do the entire building as we're going through it.
[41:43] The apparatus Bay, I should mention, was one of our biggest concerns.
[41:46] We were trying to figure out a way to kind of patch old and new technology, however, the way the Kusik's work in the apparatus bay, it's near impossible.
[41:55] Even from the beginning when they put the new system in there years ago, you really can't hear the paging that's going on.
[42:02] And the crew is actually being held up a little bit time-wise.
[42:07] They're going back inside the regular quarters of the building to hear the page and then go back out to their trucks so they can hear the information.
[42:14] It will have selectable zone pages so that if we want to address just a portion of the
[42:22] building, we can do that as well.
[42:24] We can pick an individual room or an individual zone and everything in that system will then
[42:28] be what I would assume to be upgradable for many years to come.
[42:33] Right now the way we're at, there's no way for us to upgrade into that system.
[42:37] All right.
[42:37] Thank you.
[42:38] Appreciate it.
[42:40] Further comment to Councilman Lee.
[42:43] That's much to chief just overall we've this is our third or fourth change where we
[42:48] add over on the budget of this project compared to what was approved.
[42:55] Yeah absolutely so as the chief said we did identify we had a capital project that money
[43:04] was set aside for a address system.
[43:08] We also had another fire truck project that we had some leftover money from.
[43:13] So essentially, we're not quite close to or quite to fully funded on it.
[43:21] We're going to have a little bit of an overage overall, about $30,000, but-
[43:26] 30,000 are a project of what size?
[43:29] This is a $7 million or $6 million project.
[43:33] That's pretty much yeah, yeah, yeah, so we're so yeah, we're making it work and ultimately they're getting the facility
[43:39] They need which is the most important part. All right, thank you for their discussion
[43:45] Motion and second on the floor Diana. Would you call the roll on first reading
[43:53] Excuse me on item
[43:55] Yes, I'm on item number eight. Excuse me. Adams. Yes. Yes. You shes key
[43:59] Yes.
[44:00] Laytham.
[44:00] Yes.
[44:01] Lee.
[44:02] Yes.
[44:02] Miss Saan.
[44:03] Yes.
[44:04] Simmons.
[44:04] Yes.
[44:05] Motion carries.
[44:06] Thank you.
[44:07] We have three items under an additional public hearing.
[44:10] First is an amendment to the zoning code regarding zoning at 1,012th Street, northwest in
[44:17] Mason City.
[44:18] First reading here.
[44:19] Here.
[44:20] Do we have any public comment at this time on the recommended zone change here?
[44:25] here,
[44:28] here we'll close the public hearing and I would accept a motion on first reading.
[44:35] So moved.
[44:36] Motion by Councilman Latham.
[44:37] Second.
[44:38] Second by Councilman Gisewski discussion.
[44:41] I just, I visit with Aaron a little bit and I have a couple of reservations here, 12th
[44:47] and that's a busy corner but I guess I just wanted to make sure that there was a plan
[44:56] to make that operable corner.
[45:00] So that we don't have hold up, which we have now, and an accident, all the time, people pulling out from each other because it's going to be straight across. So. Yeah, that intersection was a priority. And that's why this was originally delayed was to consider the improvements that needed to be planned for with that intersection. Obviously with the development in this area, and already poorly performing intersection,
[45:28] would be further challenged by putting even more traffic
[45:32] through that area.
[45:34] So engineering has been working with WHKS on a plan
[45:37] for that area, and I think we'll be able to make it safer
[45:41] just generally and then also accommodate the increased
[45:44] traffic flow.
[45:45] So thank you.
[45:48] Further discussion?
[45:49] Councillor Cheskey.
[45:50] I have a question.
[45:51] How much farmland is being absorbed into the,
[45:54] how you've involved in this?
[45:56] Any idea?
[45:58] A lot of the better.
[46:00] About
[46:05] five acres.
[46:06] Exactly.
[46:07] It's not a problem.
[46:08] It's a pasture.
[46:10] A wet spot.
[46:11] The people who have a calendar.
[46:13] Okay.
[46:14] All right.
[46:14] Thank you.
[46:15] Is there any further comments?
[46:17] Yes.
[46:18] Cosmonly.
[46:19] Cost of looking at the street.
[46:21] And I'm assuming two are in curb.
[46:24] And what's the cost here?
[46:26] It's coming from our pocket.
[46:27] Is the new developer going to have any?
[46:30] I mean, instead of to pay, I mean, what's long-term, the reason I may have to happen, but I'm just curious on the, where's the money coming from or long-term in the next two years from us?
[46:41] I'll talk about the money.
[46:44] Works for me. I'm just curious on both of them.
[46:48] So we have identified funding in the proposed CIP that we will bring you.
[46:55] actually by the end of this week I'll have that CIP information to you. So we're
[47:00] planning on design in this coming fiscal year and then construction in
[47:05] fiscal 27. So it'll come through with the IP, the CIP. Yes, yep we've got that
[47:10] built into the city CIP. All right you want to talk about what's going to be
[47:14] needed there? I'm sure we're probably in the early stages but what do you
[47:18] foresee? Yeah we're in the very early stages there. We've looked at different
[47:23] options for intersection improvements there and because it is a T intersection, it's not so conducive to having like a signalized intersection, so we are looking at the idea of around about there, we think that with the traffic flow through that area, we think that is a good option to keep traffic moving and to incorporate into that, a leg that will service the development that is proposed to go on that north-west.
[47:53] of the intersection. So I've been working with WHCAS on that. We have not started any kind
[48:00] of design other than laying out some figures to see what that would look like and what
[48:05] kind of property acquisition would be needed and all of that. So we've got a pretty good
[48:09] handle on that. I've submitted a sheet for the capital program for you to review here coming
[48:16] up. You'll know those are coming to you shortly. Then in addition to the funding, I have a
[48:22] meeting later on this month with the group at Nyacog and the city does have some federal
[48:28] funds that are banking up over there, so we're going to look and talk about possibly
[48:35] incorporating some of those into that project. Also with that project, yeah, there are some
[48:42] minor utility adjustments for the city. There should not be anything. That's too major
[48:49] But there is some alliance work that is is major that's going to have to be done there and I'm we've started conversations with them
[48:57] Just to kind of give them a heads up and let them know what we're looking at and talking about
[49:03] So as soon as we can get some preliminary
[49:06] plans on paper
[49:08] They will start doing some planning on as well. So I just got a question on this whole process
[49:14] I don't know I think I'm mark I think this deals with you. This might be
[49:18] But the process here, we're looking at rezoning.
[49:21] There's nothing to do with the potential business coming in and all that.
[49:26] Because we could rezone and do nothing.
[49:30] Because I'm just concerned about the cost.
[49:32] And I don't want to prove something and then I hate to cost down the road with the CIP and budget and all that.
[49:39] So we're going to prove these zoning.
[49:42] But yet, is there a development deal with this company coming in with taxes and all that?
[49:46] But I'm assuming they're going to want, there's no deal that's attached to it.
[49:51] They would construct, but there's no incentive for me to sit here.
[49:53] Tax they won't?
[49:54] No.
[49:54] Okay.
[49:55] I just want to see all that.
[49:57] All right.
[50:00] I support this, and we're just sitting there.
[50:04] Yeah.
[50:05] Okay.
[50:05] Yeah.
[50:05] I'm fine with this tonight.
[50:07] Further discussion?
[50:09] Councilman Adams, then we'll go to Aaron.
[50:10] So to follow up to Councilman Lee's the way I'm hearing Mark and Brent explained the city is going to bear the full cost of the road and
[50:19] utility improvements. That would be correct. The intersection, I mean honestly the intersection has been a source of a lot of
[50:27] conversation over the last four years. It's probably the stretch of road that I get the most complaints on in the, I don't know, from the
[50:36] council member standpoint, but there are a lot of complaints, frankly from a traffic control,
[50:41] speed control situation, I think the traffic coming in from curries, that not from curries,
[50:48] but from the direction of curries, is coming at a high rate of speed that doesn't slow down
[50:53] nearly the rate that they need to. So you've got high speed traffic, higher speed traffic coming
[50:59] from the west traveling east, and then the traffic coming from the east, you've got a lot
[51:05] of employers out there so you get when shift changes and things along those lines it gets
[51:10] to be very busy. And then you've got a residential neighborhood immediately adjacent to it.
[51:15] So I think just from a traffic control standpoint, the project's warranted regardless of the
[51:20] development.
[51:23] Furthermore, the consideration of pedestrian movements and non-vehicular traffic,
[51:30] We did have a significant accident out there.
[51:34] It wasn't related to crossing at this intersection, but it does highlight that that stretch of
[51:40] road is not really an ideal stretch of road to have a bite or pedestrians on.
[51:47] So getting people in a more safe manner across 12th will be an additional benefit of doing
[51:53] this improvement, you know, and then in the future extending out that trail, that's part
[51:59] of the conversation that Mark is already having with curries and some of the other property
[52:04] owners out there.
[52:06] That's right.
[52:08] Further discussion?
[52:09] Yeah, Mark.
[52:10] If I can just add to what Aaron's saying, yeah, this development isn't driving this project
[52:15] at all.
[52:16] This is something that we've been looking at for many years.
[52:19] And it's two minor arterials for me in a T intersection, which is it's just not a good
[52:25] situation.
[52:25] And it does, it's not set up, you know, it's not a good set up for, like I said, a signalized intersection.
[52:31] So this is something that we've been looking at for a long time.
[52:34] And there's some new concepts that are coming along that we, you know, that are attractive to that area.
[52:39] And we think that'll be a good fit to make those improvements to the site plan, yeah.
[52:49] We've seen a concept plan originally not knowing that this intersection improvement was coming along.
[52:56] They had an exit right onto 12th Street.
[53:00] The site plan that we're working with them now would actually come off of the extension of North Pierce, north of 12th Street.
[53:09] All right, that's all I have for tonight.
[53:12] I'm okay with it tonight, it takes two more readings after the night to pass it, so we'll see where the conversation goes.
[53:18] But thank you.
[53:19] Further discussion, Councilman, you should ask me.
[53:21] I have one more question Mark.
[53:22] There was some talk of sidewalks.
[53:24] There are no sidewalks out there now.
[53:26] Is that part of the plan at some point?
[53:28] Yeah, and that area is part of the overall
[53:32] trail system plan and that, you know,
[53:35] the bridge that we built further to the west,
[53:38] that already accommodates a protected pedestrian crossing
[53:42] for that bridge.
[53:43] The plan is to run a trail along 12th street
[53:46] and down taft and make all those connections
[53:49] with existing.
[53:49] So along with the capital program that's coming forward projects, there is also a trails project in there that will begin that process to take that trail west to at least pick up curries and then we'll phase that project that trails project out and hopefully in the next few years complete that.
[54:09] Okay, thank you.
[54:10] Anything further?
[54:12] I would hope that as the person who wants to build there, I'm hoping that that project
[54:21] will be incorporated before they build and they open for business because that would
[54:27] be a nightmare.
[54:29] And that is one of the, that is one of the obstacles that we're up against.
[54:33] Trisha and I are actually meeting with them tomorrow to have some more discussions on timing
[54:37] and how everything is laying out at this point.
[54:40] So we'll have more, we'll have more information after tomorrow.
[54:43] Great.
[54:43] Thank you.
[54:45] Give a motion and a second on the floor.
[54:48] Yes.
[54:48] Further discussion?
[54:50] Motion and a second on the floor.
[54:52] For first reading on item number 10, Diana, would you call the roll?
[54:57] Latham?
[54:58] Yes.
[54:59] Ysveski?
[54:59] Yes.
[55:00] Simmons?
[55:01] Yes.
[55:01] Lee?
[55:02] Yes.
[55:03] Mason?
[55:04] Yes.
[55:04] Adams?
[55:04] Yes.
[55:05] Yes. The motion carries. Thank you, item 11, mending the zoning code to, I should say
[55:11] I'm mending the code to allow 40 acres and annexed into the Mason City to allow tractors
[55:17] supply out on the west side. First time we've annexed property a long time. Totally voluntary
[55:23] annexation into the community. Public comment?
[55:32] Hearing none, is there a motion? Motion to approve.
[55:35] You have motion by Councilman Lee second second by Councilman Adams discussion
[55:42] Yes, so this is
[55:46] There's no three readings on this. It's just one vote in average. It doesn't it's not yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah
[55:52] Okay, so this will be first reading first reading okay first reading. Yeah, thank you
[55:59] Emotion and a second on the floor Diana would you call the rule?
[56:03] Lee
[56:09] The motion carries. Thank you. Next is a hearing on item number 12, an ordinance-grading
[56:15] Sue Green 25-year franchise for transmission lines along the railroad track here in the KP CP railroad
[56:26] track here in Mason City. Public comment. Mayor, thank you, Council.
[56:32] Council, if I could open up the public hearing on this item.
[56:35] We do have tonight with us representatives for the sugary project.
[56:40] And also a short presentation will be given to you and then I'll answer any questions.
[56:49] So I'd like to introduce Raj Rajan, who is the Vice President of Development, with us
[56:56] here tonight.
[56:57] And he, like I said, he'll give you a short presentation and then answer questions.
[57:01] Thank you, Mark Raj, good evening, welcome.
[57:05] Thank you, Mark.
[57:05] Thank you, Mr. Mayor, council members,
[57:08] for letting me give a brief overview of the project.
[57:12] We typically, when we discuss, get into the details
[57:15] of the franchise, we are in the weeds.
[57:17] So, I will try to keep this more at a higher level
[57:19] to provide the context on the big picture.
[57:22] So, Sue Green, as a project, what we are talking about is,
[57:28] it's an interregional transmission project,
[57:30] basically connecting the Midwestern grid, what we call
[57:34] MISO, mid-continental independent system operator,
[57:37] to the Northeastern grid, which is called PGM,
[57:40] which stands for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland,
[57:42] but right now covers 13 eastern states
[57:46] and 65 million customers.
[57:48] These are two regional grids that are both very large,
[57:51] but we don't have strong interconnection
[57:53] between the two grids, which makes the case for this project.
[57:57] The entire project starts just southwest of Mason City here.
[58:02] We connect into the Mysome Midwestern Grid at Kildia substation, but our connection point
[58:09] itself is an HC-2DC converter station that will be located right next to the Canadian
[58:14] Pacific Railroad, southwest west of here, west of Mason City.
[58:19] And then we run the line 360-yard miles to Plano, Illinois where we connect to the northeastern
[58:26] and grid that is basically in the Chicago land area
[58:29] in a substation owned by Kamad.
[58:34] The transmission line itself is a merchant line.
[58:39] It's a bi-directional line meaning
[58:41] that the power can flow both from west to east,
[58:44] from Iowa to Illinois, which will be the market-driven flow.
[58:47] But the entire capacity of the line,
[58:49] which can power up to a million and a half homes,
[58:52] it's two cables that are five inches in diameter.
[58:55] So about the size of a bagel and insulated and shielded submarine-grade cables that will
[59:01] be installed inside of a condit, eight-inch condit.
[59:05] And it will all be located in a railroad corridor here through Mason City and through the rest
[59:10] of Iowa and part of Illinois where we'll be jumping off the railroad corridor and be on
[59:15] public road right of way.
[59:18] The CIP is the major investor, not the CIP that you were talking about earlier, but this
[59:22] is Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, based out of Denmark, and the Energy Read, which
[59:27] is based out of Houston.
[59:29] And the main thing to point out here is these are both institutional investors with most
[59:33] of the funding coming from retirement pension funds of organized labor in Western Europe,
[59:40] basically in the Netherlands and Denmark and Germany and in Belgium.
[59:45] And so the project has been 100% committed to organized labor, hiring organized labor to
[59:50] execute the project PPL which is a Pennsylvania power and lighter utility in
[59:55] Pennsylvania is also an investor as a seamen's energy which is a German
[1:00:00] Energy company that basically is providing the technology, the HVDC technology, and is also an investor in the project. They are working with Mortensen, which is a engineering and procurement contractor out of the Twin Cities, and Jingoli Power out of Chicago, and Prismian, which is a cable manufacturer, which is the largest HVDC cable manufacturer, will be manufacturing the cable for the first time in the US, in South Carolina. Our project corridor,
[1:00:29] Another, as I said, is railroad corridor, which is Canadian Pacific or CPKC, as they are
[1:00:35] known today after the Kansas City Marjorie and Canadian National, which is a small section
[1:00:40] in Dubuque.
[1:00:41] And in Illinois, we have two sections with Omni Tracks and BNSF, BNSF also being a third
[1:00:47] of the six class one railroads that are in the country.
[1:00:52] This would be the largest underground transmission cable project that is built terrestrial in
[1:00:59] in North America. The project, similar projects of this scale have been done in Europe and elsewhere
[1:01:05] in the world in Germany in particular, which Siemens has done. The engineer's WSPs are
[1:01:11] environmental engineering consultant, time and environmental engineer myself. I am responsible
[1:01:16] for all the development phase permitting on the project. Power engineers is doing all the electrical
[1:01:21] engineering and hatch is the owners engineer that is reviewing all the engineering on the project on
[1:01:27] on behalf of the sponsors that I mentioned earlier.
[1:01:31] We are doing all, we have completed all the environmental
[1:01:33] surveys on the project with the entire corridor,
[1:01:37] water resources, wetland habitat, biological resources,
[1:01:43] cultural resources, and the Army Corps of Engineers
[1:01:46] is the lead federal agency that is coordinating
[1:01:48] with all the federal and state agencies,
[1:01:51] the Fish and Wildlife Service, and with Iowa DNR,
[1:01:54] the Illinois DNR, Illinois EPA, and the State Historic Preservation Officers are ship-posts,
[1:02:00] both in Iowa and Illinois.
[1:02:02] We are crossing quite a few navigable waters, in Turkey River in Iowa, Mississippi River
[1:02:08] between Iowa and Illinois, and Rock River in Illinois itself, and we are crossing several
[1:02:12] levy structures, which is the civil works interactions.
[1:02:15] So all of this, I said, 30% engineering designed right now, and we will carry it over to 90%,
[1:02:21] and 60% 90% and 100% design.
[1:02:25] And we are working through coordination
[1:02:27] with all the municipalities in Iowa.
[1:02:29] The Iowa utilities board itself approved the project
[1:02:32] in September of 2023.
[1:02:35] After we applied for it in 2020
[1:02:38] and we have secured municipal franchises
[1:02:43] with 22 of the 24 municipalities in Iowa.
[1:02:48] Most of them approved them unanimously.
[1:02:50] And, of course, we have to go through the three reading process for the Municipal franchise.
[1:02:56] We did hold a technical workshop with Mason City.
[1:03:00] We worked with Aaron and with Mark back in 2021 and 2022 and reviewed the project.
[1:03:05] The project corridor in Mason City itself is entirely in the railroad, as I mentioned.
[1:03:11] And, of course, all the way through Cirocord account, it's in the railroad corridor.
[1:03:15] And all the way up to Manona, where we jump off the railroad corridor, where we get to
[1:03:22] the, what's called the bloody run section of the railroad where constructability is a
[1:03:26] big challenge.
[1:03:27] We jump off the railroad and we go through highway 18 into market and then jump back on
[1:03:32] the railroad corridor and then along the Mississippi about a hundred miles into the town of
[1:03:45] The economic impact, and I believe there's a one-page I won't go, there's a lot of texture,
[1:03:50] but the primary dimension, it's a four plus billion dollar project with an economic impact
[1:03:56] of about two billion in Iowa and Illinois, about a billion of that in Iowa, creating 12,000
[1:04:02] jobs.
[1:04:03] Of course, at very its stages that we go through the construction, we'll start on one end
[1:04:07] and go through, and we're very committed to maximizing
[1:04:10] besides being 100% committed to organized labor,
[1:04:14] we are working with the area community college
[1:04:16] for all the training to get the right people
[1:04:18] to hire locally, and in particular,
[1:04:21] we are working, we have representatives from both
[1:04:23] the operating engineers and the labor unions here,
[1:04:28] our carpenters, and we are working with all the trades
[1:04:32] within the organized labor community to make sure
[1:04:35] and we're working with economic development authorities
[1:04:38] like the Greater Dubuque Dewey Economic Development Corporation
[1:04:41] and Northeast Iowa, Economic Development Corridor
[1:04:44] to make sure that we're doing all the right things
[1:04:46] to maximize hiring as much of the labor for the project locally.
[1:04:51] And in terms of economic impact, beyond construction,
[1:04:56] the project over is the owners are planning on 60
[1:04:59] to 80 years operating life of the project.
[1:05:02] So we can say definitely over 50 years.
[1:05:04] But since the franchise is limited by state statute to 25 years, all the economic numbers
[1:05:09] presented here that you have in the one page in front of you is for the 25 years cumulative.
[1:05:14] And it's property taxes and unlike property taxes for real property that county assesses
[1:05:20] assesses, this is not based on the actual capital cost.
[1:05:23] The state collects $7,000 per mile for transmission lines per year and then allocates it to all the
[1:05:30] taxing authorities, and based on the mileage it is prurated, and that's how all these numbers are estimated,
[1:05:37] whether what will come to the community colleges, what will come to the school districts,
[1:05:41] what will go to the county government, and then to the city government.
[1:05:45] It's all based on the miles relative to the total miles in Iowa.
[1:05:52] I will stop there, and I'll be glad to answer any questions from the public or from the council members.
[1:05:58] Thank you, Raj, for that comment. Do we have any more public comment at this time?
[1:06:04] Any more public comment at this time? Before we go into council deliberations, I would accept a motion and a second on first reading.
[1:06:11] I move approval on first. We have motion by Councilman Miseski, a second.
[1:06:15] Second. Councilman Latham. I'm sorry, who made the motion?
[1:06:19] Okay.
[1:06:22] Thank you. Further discussion, Mark. Did you have something?
[1:06:26] Okay.
[1:06:27] Okay.
[1:06:28] All right.
[1:06:29] All right.
[1:06:30] Let me do both.
[1:06:31] I did.
[1:06:31] Councilman, go ahead.
[1:06:32] Well, I'm just curious.
[1:06:34] Where is all this electricity being generated?
[1:06:37] Is all west of us?
[1:06:38] It's mostly going to be to the west of us.
[1:06:42] It's basically, it's connected to the grid.
[1:06:45] We're not connecting to specific generation projects.
[1:06:48] So, whoever can make the economics work will supply,
[1:06:51] will inject the power into the grid.
[1:06:54] and if you look at how the economics work,
[1:06:57] it's typically the wholesale electricity cost
[1:07:00] of generation is lower for the farther west we go.
[1:07:03] So it will mostly be way to the west of you.
[1:07:05] Okay, thank you for the question.
[1:07:08] I just have a couple questions.
[1:07:10] One is you're running along the railroad tracks
[1:07:14] through Mason City, correct?
[1:07:16] Yes.
[1:07:16] And have you got all of the easements to go through?
[1:07:21] So, we have a power line agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railroad for the entire
[1:07:27] Railroad right away.
[1:07:28] And federal law basically only allows the Railroad irrespective of what the underlying
[1:07:32] land ownership is.
[1:07:33] It only allows the Railroad to determine what activity can take place within the Railroad
[1:07:37] right away.
[1:07:38] And so, that's our agreement to be there is comes from the Railroad, the power line agreement
[1:07:44] that the Railroad has given us.
[1:07:46] Great.
[1:07:46] Thank you.
[1:07:47] Further questions, Councilman Misan?
[1:07:49] Yeah, this is an ambitious project, I got to say a lot of logistics on this are pretty
[1:07:57] incredible and I'm glad to see that it seems pretty well thought out and I did some research
[1:08:03] and the technology is very safe. I think this is a very interesting thing to have come
[1:08:08] through our town and I think it will be a good thing for us.
[1:08:11] Thank you, Councilman Adams. Thanks for the presentation first and then you mentioned
[1:08:18] in 12,000 jobs during construction, in 75,
[1:08:23] when the line is operational for maintenance
[1:08:25] and operations, how many of those 75s
[1:08:28] are any of them permanent jobs in accounting
[1:08:30] or in Mason City?
[1:08:31] So these 75 jobs are going to be primarily split
[1:08:34] between the two converter stations,
[1:08:37] one being here in Mason City and the other being in Plano.
[1:08:41] And we will have a place in between possibly the bulk
[1:08:47] where we will have a team ready to dispatch if there is any emergency response maintenance
[1:08:54] work that needs to be done. But because we are in a secure railroad corridor where nobody
[1:08:59] can just put a shovel in or a backhoe in without first getting permission from the railroad
[1:09:04] which takes a long time, we do not expect that we will have that midpoint office open for
[1:09:10] too long. So most of the permanent jobs will be split between about 50-50 between Mason City
[1:09:16] and planal. And they'll be monitoring, we have a dedicated fiber cable that has vibration
[1:09:22] and noise sensing that is installed in the shield of the power lines, which will be
[1:09:28] along the entire line. So pretty much if there is any kind of disturbance even anticipated
[1:09:32] before it comes down to where the cables are, they will know where it is exactly pinpoint
[1:09:37] the location and they'll be able to reach out to the right people in that local community
[1:09:42] before any damage happens.
[1:09:44] All right.
[1:09:44] And then a question for Aaron or Mark,
[1:09:46] we'll have to take it.
[1:09:47] Just confirm for me on the record
[1:09:49] that every inch of the line through the city of Mason City
[1:09:54] is either in railroad property or city property, is that correct?
[1:10:02] Yes, that is correct.
[1:10:04] OK.
[1:10:05] And then just to confirm the tax revenue
[1:10:09] that he touched on is the only revenue generated
[1:10:12] to the city as part of the agreement, is that right?
[1:10:15] The other commitment we've also made
[1:10:16] to the city is to install a bundle of fiber conduit. We did the same thing with the city of
[1:10:22] Dubuque so that you will have a broadband infrastructure available for a 2-plus mile stretch
[1:10:28] of between what the engineering department for the city identified as useful for the city
[1:10:34] so that and that is something we are paying Canadian Pacific Railroad for the right of the
[1:10:39] fiber conduits to be there on an annual fee basis and we're also paying for all the capital
[1:10:45] to cause for the material and for the installation
[1:10:48] with all the junction boxes so that you can tap into this backbone
[1:10:53] and put them pull in your fiber as needed
[1:10:55] as your city goes into the digital city of the future mode.
[1:10:58] All right, thank you, nothing further.
[1:11:02] Nobody else?
[1:11:04] Aaron, I just have one quick question.
[1:11:07] You know, rear roads don't pay taxes on their land.
[1:11:10] Is that going to be an issue there
[1:11:14] there as far as are they going to be tax separately? How does that?
[1:11:19] I cannot describe the taxation process of a railroad.
[1:11:25] So
[1:11:28] I believe it's very similar to what he described for the taxation of utilities. There
[1:11:35] is taxation. If you take a look at our calculated property tax valuations, there is railroad
[1:11:42] the road valuation in there, but I believe it's the same as what he described where it's a per mile tax that the state then allocates out.
[1:11:50] Great, thank you.
[1:11:51] Further discussion?
[1:11:54] Hearing none, we have a motion and Aaron, did you have something?
[1:11:58] We have a motion and a second on the floor.
[1:11:59] Diana, would you call the roll?
[1:12:00] Yes, yes, he?
[1:12:01] Yes.
[1:12:02] Laytham?
[1:12:02] Yes.
[1:12:03] Adams?
[1:12:04] Yes.
[1:12:05] Simmons?
[1:12:06] Yes.
[1:12:06] Lee?
[1:12:07] Yes.
[1:12:07] Yes.
[1:12:07] Massive.
[1:12:08] Yes.
[1:12:09] That concludes the regular business for this evening.
[1:12:12] Thank you so much for joining us this evening.
[1:12:15] Councilmember, thank you for your great work this past year and look forward to 2025.
[1:12:20] Seeing no more business on the agenda, we're adjourned.