[0:00] Yeah.
>> Good evening everyone and welcome to the
[0:02] event city council meeting. Before we
start with our regular council meeting,
[0:06] we're going to have a brief board of
health meeting. So I'm going to go ahead
[0:09] and call the board of health meeting to
order and press take the role.
[0:13] » Council member Cabinet
>> here.
[0:15] » Council member Galloway
>> here.
[0:17] » Council member McIntyre.
>> Council member Reid
[0:20] » here.
>> Council member Hoffman
[0:22] » here.
>> Mayor Johnson
[0:23] » here.
[0:30] Okay. Uh the next item on our agenda is
to approve the minutes from the August
[0:35] 19th, 2025
board of health meeting. Is there a
[0:38] motion to approve?
>> Move to approve.
[0:41] » Is there a second?
>> Second.
[0:42] » Any further discussion?
If not, Chris will take the role.
[0:48] » Council member Cavanus.
>> Yes.
[0:49] » Council member Galloway.
>> Yes.
[0:51] » Council member Reed.
>> Yes. Council member Hoffman.
[0:54] » Yes.
[0:57] This is the time, place, and date set to
consider condemnation of the structures
[1:00] on the property located at 242 South
Ward in the city of Dumbo, Wapalo
[1:05] County, Iowa.
>> I'll call the condemnation hearing to
[1:09] order and I believe Jake, you're going
to present.
[1:11] » Yeah. Thank you, mayor.
>> Wow. Good evening, council. This is all
[1:15] right. Uh the structure located at 242
South Wrated April 11th, 2024. is
[1:21] plaqued due to lack of utilities and
dilapitated structure conditions. Uh the
[1:26] property has been mowed by the the city
contractors and has been open to the
[1:30] elements not secured with squats during
routine driveby inspections. Police and
[1:35] neighbors in the area have had issues at
this property. Owners have shown very
[1:39] little interest in the property and have
been uh there's been multiple missed
[1:42] inspections. There's no current repair
plan or commission and confirmation was
[1:46] served by certified mail posting on the
property and in the temper and staff
[1:51] recommends uh kingdom in the structure
at north 242 south.
[1:56] » Does council have any questions for
Jake?
[2:01] » Jake, this is the same property we
looked at last time, was it?
[2:04] » No. No, this is this property and I've
had no contact from uh owners or
[2:10] anything during this uh this time.
>> Okay. It does look a lot different now,
[2:14] but it does in these pictures. All this
outside stuff seems to be gone clean up.
[2:19] » Yeah. Uh I I believe that the city did a
clean up at this property.
[2:22] » Okay.
[2:27] » Is there any other questions from
council for Jake?
[2:33] » Uh no. Since since we've uh started the
action of condemnation, I've had no
[2:38] contact.
[2:41] Since this is a public condemnation
hearing, is there anyone in the audience
[2:44] that would like to speak about this
property?
[2:58] questions.
[3:01] If not, I'd entertain a motion to close
the public hearing.
[3:04] » Motion to close.
>> Second.
[3:07] » Chris will take the role.
>> Council member Cavanis.
[3:09] » Yes.
>> Council member Galloway.
[3:11] » Yes.
>> Council member Reed.
[3:12] » Yes.
>> Council member Hoffman.
[3:14] » Yes.
>> Addend the structures located at 242
[3:16] South Ward. order prompt demolition,
removal, and leveling of the lot and
[3:20] direct all costs attended such actions,
including administrative costs to be
[3:24] assessed against the property and or
collected from the owner or owners
[3:28] thereof. Recommendation approve the
condemnation of structures located at
[3:32] 242 South W.
>> Is there a motion to approve the
[3:35] recommendation?
>> Approve the condemnation.
[3:37] » Second.
[3:41] » Chris will take the role.
>> Council member Gavinus.
[3:43] » Yes.
>> Council member Galloway.
[3:45] » Yes.
>> Council member Reed.
[3:46] » Yes. Yes. Council member Hoffman.
>> Yes.
[3:50] » This is the time place to consider
condemnation of the structures on the
[3:53] property located at 310 North Caldwell
in the city of Atumbbo Walo County,
[3:58] Iowa.
>> I'll go ahead and open the condemnation
[4:00] hearing and Jake, it's all yours.
>> All right. Thank you, mayor. Uh so this
[4:04] this structure was uh plated January
28th of 2025 is uh plated due to lack of
[4:10] utilities and latent structural
conditions. Uh I have had contact from
[4:14] the owner of this property. uh he's uh
said that he was going to he had a
[4:20] contractor that was going to do the
demolition for him that he'd already uh
[4:24] had that set up in in the case of that.
If we see movement on this property,
[4:28] I'll step back, let that try to play out
if in any way possible, but as of that
[4:33] right now, there's been no movement on
it. So, uh staff recommends going ahead
[4:37] with the condemnation of this property.
Does council have any questions for Jay
[4:42] regarding this property?
>> I think uh the information I have on
[4:48] this. The only hold up is the man that
he was going to employ to do the removal
[4:54] didn't show up and so his intention is
still the same.
[4:58] » Yeah. And and it's been that intention
for several months. So we just want to
[5:02] make sure that we're moving. If he's not
going to move, uh like I said, if if he
[5:06] does start moving on the property, I'll
definitely step back. Uh we had that
[5:09] situation on the south side of the
property just uh a couple months ago
[5:12] where I was able to step back and let
them do the demolition. So if that
[5:16] happens in this case, we'll step back. I
think he actually has another trailer to
[5:21] put in there which is in much better
condition and that's his plan is to have
[5:26] that one removed and
place a new one in place.
[5:30] » Yeah. Yeah. It would definitely benefit
him if that was the case to uh move with
[5:33] it himself.
Any
[5:38] other questions from council?
Does anyone in the audience have any
[5:43] comments or questions they'd like to
make regarding this property?
[5:50] Okay. If not, I'd entertain a motion to
close the public hearing.
[5:55] » Motion close. Second.
>> Chris will take the role.
[5:59] » Council member Cabinets.
>> Uh, no.
[6:04] » Council member Galloway. Yes.
>> Council member Reed.
[6:07] » Yes.
>> Council member Hoffman.
[6:08] » Yes.
>> Condemn the structures located at 310
[6:13] North Caldwell. Order prompt demolition,
removal, and leveling of the lot and
[6:16] direct all costs attended. Such actions
including administrative costs to be
[6:20] assessed against the property and or
collected from the owner or owners
[6:24] thereof. Recommendation approve the
condemnation of the structures located
[6:27] at 310 North Paul.
>> Is there a motion to approve the
[6:31] recommendation? Motion to approve.
>> Second.
[6:36] goes to take the role.
>> Council member Gavinus,
[6:41] » yes.
>> Council member Galloway,
[6:44] » yes.
>> Council member Reed,
[6:45] » yes.
>> Council member Hawk,
[6:47] » yes.
[6:51] » This is the time, place, and date set to
consider condemnation of the structures
[6:54] on the property located at 424 Tacoma in
the city of Wuffalo County, Iowa.
[7:00] » I'll go ahead and open the condemnation
hearing and Jake to follow yours. Thank
[7:04] you, mayor. Uh, this one was placarded
February 19th of 2025. Uh, suffered a
[7:09] severe fire at this property. Uh,
there's no insurance on the structure.
[7:15] Uh, there's been no, uh, movement
towards tearing it down or
[7:18] rehabilitating it. Council, u, So, at
this time, staff recommends that we
[7:25] can structure at 4.42.
>> Council, have any questions for Jake
[7:30] regarding this property?
[7:38] If not, is there anybody in the audience
that has any questions or comments
[7:41] they'd like to make regarding this
property?
[7:48] Okay. If not, I'd entertain a motion to
close the public hearing.
[7:52] » Motion to close.
>> Second.
[7:56] » Take the old.
>> Council member Cabinet.
[7:58] » Yes.
>> Council member Galloway.
[8:00] » Yes.
>> Council member Reed.
[8:01] » Yes. Council member Hoffman.
>> Yes.
[8:03] » Cadet the structures located at 424
Tacoma order front demolition, removal
[8:08] and leveling of the lot and direct all
cost intendance such actions including
[8:12] administrative cost to be assessed
against the property and or collected
[8:15] from the owner or owners thereof.
Recommendation approve the condemnation
[8:19] of structures located at 424 Tacoma.
>> Is there a motion to approve the
[8:24] recommendation?
>> Motion to approve.
[8:25] » Second.
[8:28] » Chris, take the role.
>> Council member Cavinus. Yes.
[8:31] » Council member Galloway.
>> Yes.
[8:33] » Council member Reed.
>> Yes.
[8:34] » Council member Hawker.
>> Yes.
[8:36] » Thank you, council.
>> Thank you.
[8:39] » If there's no other matters to come to
the attention of the atom board of
[8:43] health, I would entertain a motion to
adjourn the board of health meeting.
[8:46] » Motion to adjurnn.
>> Second.
[8:50] » Chris will take the role.
>> Council member Gavinus.
[8:53] » Yes.
>> Council member Galloway.
[8:54] » Yes.
>> Council member Reed. Yes. Council
[8:56] » member Hoffman.
>> Yes.
[9:02] Okay,
we'll move forward with our Tom City
[9:07] Council meeting. If everybody rise for
the pledge of allegiance, please.
[9:17] I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[9:22] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[9:29] justice for all.
>> Thank you.
[9:39] » Take the role.
>> Council member Galloway
[9:41] » here.
>> Council member Hoffman
[9:43] » here.
>> Council member McIntyre. Council member
[9:46] Cavinus.
>> Yes.
[9:47] » Council member V
>> here.
[9:48] » Mayor Johnson
>> here.
[9:53] » The next item on our agenda is to
approve consent agenda part one. Is
[9:57] there a motion to approve?
>> Motion to approve.
[9:59] » Second.
>> Any further discussion?
[10:04] If not, Chris takes the role.
>> Council member Galloway.
[10:07] » Yes.
>> Council member Hoffman.
[10:08] » Yes.
>> Council member Cabinet.
[10:10] » Yes.
>> Council member Reed.
[10:11] » Yes.
The next item is to approve consent
[10:15] agenda part two. Is there a motion to
approve recommendation?
[10:20] » Move to approve.
>> Second.
[10:24] Any further discussion?
>> If not, we will take the role.
[10:29] » Council member Galloway.
>> Yes.
[10:30] » Council member Hoffman.
>> Yes.
[10:32] » Council member Gavinus.
>> Yes.
[10:33] » Council member B.
>> No.
[10:42] The next item is to approve tonight's
city council agenda. Is there a motion
[10:45] to approve?
>> Motion to approve.
[10:48] » Second.
>> Any further discussion?
[10:52] If not, let's take the role.
>> Council member Galloway,
[10:55] » yes. Council member Hoffman,
>> yes.
[10:57] » Council member Cavanus,
>> yes.
[10:58] » Council member Reed,
>> yes.
[11:01] » The next item on our agenda is city
administrator's report to council
[11:05] citizens of the turn over to Phil, our
city administrator. Thank you, honorable
[11:09] mayor. Um, before I bring up our guest
uh tonight, I just wanted to touch uh
[11:14] real briefly on uh the u first goal uh
of the comprehensive plan which was uh
[11:22] focused on housing. Um currently we are
on track with uh with the goals in that
[11:30] area uh 31% uh four of those areas. um
54% has had some disruption uh and 15%
[11:40] plus is uh considered completed. Overall
that we're at 53% complete uh of the
[11:46] 20-year uh progress plan and we're in
essential year five. So I think we're
[11:52] we're tracking real well on that. Uh one
of the biggest accomplishments uh in the
[11:55] area of housing was the designation as a
thriving community. Uh I believe that uh
[12:01] can go very far with assisting mission
500 and their uh their goal to reach 500
[12:07] homes by 2030. Um we have uh seen some
some success in that area with with the
[12:15] uh apartment buildings and things that
we have been able to provide. Uh and uh
[12:20] we've got a number of conversations with
a number of developers and more to come
[12:23] over the next few weeks. So, uh, we're
hoping that that housing, uh, will
[12:27] continue to improve and and we'll see
even more success in this area over the
[12:30] next, uh, next few quarters and and
couple years.
[12:35] Uh, and with that, uh, I'd like to
invite Chris Patrick, the executive
[12:40] director of Main Street, uh, once, uh,
here to provide the quarterly update for
[12:45] Main Street.
[12:49] » Thank you, Phil, and thank you, Mr.
mayor and city council for allowing Main
[12:54] Street to come and share all of the
great things that have been going on in
[12:58] the downtown and talk about some of our
challenges today. As most of you know,
[13:03] uh the Main Street and Tunnel program
fosters a vibrant, dynamic, and healthy
[13:07] downtown through community engagement
and collaborative partnerships. So July
[13:12] 1, our board turned over. So if you can
see the slide, AJ Gok is our new board
[13:17] president and Colobby Mercer and Kristen
Muscle are new to the executive team and
[13:22] we kept Polly Bird on in a new role as
immediate past president. We have three
[13:27] new faces on our board now. We have Cyan
Basu because she took over from our row
[13:32] as the goip representative. We also have
Maggie Horin. She is from Indian Hills
[13:39] Community College and brand new to Main
Street. So of course we threw on the
[13:42] board. and then Shiloh Seam who has been
on our business vitality committee and
[13:47] she stepped into this administrative
role as a general board member. We do
[13:51] have one open position. So if you have
anybody that you think would be a good
[13:55] fit for Main Street, please send their
contact information our way.
[14:01] And city staff or city staff you should
not city staff staff. Um we have Lindsay
[14:07] Luen. She is now our business builder
academy facilitator. Her role as
[14:12] business specialist and volunteer
coordinator is open and it is being
[14:16] advertised right now. We also have
Steven Martinez and Terry Hicks on our
[14:20] downtown green and clean team.
And here are the local results. This is
[14:26] our cumulative polars since 2006. And
I'll let you read the slide. Um, but I
[14:31] do want to touch on that $38 million of
private investment in the downtown. That
[14:36] includes properties that have been
rehabilitated and properties that have
[14:40] been transition to a new owner. And that
number is huge to us because it really
[14:44] shows community involvement in making
sure that the downtown is thriving, that
[14:48] we're keeping our historic buildings,
and we're making sure that we have a
[14:52] strong um downtown. Uh also, the number
of 52,000 volunteer hours is huge
[14:58] because it's almost one million well,
it's 1.8 billion dollars of investment
[15:05] of our community matters in the
downtown. That's hands and feet in the
[15:08] downtown. making sure that things are
green and clean. We're talking to
[15:12] property and business owners, making
sure we know who is in our district and
[15:16] how we can help them thrive um and
provide business services.
[15:21] So, we have transformational strategies
that Main Street America um demands from
[15:26] us. That's part of our accreditation
piece. We'll talk about that later. So,
[15:31] we'll look at that third piece, the
measures of success. Um in three years,
[15:35] we needed to have 15 new apartments.
This year, we have four. uh again in
[15:39] three years 25 new residents. We have
many team this year. We have changed the
[15:44] way that we are uh conducting those um
conversations with those property
[15:49] owners. So maybe that number is a bit
skewed this year, but still we'll take
[15:53] it um over last year. And then uh
property values have increased in the
[15:57] district by 13.4%.
And then improved properties by 36.74.
[16:03] So we're right on track with those
three-year goals. Also, we're still
[16:08] working on our launching a new
neighborhood coalition piece where we're
[16:12] really trying to create that
neighborhood village feel in the
[16:15] downtown and bringing residents,
businesses, and property owners
[16:20] together. Also, we've had a lot of
one-on-one conversations and we have 10
[16:24] current residents that are interested in
that. I do want to give you just some
[16:28] real quick uh current um notes. We have
131 businesses in the downtown
[16:34] currently. 33% are office, 22% are
service, and 15% are restaurants. Of the
[16:41] upper spaces, we have 122 occupied
apartments with 174 residents. We have
[16:48] 142 spaces open for development in our
upper stories currently. What a great
[16:52] place for housing, right?
And then we have full-time employees are
[16:57] 942,
part-time are 238 with a total of,80
[17:02] employees in the downtown. We have $33
million in talk in in tax valuation in
[17:09] 2024 and 4 million of property that is
owned by nonprofits.
[17:15] » Chris, could you say that number again?
Which one? Well, the last two numbers.
[17:19] » The last two numbers. $33 million in tax
valuations for 2024 and we have $4
[17:25] million of property owned by nonprofits
in the district.
[17:32] » Are we good?
>> Yeah. Thank you.
[17:34] » Awesome. Thank you, Cara. So, um Oh, I
didn't say your name. You're part of our
[17:38] board. I was going to like call you out
and say how phenomenal.
[17:41] I forgot one.
>> I know she's not going to talk to me
[17:44] from now on. Okay. So, meas success for
our second strategic plan. I'll just
[17:49] talk faster. Uh growth in development in
the downtown. So reducing first four
[17:53] vacancies to 10%. We're at 15% right
now. 15.7 almost 16. Net gain of five
[17:59] new businesses per year. This year we've
really pushed in recruiting businesses
[18:03] and developers into the downtown. So we
have eight new businesses. And then we
[18:07] had 10 businesses go through our
business builder academy each year. 10
[18:11] last year, 12 currently in this year.
And the third plan is just about telling
[18:16] our story better for Main Street and
making sure that we're a sustainable
[18:20] organization. So we've increased our um
organizational sustainability by 18.7%
[18:25] this year. Net assets increased to 33.8
from our endowment giving and I'll talk
[18:30] about that in a minute. Increased
marketing outreach through um ads on the
[18:36] radio really promoting our district
which is not something we've done before
[18:39] and Brett started that before he left.
And then achieving program recognition
[18:44] at the national level. And Main Street
America recognizes us for our business
[18:48] builder academy. They actually want to
replicate that at a national level. And
[18:52] then also the Booms Tracker. Fred was
the first one in the country to get all
[18:56] of our properties and upper floors in
that application.
[18:59] » Chris, can you go back to the second
trust? What kinds of things you look at
[19:03] when you say you've increased your
organizational sustainability?
[19:07] um investors, making sure that all of
our activities are actually profitable
[19:11] and so none of the committees are
carrying an event that's not making
[19:14] money. So everything that we're doing is
we're running a nonprofit business
[19:18] serving the downtown. So sometimes it's
easy to forget that we have a bottom
[19:22] line.
>> Thank you.
[19:24] » You're welcome. So we are the
self-supported municipal improvement
[19:28] district and we administer those funds.
This is how they were spent. Uh 35,000
[19:33] went into reserve for future projects.
Uh the next big pie in that scale is
[19:39] economic development and that was almost
$16,000 and that most of that goes into
[19:44] business builder academy
beautifification. That's all the
[19:47] downtown maintenance pieces that SMID
helps with but does not do. And so you
[19:53] can see that that graph before you move
on can you so it right here I just want
[19:58] to make sure we're very clear. It
authorizes a city to impose additional
[20:02] property taxes. However, how are those
property taxes like imposed? Is it just
[20:06] the city gets to decide that or who
decides that? Hey, let's look at the
[20:10] next slide.
>> Perfect. Thank you.
[20:12] » All right. So, this next slide shows how
we divide the how we divide the district
[20:16] into three parcels and actually we had a
submit last year where the property
[20:22] owners actually choose to have this tax
put onto their tax bill. So then the
[20:27] instead of say they're supposed to have
a certain amount of tax, it's a dollar
[20:31] more per thousand or $2 more per
thousand or three. And the part that has
[20:36] three is that really centralized
business district alongs 200 and 300
[20:41] block of main street. Um and all of
those monies go back into the district
[20:46] for improvements. None of it comes into
our coffers. It actually resides in
[20:49] separate funds and in a ladder CD. So we
know exactly how much money we have at
[20:54] any given time. And then you can see
that at least 25% of the property owners
[21:00] and 25% of the owners of the assessed
value. So that means it's not just 25%
[21:07] of the owners, but if one person owns
say 13% of the district, they have to
[21:13] have at least 25% of their ownership
saying yes to that. So, it can get
[21:19] complicated, but we appreciate the fact
that the city understands the value of
[21:23] downtown, understands the value of our
historic buildings and is willing to
[21:28] help us keep that engaged in the
community and showing progress to those
[21:33] property owners. So, downtown green,
green, and clean. For some reason, I
[21:38] can't say that. Anyway, this is the
downtown maintenance fund that the city
[21:42] um allocates to us, $39,900
annually. You can see 785 78% went to
[21:49] contract labor. Um, and our guys this
year were paid $15 an hour. I really
[21:55] wish we could increase that for our
person who's supervising the piece of
[21:59] the people that do this work. Sue
retired last year, so we have a lot of
[22:03] turnover this year. We really got ahead
of it finally, but a lot of turnover is
[22:08] we were just kind of figuring things
out. And then you'll see the next funds.
[22:11] There's some capital um equipment being
purchased and then plantings of course.
[22:18] So this is our budget for fiscal year
2025. You'll see the majority of our
[22:23] income comes in in July and August. Um
part of that is through government
[22:27] support and then grant income. The third
uh bucket that's the largest in that pie
[22:32] is actually organizational commitment
and organizational committee and those
[22:36] are fundraising pieces.
And then you'll see a similarity in our
[22:41] outgoing expenses showing July and
August being those top two months. And
[22:45] that's partly because we're distributing
that money to this into this mid buckets
[22:50] that we have um that you saw on the end
of the graph. And this pie is really
[22:54] showing how pretty much we divided out
over all of our committees and all of
[22:59] our work. Our wages were high this year
because we paid retirement out and we
[23:04] were nationally accredited. So, I want
to shout out to the council member Cara,
[23:09] Phil, Mr. Mayor for attending those
meetings along with Jean and Amal. Uh,
[23:14] we have meetings all day. We took them
on a tour at lunchtime, walked them
[23:18] around the district, had lunch at the
canteen, which they loved, and then met
[23:22] with Tucker Black, who owns 2320
Fitness. He's a business builder academy
[23:27] graduate. And then came back for an
afternoon full of meetings. So, they met
[23:31] with our uh private partners. They met
with our volunteers. They met with as
[23:35] many people as we could get there in one
day.
[23:39] Um, also, we're going to talk about
housing. We're going to talk about
[23:43] downtown buildings for just a second.
So, the benefit to an Iowa downtown
[23:47] economy for an upper floor housing unit
rented purple and their rent is between
[23:53] 800 and $1,300 a month um equates to
between $24,000 and $52,000
[24:00] of of spending their um dollars in a
community. And why that's important is
[24:08] because we have
I believe I said 142 vacant spaces in
[24:12] the downtown. So if we start the math
right, we're trying to figure out how we
[24:17] can really increase that footprint in
the downtown with retail. It's really
[24:22] housing first because we definitely know
that a town lot is short in housing and
[24:26] we are thrilled that we are now a
thriving community. So hopefully um some
[24:31] of that um
some of those things that are going to
[24:35] be developed can happen downtown.
So now we're going to look at the cost
[24:40] of an empty building. And whenever I
show this slide, there's just no way to
[24:44] put the total amount on the bottom. It
won't let me. So the total amount to a
[24:50] community for a cost of one empty
building is $333,000
[24:54] annually. That's a huge number,
especially when you're starting to count
[24:57] on your fingers these 20 buildings that
we have in the downtown that are
[25:01] currently vacant. Um, and that goes to
rent, it goes to supplies, it goes to
[25:06] taxes to the government, it goes to
professional services and the workers,
[25:10] the people that would be employed in
that space and then the people that
[25:13] would be employed to rehabilitate that
space.
[25:17] So, one of the ways that some
communities across the state of Iowa are
[25:20] dealing with this is something called a
vacant building registry ordinance. Now,
[25:24] we have vacant building ordinances, but
this one's a bit different. There's some
[25:28] teeth in this one. So, I'll just read a
couple sentences on this and this is
[25:33] from Mason City. An owner of a vacant
commercial or industrial building must
[25:37] register the building um choose a vacant
building plan and pay the registration
[25:43] registration fee within 120 days of the
building becoming vacant. There are
[25:48] exemptions to this rule and the owner
can wish to claim an exemption. So,
[25:53] these are not hot links. We're not going
to go through the whole process of
[25:56] course, but there are vacant property
form which we'll see next and there are
[26:01] those exemption forms. So, let me talk a
little bit about how this works. So, Jim
[26:06] Thompson um I worked a lot with him. So,
if we are interested in this, he can
[26:10] definitely come and fill everybody in on
how this works. So, a building is vacant
[26:15] and they do a registry. They decide,
okay, I'm going to register my my
[26:19] property. And some communities it's as
low as $50. Others it's $500. So within
[26:25] for this one it's 120 days. Other
communities it could be a year. So a
[26:30] year later the vac the building is still
vacant. Nothing's been done. They've
[26:34] just left it like it was for a year. So
then they come back in the price goes up
[26:39] and then life safety people go into the
building to make sure that it's not a
[26:44] detriment to people along the street
level behind the building and that
[26:48] nothing is going to happen to the two
buildings on both sides of it. So it can
[26:52] really be a good way to transition
buildings and properties from someone
[26:57] who doesn't have the capacity or has
lost interest in the building to someone
[27:01] that wants that building can see the
potential of that building and make it
[27:05] productive to the community because it's
not being a productive citizen right to
[27:12] if it's sitting empty. So, I just wanted
you to be aware that there's this tool
[27:16] out there and if you are interested in
more information, um, let me know. And
[27:22] then this is the market analysis. I've
shared this with you before and it
[27:26] assists recruiting new businesses. And
that's one of the things and how we got
[27:30] eight businesses here in the downtown
this year. That was in fiscal 2024.
[27:38] Um, real quick about our committees. Um,
I know you know our standing committees,
[27:43] design, economic vitality, organization,
and promotion. But we did add our
[27:46] communication team to hit that point of
telling our story better. And then we
[27:51] have recruited 21 new volunteers this
year. 16 are on that holidays by the
[27:56] river task force that Cara's been a part
of, so she can attest to how many people
[28:01] on there. Um, but just bringing interest
back into the downtown, we sent out an
[28:06] um, Facebook post and actually 16 people
responded. So people are interested in
[28:11] what's going on in the downtown. And
then we did start a new volunteer
[28:14] handbook with job descriptions and that
seems to have gone over really well.
[28:20] I want to just shout out to the Barney
Grant Foundation again because design
[28:25] makes an impact. We have the three new
historic panelists depicting uh famous
[28:30] people from for
sorry and they are in Cany. If you
[28:35] haven't been in that sitting area,
please do so so you can see those.
[28:40] Uh, quick touch on events. Business Brew
is coming up in October. It's October
[28:44] 17th, so please mark your calendars. We
had two Central Park cinemas and Bizaar
[28:49] Bazaar saw a record turnout of people,
over 500 people with over 44 vendors,
[28:55] and they said moving to um, Baldwin Park
was perfect. So, thank you, Jean, and
[29:01] making sure everything was beautiful and
clean and allowing us to have so many
[29:05] people there and in the clubhouse. Uh,
coming up um is National Day of Services
[29:10] Friday. So, we'll be doing some more
cleanup. Here's a picture of the kiddos
[29:13] that were actually and students that
were helping us on September 5th getting
[29:17] ready for creditation. Queen of the
Green was Saturday. Uh that's our big
[29:21] one of our big fundraisers this year.
So, thank you for everybody who turned
[29:25] out. And which way to Maine? Our trunk
or treat is October 30th and these are
[29:31] the events that are coming up um in
board quarter. Again, new title for
[29:35] everything that's going on. Holiday by
the river. We have lights of love. It's
[29:38] live on our Facebook. And guess what?
People want snowballs. We're going to
[29:42] snowball drop again this year. So, that
will be a blast. That's going to be so
[29:46] much fun.
Um these are the businesses that came
[29:50] into the district since May.
So, I'll say it again. Since May.
[29:55] They're more than a, which is really
incredible. Boondock's bathing company
[30:00] um is a business builder academy student
2320 fitness. Um we have um oh haven on
[30:09] she's one of our current um students in
our business builder academy. So it
[30:13] really is pushing those limits and
making people understand that you don't
[30:18] have to have a degree and a business a
business degree to actually open up a a
[30:23] business. But what we're supplying are
some really easy fundamentals to help
[30:27] them think about their business plan,
insurance, all those things that when
[30:31] you're first starting out, you don't
think about. Here's a picture of Fred
[30:34] and Lindsay with our last um French
storefront grant winners. The issant
[30:42] from Elden. So, thank you to Legacy
Foundation for supporting that one. Um
[30:46] that helps with utilities and rent and
that really helped them get off the
[30:50] ground. um here are the major
stakeholders and partners that we work
[30:54] with on a daily basis and they did
actually almost all of them come to the
[30:58] accreditation. So I just wanted to to
share that with you that we're really
[31:02] reaching out to the community because it
is not just Main Street, it's not staff,
[31:06] it's not our volunteers, it's the whole
community that makes the downtown
[31:10] thrive.
So questions.
[31:16] » Chris, I have a question. Maybe this is
more of a poll question, but that tax
[31:20] taxable
about the 303
[31:26] million
>> 53 million tax valuation. What does that
[31:28] mean for our general fund? I guess it's
more of a cold question.
[31:40] So, first of all, if that's 33 million
in actual taxable valuation or 33
[31:46] million valuation because if it's 33
million valuation, you take 90% of that,
[31:50] okay?
>> Divide it by a,000 and times it by $810,
[31:55] right? And I can't do that math right
right in my head, but let's just say
[31:59] it's eight times 8 time 30. So you're
talking 20.
[32:11] » Yeah. Well, 30 be
3 3,000 30,000
[32:18] 30,000 30,000
times 8 real quick would be
[32:26] 14,000
>> 240,000.
[32:31] Thank you.
>> I hope it's more than 24,000. That'd be
[32:35] scary.
>> No, I just wanted to do that to show
[32:38] that, you know, again, that does, you
know, we hear on Facebook, you know, a
[32:42] lot of people putting down uh Main
Street. Again, you know, Facebook is
[32:46] Facebook, but still there's an impact
and it's not just to our community. It's
[32:51] also to our um our actual uh general
fund, too.
[32:56] » It is. I actually had a developer walked
in my office today that had seen um what
[33:00] we have on our on our website and he
came in talking about a couple buildings
[33:04] in the district and he's never been into
my office before. So, I mean, there is
[33:07] interest in purchasing some of these
vacancies, too. Any other questions?
[33:13] Well, that's who I am and I want to
thank you all again so much for allowing
[33:17] us to just share the news and some
thoughts about how to fill those or
[33:21] transition those vacant properties.
Thank you so much. And when you talk
[33:26] about a building, are you talking about
something as two floors, could be two
[33:31] floors or is two floors? Are you
dividing them as two different entities
[33:35] or is it all one piece?
>> Well, actually, it could be it could be
[33:39] many entities. With a threestory
building, you actually could have three
[33:43] owners. Um, Iowa law allows us to
condominize a property in in a downtown.
[33:50] So, say you have a a property that the
first floor has a restaurant and it's
[33:56] doing great, but the upper two floors
are not being impacted by, you know,
[34:00] commerce or apartments. So, they can
sell the top two floors of their
[34:03] building to someone else that can then
come in with the capacity to
[34:06] rehabilitate those into housing. Great
question. I should have said it earlier.
[34:10] Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[34:14] » Right. Uh, thank you, Chris. And uh
thank you for bringing up specifically
[34:18] about the vacant building ordinance. I
know that's something that Amal and her
[34:22] team are working on. Uh something she
presented to me as uh something to help
[34:27] out with uh addressing vacant buildings
throughout the city. So we are working
[34:30] on that to let city council know and we
should have something coming sometime in
[34:34] the near future I believe uh on that. So
be looking for that. Uh I think it is a
[34:39] great idea and working in other
communities across the state. So, um
[34:43] that's just a a good little uh appetizer
there.
[34:47] Um I did have one other thing that I
wanted to uh mention tonight. Um
[34:54] here's the a statement I wanted to go
through.
[34:58] The event last week with the
assassination of Charlie Kirk appears to
[35:01] have affected everyone in one way or
another. As with other acts of senseless
[35:05] violence across our nation, whether a
school shooting or the attempted and/or
[35:09] successful shootings of political
figures, I highlighted his examples of
[35:13] what can happen when civility breaks
down. Regardless of anyone's political
[35:17] stance, I believe it is important to
reflect upon this tragedy. As members of
[35:22] society move further away from personal
responsibility and accountability, it
[35:26] appears easier to lay blame at the feet
of other entities, including their
[35:30] government.
We are now essentially in campaign
[35:33] season for elected officials. And if we
want good-hearted people to run for
[35:36] office, volunteer for service, or work
for the city, and continue to strive for
[35:40] it as a community, we need to protect
our staff and elected officials, both
[35:44] physically and mentally. I applaud those
who currently serve on the city council
[35:49] and those who have turned in papers
attempting to be elected in just a few
[35:52] short weeks. For those who are on fence
considering an elected office, the
[35:56] deadline is this Thursday by 5:00 pm.
Additionally, I encourage voters to get
[36:01] to know the candidates and realize that
you may not agree on 100% of their
[36:05] platform, and that is okay. Please do
your own research. Don't blindly believe
[36:11] what you hear at the coffee shop or see
on social media. Often, this content is
[36:15] edited for a fact or messaging. I urge
everyone not to dwell on the negative
[36:20] while at the same time ignoring the
positive around us that is happening in
[36:24] this community.
Personally, I chose to work at the local
[36:27] level of government because I wanted to
work on solving problems and helping the
[36:31] people of the community I worked in
rather than worry about what letter was
[36:34] behind my name or theirs. We have a lot
of great people serving this community
[36:40] as volunteers, as appointed and elected
officials, and as members of staff. They
[36:45] are often times put into difficult
situations having to make
[36:48] recommendations or decisions which are
not always popular.
[36:52] As a result,
I have been informed of comments or
[36:57] posts not simply disagreeing with
recommendations made by myself, other
[37:01] staff members, or decisions made by the
city council, but rather defamatory,
[37:06] negative, and sometimes hateful speech
no longer about the issue, but personal
[37:10] attacks against the individual. These
types of driveby comments and ad homum
[37:15] attacks should not be tolerated. They
are lazy arguments typically utilized
[37:20] when someone does not have a solid
foundation for their position. Please
[37:24] note that I'm not calling for the
elimination of free speech. If someone
[37:28] has complaint or concern about their
government or city policy, they should
[37:32] certainly identify that in a responsible
manner. Freedom of speech is not the
[37:36] issue. The issue is when name calling
and dehumanizing statements are utilized
[37:41] along with the irresponsible use of
social social media and a normalization
[37:45] of violent rhetoric. Behavior such as
this runs the risk of unnecessarily
[37:50] inciting violence and destruction. I
urge people to tone down the political
[37:54] rhetoric to challenge ideas not people.
What scares me most, the result of an
[38:01] individual who would take an action
against someone else they do not know
[38:04] simply because of of a perceived
difference in beliefs or values. We as a
[38:09] society have lost the ability to connect
with people. Interactions are done via
[38:14] texts, memes, and emojis. People think
they know someone from their posts,
[38:18] clips, and pics they see on Insta or
whatever social media app is popular
[38:23] rather than through human interaction.
As a result, it has become too easy to
[38:28] dehumanize that individual, which leads
to concerns over political violence such
[38:33] as what the world witnessed last week.
Although I may not have agreed 100% of
[38:38] everything Charlie Kirk affirmed, I do
look up to him as someone who stood for
[38:42] what he believed in and admired his
style of challenging those who did not
[38:45] have those same beliefs. He did not be
he did not hide behind a monitor and put
[38:51] out content simply to get a reaction.
Instead, he met people where they were
[38:55] and encouraged a civil discussion,
challenging those who opposed him by
[38:58] using the Socratic method. He did not
always convince people to see his point
[39:02] of view, but he compelled others to
think critically and as individuals to
[39:07] break the group think that can be so
dangerous and most likely led to his
[39:11] untimely death. I pray for the family
and friends of Charlie Kerr and I pray
[39:15] that those who have hate in their hearts
can find something good in the world
[39:19] around them. And I hope that before
people make their next post that they
[39:23] take a moment to consider the
consequences of the message they are
[39:25] sending to remember that the person they
may choose to criticize is human and
[39:31] deserves love and respect the same as
everyone else. Thank you.
[39:41] » Thank you, Phil.
The next item on our agenda is is uh any
[39:47] citizens who want to speak on any of our
agenda items this evening. I don't have
[39:52] any slips up here, but uh I'll still ask
the question. Santa, you want to speak
[39:57] on any agenda items?
[40:01] Okay, we have no public hearings tonight
and we have no ordinances tonight. So,
[40:06] we'll move on to departmental board or
commission recommendations or reports.
[40:11] Water recreation access cost share grant
application for Bridge View Bo.
[40:16] Recommendation approve the grant
application for the water recreation
[40:19] access cost share grant for the Bridge
View BR project. There motion to approve
[40:24] the recommendation. Motion to approve.
>> Second.
[40:28] » I believe Jean Ratcher, our parks
director, is going to speak on this.
[40:31] » Thank you, your honor. The application
for the grant for the Bridge View Boat
[40:36] Ramp project is due September 30th.
There is $40,000 budgeted in the CIP for
[40:42] this project. This grant is a 75%
matching grant with the city of the
[40:47] tunnel providing 25% of the funding.
This grant will be applied for through
[40:52] the Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Water Recreation Access cost share
[40:58] program.
>> Does council have any questions for Jean
[41:02] regarding this item? Is there any
location for this?
[41:07] Uh it's just downstream here where the
current ramp is, but the current ramp is
[41:11] the concrete's cracked and broken. It's
getting to the point where it's almost
[41:15] not useful anymore. So, we're going to
remove the old one, replace it with new
[41:19] one.
>> Is there also going to be kind of a a
[41:23] dock or something where you don't like
to get your people onto your boat in
[41:27] once you're launched? I don't know. Just
asking. It's mainly just the range where
[41:32] you're focusing on this,
>> right? It's the construction of a new
[41:35] concrete ramp. We haven't gotten to the
boat dock portion yet, but the cost of
[41:40] those is relatively minimal. So, that
can be done also after the ramp is
[41:44] constructed.
[41:48] » Any other questions from council?
Any particular time that you're
[41:52] projecting to get this done?
Uh it will need to be a summertime or
[41:58] fall project because a big part of it is
the river needs to be low so that we can
[42:04] get the slab that's constructed on land
pushed into the river when the water's
[42:08] low then connected with the next slab
that is built above water.
[42:13] Okay.
[42:22] » Okay. Okay, there's no more questions.
Chris will take the role.
[42:24] » Council member Galloway,
>> yes.
[42:26] » Council member Hoffman,
>> yes.
[42:27] » Council member Cabinet,
>> yes.
[42:29] » Council member Reed,
>> yes.
[42:31] » Thank you, Dean.
>> The next item, we have five resolutions
[42:35] tonight.
>> Resolution number 168 2025 authorizing
[42:40] the city of Atoma to participate in the
National Opioid Settlements.
[42:44] Recommendation pass and adopt resolution
number 168 2025.
[42:48] » Is there a motion to approve the
recommendation? Move a recommendation.
[42:54] » Phil, I believe you're going to handle
this.
[42:56] » Uh, yes. Uh, in December of 2021, the
city council passed resolution 219-2021.
[43:02] By passing that resolution, the city
agreed to its share of any settlement
[43:05] agreement the state of Iowa was able to
achieve in claims against pharmaceutical
[43:09] companies and the usage of opioids.
Since that time, some additional
[43:13] litigations have been identified. The
city is not in a position to address
[43:16] these litigations on our own. Uh the
attached resolution would encourage the
[43:19] city to back the state of Iowa in any
litigation attempts uh thereby
[43:23] increasing the settlement award should
the state be successful. Uh and it looks
[43:27] at there's two currently uh that have
been introduced to the city and and the
[43:32] state uh and this could address any
future ones as well.
[43:38] Does council have any questions for
Phil?
[43:44] Is there a time frame on this program?
>> Uh, one is due to be respond the city
[43:50] would have to respond by I think it was
September 30th and the second one was
[43:53] October 8th and then if any others come
in in the future it' be whatever
[43:57] timeline that is. This does not mean
that the city itself would get any funds
[44:01] but the state if it's successful would
get funds that would then be distributed
[44:05] to other entities or in certain programs
that we didn't as well as other
[44:10] communities would be eligible for. So it
in it increases the opportunity of
[44:15] dollars that could be received by the
state.
[44:20] » Okay. Thank you. Any other questions
from council?
[44:25] » If not, please take the role.
>> Council member Galloway.
[44:28] » Yes.
>> Council member Hoffman.
[44:29] » Yes.
>> Council member Cabinet.
[44:31] » Yes.
>> Council member Reed.
[44:32] » Yes. Resolution
number 172 2025 approving amendment to
[44:39] professional services agreement for
construction services between the city
[44:42] of Atama and Bester and Kim Incorporated
for the Blakes Branch phase 8 division 2
[44:47] and three sewer separation project
recommendation pass and adopt resolution
[44:52] number 172 2025.
>> Is there a motion to approve the
[44:56] recommendation?
the recommendation.
[45:00] » Second. Second.
[45:03] » Starting
off third. Third.
[45:07] » Yeah.
>> Okay. Philip Bergmire, our public works
[45:11] director, is going to handle the next
four resolutions.
[45:13] » All right. Thank you, mayor. Uh, so the
city of somewhat entered into an
[45:17] agreement with mainstream and CAM to
provide construction services for phase
[45:20] 8 divisions 2 and three on February 6,
2024. Um the agreement was meant to last
[45:26] the end of division two but with both
projects having multiple crews. So like
[45:30] division three had two pipe crews and a
concrete crew at the same time as
[45:33] division 2 had a pipe through and a
concrete crew as well. So there's five
[45:37] total crews working. Um so we had to
bring a second inspector on site. Um
[45:43] division 2 is not finished yet but the
city will save money in the long term
[45:47] because division 3 is ahead of schedule
and on track to finish before the
[45:50] original 2027 completion date. Um, this
agreement will continue construction
[45:55] services until the end of 2026, at which
time we'll evaluate the remaining work
[45:59] and if needed, extend the agreement one
more time. Um, as of right now, the
[46:04] contractor's goals are finished by the
fall of 2026. I think that's aggressive,
[46:08] but that is their intention right now.
Um, total additional cost is outlined in
[46:13] the agreement not exceed the sum of
$830,800.
[46:17] At this time, um, Randy and Britney from
V and K will provide an update on
[46:21] divicious 2M3.
Sorry, just Randy.
[46:25] » Just me.
>> Good evening. Um, as uh I think you all
[46:31] were here when I was here in the early
summer kind of did an update kind of the
[46:35] current project. So, uh, Ray Johnson
engineer actually started on these uh,
[46:42] um, city of projects back in 2016, I
think the same time Philip. So him and I
[46:47] have been partnering since 2016 on this
and really it's on this phase 8. So if
[46:52] you kind of recall back in uh 2003 the
city had a consent order with DNR to
[46:58] start separating their combined sewers
being Kim has been you know um I guess
[47:05] very fortunate that you've hired us all
this full time to continue with the
[47:10] sewer separation. So, next project, this
is, you've seen this before. It's kind
[47:15] of a nice colored map. The bottom is the
orange was kind of a phase one that we
[47:21] completed that started about 2018,
completed a couple years ago. That green
[47:26] to the right side there. That was a east
of Iowa separation. That was so division
[47:31] one was a about 12.8 million. East of
Iowa was a 3.1 million construction
[47:39] project. We're in division two which is
the blue which we'll talk about here in
[47:43] the next and then the green is kind of
the division three. So next slide again
[47:47] as combined sewers just a quick
littleformational
[47:51] you have one combined pipe that takes
both the storm and sanitary in this
[47:56] lakes branch we are going through
separating providing a separate sanitary
[48:00] pipe but in the past when you just had
dry weather you know the sanitary sewer
[48:06] would go to a smaller pipe and go to the
treatment plant. When you had really wet
[48:10] weather some of these nice 4 inch rain
events you would bypass into the river.
[48:15] So that is what DNR has asked the
community to have a separate sewer
[48:20] system that has that go to treat it and
then the storm can get discharged into
[48:25] the river. So next slide again just kind
of a summary um you know 2003 is when
[48:31] the city had to start compliance with
this decree. Um we out of on that
[48:37] consent was like 10 phases. We're in
phase eight. Phase nine and 10 are some
[48:44] smaller things, but phase eight actually
was one of the larger trunks because it
[48:48] was about 2,000 acres of land that had
to be separated. So, next time, and the
[48:54] blue is division two, and that's where
we're coming in, and we'll have some
[48:58] cool pictures here, but uh um this
started about 18 months ago. It was um
[49:04] five $5.7 million project. Fortunately,
the city was awarded a stag grant, a
[49:09] state tribal government grant. So about
2.1 2.2 million, pardon
[49:15] » 2.5 million is granted on this project.
So that was a very nice thing for the
[49:20] city. So next slide. So this kind of
just shows you an area where the blue
[49:25] and I should say uh um Philip staff, if
you know Chad Carlson, he's a drone
[49:30] pilot. He's the one that provided some
of these great pictures. You'll see. So
[49:34] next slide. this here. Um, if you see to
the left, upper left, that's the high
[49:39] school and that is Four Street. And so
that slide right there. Yeah. If you go
[49:43] to the next one, it's kind of cool
because now you can see the tennis
[49:46] courts on the right side. Nice red. And
you can see that a lot of the new
[49:51] construction on Fourth Street is taking
place. So, next slide. This is now
[49:55] looking from the elementary school
looking back towards it. And right
[50:00] there, that street is now completely
paved. You'll see that uh the gray
[50:05] that's that's brand new pavement. And
our goal here is somewhere in the middle
[50:09] of October to get this opened up if not
sooner. But you can go to the next
[50:13] slide. This is up on Plum. So the school
is at the bottom there, bottom right. So
[50:19] this is Plum and Ash Street, and that's
just the new intersection. And heading
[50:23] away from you or heading to the west,
that is just a rock base. And uh on the
[50:29] right side, they just placed that block
of pavement this just this afternoon and
[50:35] they'll continue on plum. So, next
slide. Again, this kind of shows you the
[50:39] right. There's the elementary school on
the right and that is just some more of
[50:43] the project. It just kind of gives you
an overview of of of what the city's
[50:47] accomplished in the 18 months here. So,
next slide. Division three is the green,
[50:52] and this was about $15.7 million worth
of construction. It was over three
[50:57] years. Like Philip is saying, Portsson's
doing a great job. They actually brought
[51:01] three crews. They got somewhere between
17 and 19 men. So, they'll have two
[51:06] different pipe crews go in different
spots plus a paving crew coming right
[51:11] from behind. So, it's they got a great
system right now and they're actually
[51:14] pushing us to allow them to go other
places, but we'll kind of get to that.
[51:18] We we want to make sure the football
stadium has access and that the schools
[51:23] have access. So, we're kind of holding
the reinss. I don't like to say wo in a
[51:27] horse race, but but we're kind of
pulling the reinss a little bit. Next
[51:30] slide. So, we'll kind of go through the
phase one, which they are really close
[51:34] to finishing. Um, fourth street. You can
kind of see there the school would be to
[51:39] the left, the high school. So, they've
added the big trunk sewer in this area.
[51:44] Um, did some storm sewer improvements,
water main improvements, and they've
[51:48] paved half of center street. So, a lot
of that now they're really ahead of
[51:52] schedule on what this base is. So, we'll
go to the next phase.
[51:56] So, this in the gray area, that's right
next to the football stadium. And uh
[52:00] what we need is Four Street to be back
and in use for the public. And then
[52:05] we'll allow them to start using some of
this area. Now, with it being football
[52:09] season, we're not going to give them the
whole area. We've actually allow them to
[52:13] use one of the streets so that we always
have access for the football for the
[52:18] football games. So, we'll be
coordinating that with them. So, we're
[52:21] not going to just leave the football
stadium without an access. And this one,
[52:26] um, they're, you know, they'll start
this year, this fall. Um, you know, how
[52:31] they're going. You know, I wouldn't be
surprised if by by next summer at this
[52:36] time, they're confident a bit to go to
the next phase. So, go to the next
[52:39] phase. Next slide. This one really
doesn't impact anything. And and they
[52:44] have a pipe crew. This has the big trunk
store that will go all the way up to
[52:48] Jefferson Street. And that's really what
the big box goes to. So the big trunk
[52:52] sewers. So with that area, there's not
much impact to the residents. So we're
[52:56] probably going to allow them to go into
that area once Fourth Street is open to
[53:00] traffic. So you'll probably see some
work over there. You'll probably see
[53:04] work over at the football stadium. Next
slide. And the final piece is Grant
[53:09] Street. And that'll sometime next
summer, late summer, depending on what
[53:14] streets are back paved and open to
traffic. We'll talk to them about
[53:18] getting that that into place. So, I
think that's about it. So, um Oh, yeah,
[53:23] we got some pictures. So, this here, um
again, you see the tennis courts behind
[53:28] you. So, the trunk sewer kind of if you
see the tennis courts to the to the
[53:33] right of them is like a dirt area. That
was we our trunk sewer kind of gone
[53:37] through there. When I say a trunk sewer,
it's a 36 inch pipe. Can take about 20
[53:41] million gallons a day of sewer. So this
the the intent is this will keep
[53:46] continuing up on Jefferson and
eventually would be able to to take
[53:51] airport sewer would be the full plan.
The airport would come down to this. Um
[53:56] there's still some other work to be
done. Um but that that's kind of the
[54:00] goal of this project. So
>> that's all been separated right
[54:04] » up at the airport.
>> No, from to to where we are right now
[54:09] has been separated. Everything south of
um Center Avenue has been separated now.
[54:14] Everything south of Center Avenue and
east of here to to Jefferson is all
[54:18] separated. Thank you.
>> Yep.
[54:20] » Yep. So, go to the next slide. Again,
just a cool picture. So, that is Center
[54:24] Street and that has been paved right
next to the tennis courts. Really, I
[54:28] think that this this really turned out
nice with the new parking lot, the new
[54:32] amenities the high school have. think
this will really be nice when we have
[54:36] because we have Meadow Street, we have
Center Street, you have Fourth Street.
[54:40] This will be a lot of new pavement, a
lot of nice wide sidewalks, a lot of
[54:44] nice walking paths for uh students to
the next slide. Again, to the left,
[54:49] that's Center Street. And they're going
to continue paving all the way down to
[54:53] the end of the football stadium. That is
this part of the project. Next one, just
[54:58] another look. That's at Center Street.
Go to the next slide. And that that's
[55:02] pretty much it. and and it would it was
just great timing to come and meet with
[55:07] you or visit with you all kind of give
you an update of the project and uh
[55:11] really uh like Philip was saying this
project has three crews going forson um
[55:17] we had two crews on division 2 they're
getting close to the end of theirs they
[55:21] you know they still got to the end of
November they may push into next year
[55:25] with some grass seating and some little
things like that but uh um J&K is doing
[55:30] a good job to kind of get us to the end
of that division project. So, um really
[55:36] appreciate your consideration and
approval on our amendment and I'm here
[55:39] if you have any questions.
>> Council have any questions?
[55:47] » Well, it's a lot to digest in one little
setting, but neighbors are going to have
[55:52] that anyway.
>> Yeah. And so, you know, we are going to
[55:55] be planning the next phases. We'll be
coming back to you with the next, you
[56:00] know, division four. you know, we're
going to complete division three,
[56:03] probably division four in a year. We'll
probably start talking to you about
[56:07] bidding that project for construction
contract. It just depends on where
[56:11] division three. We don't want a lot of
different contractors and construction
[56:15] traffic all over the place. So, we'll
kind of time that a little bit better,
[56:19] but we'll we'll be coming back and
talking with you all again.
[56:23] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[56:25] » Any other questions for Phillip?
[56:33] If not, Chris will take the role.
>> Council member Galloway,
[56:36] » yes.
>> Council member Hoffman,
[56:37] » yes.
>> Council member Gavinus,
[56:39] » yes.
>> Council member Reed,
[56:40] » yes.
>> Resolution number 173 2025 approving a
[56:45] professional services agreement between
the city of Atamwa and Vstrand Cam
[56:48] Incorporated for a sewer raid study.
Recommendation pass and adopt resolution
[56:53] number 173 2025.
>> Is there a motion to approve the
[56:57] recommendation? Motion to approve.
>> Second
[57:01] fellow.
>> Thank you, mayor. Thank you, mayor. So,
[57:05] the city staff has uh thinks that it'll
be appropriate to evaluate and review um
[57:10] existing sewer user charges for our
sewer system. S Waterworks is reviewing
[57:16] their rates at this time and um we can
both save money by having the studies
[57:21] performed simultaneously. Um the sewer
rate study will evaluate um how each
[57:26] customer's usage contributes to the
system costs and whether this costs are
[57:31] being distributed in an equitable and
fair manner amongst all the the users of
[57:35] the system. Um this agreement will
provide professional services to review
[57:40] and assist the city in the study and
analysis of the sewer rates. The total
[57:44] um fee for professional services for
sewer rate study shall not exceed
[57:48] $20,000.
And I have a um Libby from the from
[57:53] being phased on studies like this before
is here to answer any questions you
[57:57] might have on what this study will
entail.
[57:59] » What was the last time?
>> Well, sorry, Ry's going to start.
[58:02] » When was the last time the city did one
of these studies?
[58:06] » I mean, do them every so many years or
something. He's think maybe 2008, but I
[58:14] don't think we've ever we've looked at
the total amount coming in and what the
[58:20] current rates are, but I don't think the
cities probably since at least 2008 has
[58:25] actually looked at, you know, who uses
the sewer, what do they contribute to
[58:30] the cost of the sewer, you know, and is
are they being built fairly for what
[58:35] they actually um what they actually use?
That's what this stud is going to be
[58:39] for. Not to increase rates or or
decrease rates, but just to see if the
[58:44] rate structure is appropriate for for
the city of Tumblr.
[58:47] » Yeah. It's looking at the equitable
distribution of those revenues coming
[58:51] in, not saying if the revenue is
accurate or not.
[58:55] » Do do certain user groups
pay more than what they're actually
[59:00] using? Do other user groups are maybe
being subsidized by these user groups?
[59:05] is something I think other cities have
looked at before creating creating
[59:09] groups like this um and just just making
sure that everybody is contributing to
[59:15] the sewer system but actually use
sewers. Okay.
[59:18] » Thank you.
>> And this conversation was actually
[59:20] started
a few months ago right discussed that
[59:25] this would be a good idea to bring this
forward in the coming year.
[59:29] » Yeah. Yeah. I think it started, you
know, we talked about the apartments and
[59:33] if they were being um fairly charged for
what they contribute versus single
[59:38] family homes that this got the
conversation kind of grew and grew to,
[59:42] you know, why look at just apartments?
Why look at all commercial users, all
[59:45] industrial users, all residential users
and make sure everybody's being treated
[59:48] fairly, not picking on one group to
change and not looking at everything
[59:51] else. This will be a chance to look at
every user group and make sure every
[59:55] user group is is being treated fairly.
And then this is also a budgeted item.
[59:59] It's not something that you're asking
for um amended to be
[1:00:04] » No, we've budgeted for for this in the
sewer bond.
[1:00:11] » Thank you Randy with me chem engineers
and and just kind of follow up on a
[1:00:14] couple of uh Phillips points. So we are
doing the water rate study too. So you
[1:00:20] use a lot of the same data. So, it just
helps when when we're already doing a
[1:00:24] lot of the same population growth, you
know, flow rates, different things. It's
[1:00:28] just they mesh really well. Um, so, um,
I should have introduced Britney. She
[1:00:33] will be more my engineer, my right hand
person or left hand at this time. She's
[1:00:39] more the design engineer. And Libby,
yes, she's one of our senior
[1:00:42] environmental engineers that has been
doing this for several comm This is
[1:00:46] perfect timing because a lot of
communities are doing this. We are doing
[1:00:50] this for several other communities. So,
u with that we're just here and let you
[1:00:55] be the better person to really get into
depth, but until we really dive into the
[1:01:00] raw data, see the last five years, what
you all have, then we can start seeing,
[1:01:06] you know, where rates are really being
applied to and how equitable it is.
[1:01:11] » I didn't see in the contract um how long
it would the study is. Oh, we we would
[1:01:17] anticipate living like six months or
something, if not more. I mean, we would
[1:01:21] jump on this because we've already
grabbed a lot of raw data from the
[1:01:24] water, so it'll just really be easy to
to focus together. So,
[1:01:32] » any other questions from council?
[1:01:37] If not, Chris will take the role.
>> Council member Galloway,
[1:01:40] » yes.
>> Council member Hoffman,
[1:01:42] » yes.
>> Council member Cabinets,
[1:01:43] » yes.
>> Council member Reed,
[1:01:44] » yes.
Resolution number 174 2025 awarding the
[1:01:49] 2025 RFP number three concrete crushing
and cleanup project and authorizing the
[1:01:54] mayor to sign the contract.
Recommendation pass and adopt resolution
[1:01:58] number 174 2025.
>> Is there a motion to approve the
[1:02:02] recommendation?
>> Move the recommendation.
[1:02:04] » Second.
>> Okay.
[1:02:06] » All right. Thank you, mayor. So, the
city has approximately 3,000 tons of
[1:02:10] concrete stockpiled in our yard off of
Quincy Avenue. on this project is for a
[1:02:15] concrete crushing and a concrete
crushing plant to come to the site and
[1:02:18] help clean up the material that's
stockpiled at the yard. We want to crush
[1:02:23] approximately 500 tons into erosion
stone for use at for use at coar outlets
[1:02:27] and other erosion prone areas and the
remainder will be crushed with 3/4 in
[1:02:31] road stone. um core stone cage stone
cost the city approximately $25 to $26
[1:02:38] per ton including hauling to the city
whereas the total cost of crushing these
[1:02:42] 3,000 tons of concrete works out to $920
a ton. So the city's going to save a ton
[1:02:47] of money,
>> right?
[1:02:48] » Um this concrete is all free. It's just
old roads and different concrete
[1:02:53] structures have been stored on there for
at least 10 years at this time to make
[1:02:59] use of it. I think
we've been using some of the smaller
[1:03:03] chunks for rip wrap along the ripper and
stuff like that, but a lot of it used to
[1:03:08] be crushed up into smaller pieces to be
more useful.
[1:03:11] » I think that's great to use what you got
on hand since the money for fresh rock.
[1:03:16] Have you used this Bushman excavating
for you think?
[1:03:19] » We have not. No. So, yeah, we I guess I
skip that. So, we were This request
[1:03:23] proposal was emailed out to three
different contractors. two of them
[1:03:26] returned bids and the lowest was from
Bushman Esavating in Fairfax, Iowa and
[1:03:29] the $727,600.
He did come visit the site and looked at
[1:03:33] it. Actually visited last fall and gave
us some recommendations on some cleanup
[1:03:38] we could do cuz some have been sitting
here so long there was trees growing
[1:03:41] through it. So, um over the winter, our
city crew spent a lot of time pulling
[1:03:45] trees and kind of cleaning stuff up
around here. So, we got a better price
[1:03:49] on the crushing so that they just came
in and grabbed the concrete, crush it,
[1:03:52] had to deal with all the clearing and
grubbing and and cleaned up. So, yeah.
[1:03:57] » Can you give me a little better idea the
location on Quincy Street that you're
[1:04:02] talking about?
>> So, if you go straight north of Quincy
[1:04:05] Avenue, past Bonds to Blackhawk Road,
it's right back in there. I believe it
[1:04:10] used to be a concrete plant or a
>> a sand something used to be back there.
[1:04:15] » Sand plant. Yeah,
>> sand plant. Okay. For my sign, but yeah,
[1:04:18] you can see something right back there.
>> Yeah.
[1:04:25] » Go to the right.
I'll zoom in now. Down. Down to the
[1:04:31] right again. See all that white stuff
piled up there? That's No, up.
[1:04:36] » You missed there.
>> There you go. Zoom in.
[1:04:38] » Oh, great.
>> Yeah.
[1:04:40] » Yep. That's all thousands of tons of
concrete.
[1:04:45] » Awesome.
Okay, good.
[1:04:50] Council have any questions for Phillip?
[1:05:00] » If not, Chris will take the role.
>> Council member Galloway,
[1:05:04] » yes.
>> Council member Hoffman,
[1:05:05] » yes.
>> Council member Cabinet,
[1:05:07] » yes.
>> Council member Reed,
[1:05:08] » yes.
Resolution number 175 2025 approving
[1:05:12] change order number one for the water
pollution control facility headquarts
[1:05:16] building re- roofing project
recommendation pass and adopt resolution
[1:05:20] number 175 2025 there
>> a motion to approve the recommendation
[1:05:25] move the recommendation second
[1:05:30] » okay so
>> all right thank you mayor so we uh
[1:05:33] passed a resolution awarding a region
contract for the heads building uh water
[1:05:38] push control facility. And when the
first 12,200 f feet or so was pulled off
[1:05:42] of there, um there was a lot of water in
the uh insulation and also it it
[1:05:49] destroyed the existing vapor barrier. Um
so this RFP um included the price for
[1:05:57] replacing the insulation. We anticipated
some insulation being bad, but we did
[1:06:01] have a price for vapor barrier. So, uh,
this change order one will provide
[1:06:06] compensation to the contractor for
providing a new vapor barrier over the
[1:06:09] entire concrete deck. It'll also
authorize the replacement of all
[1:06:12] insulation on the roof. Even though if
the roofing insulation is good, we'll
[1:06:17] keep it. But this just authorizes them
up to the amount as if it would be all
[1:06:22] be replaced. Um, because so the
stipulation is that there's good
[1:06:26] insulation, they'll reuse it and they
have been reusing insulation. Um, change
[1:06:30] order increases the contract price by
$21,52
[1:06:34] for installing the vapor barrier. It
also includes replacing up to $8,350 ft
[1:06:39] of insulation if necessary at the
contract, you know, price of $4 per
[1:06:42] square foot. Um, the total change order
will be up to $54,92.
[1:06:47] Um, there's 18 $118, sorry, $183,500
left in the budget item to cover the
[1:06:53] cost of this change order. And so this
will won't be just like a piece of
[1:06:57] plastic. It's a fully adhered. If you've
seen like the like the ice dam product
[1:07:03] that you use on a shingle roof, this
kind of looks like it's a fully adhered
[1:07:07] um vapor barrier across all the concrete
type. Figured it had to be something
[1:07:12] more than just a sheet of glass.
>> Yeah. And there's a lot This is the
[1:07:16] headwork building, so you have a lot of
warm water coming here, especially in
[1:07:19] the winter time. So, there was there's a
lot of vapor and moisture coming out of
[1:07:24] the out of the building. So, it's
probably a good deal anyway, but we
[1:07:30] didn't know how bad shape it was until
we to the roof off.
[1:07:35] Council, have any questions for Philip
regarding this item?
[1:07:45] » Not Chris will take the role.
>> Council member Galloway,
[1:07:48] » yes.
>> Council member Hoffman,
[1:07:49] » yes.
>> Council member Cavanus,
[1:07:51] » yes.
>> Council member Reed,
[1:07:53] » yes. Thanks, Phillip. Thank you.
[1:07:57] The next item is our public forum and
I'd ask if anybody would like to speak
[1:08:01] on any non-aggenda items tonight.
[1:08:09] » Would you like to come forward, sir, and
identify yourself and your address?
[1:08:16] » My name's Dave Hopkins. I live at
Inbella 700 Countryside in Bella. Um, I
[1:08:23] am just gonna speak. I I emailed all of
you individually, I believe, but I
[1:08:26] wanted to become
put a put a face to a name and let you
[1:08:31] know that I'd love to um be an option on
the bridging center rework project um
[1:08:37] either either on the base bid with if
it's considered that there was an
[1:08:41] irregularity in bidding from the low bid
or if it's um had an energy efficiency
[1:08:47] with the uh with the alternator which I
was along. So, love to love to do it.
[1:08:52] I'd love to have it be done by a
contractor that's took me 42 minutes for
[1:08:57] my house to get here as opposed to the
other contractor that's 5 hours away.
[1:09:02] So, thank you.
>> Have you submitted any bids previous to
[1:09:06] this time for anything here at Tumble?
>> Um, yeah, I've done several school works
[1:09:12] in a tunnel.
>> Several what?
[1:09:15] » School works in a tunnel.
>> Okay. the the picture that we saw of the
[1:09:19] high school earlier. All that white roof
I did.
[1:09:23] » Okay.
>> Yeah.
[1:09:24] » Thank you.
>> You bet. Thank you. Thank you.
[1:09:28] » Scott,
[1:09:34] » thanks for the cookies.
>> You're welcome. Uh good evening. Uh just
[1:09:38] a quick note on behalf of our Bruce
Center team. Uh we just want to say
[1:09:42] thank you for allowing us the
opportunity to serve you the last two
[1:09:44] years. uh as your city council meeting
site. Uh we wish you the best uh for all
[1:09:50] of you as you move back to city hall
next week and then resume your council
[1:09:54] meetings in council chambers in October.
Uh don't be a stranger. Uh come back and
[1:09:59] see us for our shows, private events.
We'd love to see you all here at Bridge
[1:10:02] Center. But again, just thank you for
the last couple years.
[1:10:06] » Thank you.
Well, Mr. Cookies,
[1:10:10] » is there anyone else that want to speak
on any non-aggenda items?
[1:10:16] Okay. If not, the next item is mayor,
city council reports and communications.
[1:10:22] The only thing that I would like to just
reiterate a little bit, I'm not going to
[1:10:26] go into the election stuff because Phil
has already covered all that, but I
[1:10:31] would just like to thank uh Jean Ratchy
and the parks department. The new
[1:10:34] playground equipment has been installed
at the Atomo Park campground. It's now
[1:10:38] open to the public. And this equipment
was paid for by $25,000 grant from the
[1:10:43] 2024 to Rank Committee and uh the city
parks department and Gene put assembled
[1:10:50] all that new park equipment. So, thank
you very much.
[1:10:54] » Good project.
>> Does anyone else on the council have any
[1:10:59] communications or anything they'd like
to announce?
[1:11:02] » Go ahead.
>> Well, go ahead. I'd like to mention
[1:11:04] about my no vote on the second part of
the consent agenda that I had talked
[1:11:08] about that for a little while. Um my
concern there is the the health of our
[1:11:14] people um the our families and our uh
finances of our people. So you know I do
[1:11:22] have a personal preference uh you know
based upon scripture but that's not what
[1:11:27] I'm arguing about. I think that uh the
reason I vote against the alcohol is
[1:11:31] just as a voice to say there's a better
a better way. Uh we can enjoy life, we
[1:11:36] can have fun, we can relax without
alcohol involving that stuff that might
[1:11:40] be harmful and really not opposed to our
businesses in town as far as uh our our
[1:11:47] small businesses. One of the re one of
the things I would do if I if it came to
[1:11:52] it uh as far as voting um tonight we
have one council member missing. we had
[1:11:58] two council members missing. I would
have to vote yes on that second part
[1:12:03] because I don't want to take away
somebody's business unexpectedly or or
[1:12:06] shut that down. That would be my goal. U
but I do want to just for whoever might
[1:12:12] be listening is the voice to say listen
you don't have to be um you don't have
[1:12:16] to have alcohols for part of your life.
You can have a good life without that.
[1:12:20] And so that's my my point in voting on
that voting no I do on that second part
[1:12:26] of the consent agenda.
>> Thank you again.
[1:12:32] » I was just going to uh thank Chief Kanto
and the fire the ATMA fire department
[1:12:36] for the 911 um uh remembrance uh
ceremony that was held on 911. It was a
[1:12:42] the first time in Atoma that we had
something like that. It was um great to
[1:12:46] see community members come out um and
the city staff come out in um support
[1:12:51] and remembrance. So, thank you for that.
>> Very well done.
[1:12:56] » Any other announcements or comments that
any of the council would like to make to
[1:13:00] the public tonight?
>> I would like to comment on Dan's comment
[1:13:04] on the second part of the agenda. He
realizes that the people that are
[1:13:10] applying for permits are doing so by
law. They have to have that permit to in
[1:13:17] order to distribute products, alcohol
and tobacco both. So I don't have any
[1:13:23] problem with the way he votes. That's
his business. But the fact that these
[1:13:28] people the customers customers of ours
are following the law and getting a
[1:13:35] permit to proceed with
their business I think is important to
[1:13:39] know.
>> I've I got just a couple things that um
[1:13:45] one just to I I want to recognize a
couple people, but I do want to uh kind
[1:13:50] of piggy back Dan's comment. You know,
I'm going to sit up here and admit no, I
[1:13:55] we I publicly been frustrated. Although
I want to say I know that Dan Reed, he
[1:14:00] when he votes no for the alcohol, he
just explained it. It's not coming from
[1:14:05] a place of hate. is not coming from a
place of he doesn't want to have
[1:14:09] business. He's actually coming from a
place where he cares about people and
[1:14:13] loves people and wants him to succeed.
Um so even though him and him and I
[1:14:19] might both different on that, I I do
appreciate the reason behind what he
[1:14:23] does. Um and two people I want to
recognize, I know they're going to kill
[1:14:27] me, but I was in leadership for 28
years, and what I've noticed is is the
[1:14:32] little details. You know, I'm proud of
all the staff of the city of Atama, and
[1:14:36] I want to start pointing more out at
each meeting. I want to cause, you know,
[1:14:39] have something positive to say. The the
two that I want to point out tonight,
[1:14:43] and I know they're going to kill me, and
I've learned in leadership that the when
[1:14:47] you're a leader that takes care of the
big details, it shows you can perform.
[1:14:51] When you care about the little details,
that shows your passion. U My first one
[1:14:56] is Jean in the parts department. I want
to start off with a little uh I was at
[1:15:01] the beach with my daughter and I seen
Jean in a tie just like he's dressed now
[1:15:05] cleaning counters, sweeping the front uh
keeping it clean. And then I've had the
[1:15:10] privilege of being on his board for the
last couple of meetings and having some
[1:15:14] interactions and all I've heard out of
Gene is when it's a problem or when it's
[1:15:18] something good, I'll take care of it.
We're going to take care of it. We're
[1:15:20] going to get on it. Um and you can tell
that's from the top down because his
[1:15:25] team feels the same way. So, thank you,
Jean. The other one, JD. I went out and
[1:15:31] I went to the airport. Not only does JD,
this impressed me so much. Not only does
[1:15:36] he know the profit margin, his his fuel
margin, his plane margin, he knows
[1:15:42] people flying in. I seen and and this is
going to be insignificant to some, but I
[1:15:46] want you to realize this. He had a
discussion with a pop vendor that I
[1:15:50] witnessed. He knows his business so
well. He knew the profit margin on the
[1:15:55] pop and drinks in his machine and
negotiated with the vendor. He also knew
[1:16:02] who flies in frequently, who comes out
there, what they drink, what he wanted
[1:16:06] to keep, and and what he wanted to get
rid of. This guy runs a multi-million
[1:16:10] dollar operation and knows it from the
complete top to the complete complete
[1:16:14] bottom. So, that's passion. So, JB can't
see him, but thank you, brother.
[1:16:18] » Hey, Phil's a good customer, too. Yeah,
he he keeps Dr. Pepper for me.
[1:16:24] » So anyway, I do want to say that I do
appreciate all the Tumbl staff, but I
[1:16:27] want to do a better job of of pointing
people out each meeting. Um, so, you
[1:16:32] know, to end with, there's so many
positive things going on in Tumbl. Let's
[1:16:35] not focus on that negative. Let's just
keep moving forward and and make it the
[1:16:39] best at Tumblr can be. So, thanks
everybody.
[1:16:43] » Any other comments from council?
[1:16:48] If not, I'd entertain a motion to
adjourn our city council meeting.
[1:16:52] » So move.
>> Second.
[1:16:55] » Take the role.
>> Council member Galloway.
[1:16:58] » Yes. Council member Hoffman.
>> Yes.
[1:16:59] » Council member Cabinet.
>> Yes.
[1:17:01] » Council member We
>> Yes.
[1:17:04] » We are adjourned. And thank you
everybody for coming to our Toma City
[1:17:09] Council meeting this evening. St. Travis
home.