[0:14] Please come in the pledge of motion, the pledge of motion is a pledge of united states of America and the Republic for which it stands, one nation under a individual.

[0:43] Thank you item number three is the consent agenda item a I'm going to read through these quite a few of them approve City Council minutes of August 17th 2026 item B is a license approval ownership update for sports.

[1:00] Board's page, bar and grill ownership update for Casey's number 2877 and number 2902 new class E retail alcohol license for cargo express new special class C retail alcohol license for Clay County fair subject to final approval by local police fire department and the Iowa ABD.

[1:22] Item C is licenses approved tobacco ownership update for Casey's at 805 Grand Avenue.

[1:28] and 411 West 18th Street. Iowa retail tobacco permit for cargo express at 1804 Highway Boulevard.

[1:37] Item D is a approved residential tax abatement application for Dennis and Diana Phillips,

[1:44] 2101 West 20th Street and Perry.

[1:50] Revigable living trust 505 25th Street Southwest.

[1:55] item E is to approve multi-residential tax abatement application for

[2:00] IGL construction LLC at 110 B 36th Avenue West IGL construction LLC 111A 36th

[2:12] Avenue West and IGL construction LLC 111B 36th Avenue West item F is to prove

[2:22] payment to release retainedage to Anderson drainage and excavating LLC for 2025 landfill cell project in the amount of $43,071.59 item G is a resolution authorizing the direction directing the temporary closing a portion of the city street in the city of Spencer has requested by the Spencer High School for homecoming parade September 25th, 2026.

[2:51] Item H is a resolution acknowledging receipt of fiscal year 2026, 2027.

[2:59] Budget of the Spencer Municipal Hospital of the City of Spencer, Iowa.

[3:05] First by Lauren, second by Jim, any discussion on any of these?

[3:16] Here and none, vote by machine.

[3:18] Nelson,

[3:32] I, Lyons, I, Mosher, I, Reed, I, Peterson, I, Vermeer, I, Dealer, I.

[3:38] Okay, Senate agenda passes.

[3:42] Item number four is the public hearing,

[3:46] public hearing on the proposed plans and specification

[3:49] form of contract and estimated costs of the 2026 4th Avenue West Drainage Project.

[3:55] I declare the public hearing now open.

[3:59] Are there any written comments against?

[4:01] there are none any oral comments against seeing none any written commons in

[4:08] favor of any oral comments in favor of seeing none I declare the public

[4:17] hearing now closed item number one is a resolution of proving a confirming

[4:22] plan specification formal contract and the estimated cost for the 2026

[4:27] 4th Avenue West Drainage Project, first by Tom. Second. Second by Amy. Any

[4:38] discussions?

[4:43] Hearing none, please vote by machine.

[4:49] Nelson, I, Lyons, I, Mosher, I,

[4:52] Reed, I, Peterson, I, Vermeer, I, Bealer, I. Okay, resolution passes. So paragraph

[5:01] Chair of two is resolution awarding contract for the 2026 4th Avenue West Drainage Project BD Construction Services LLC for $89,862.

[5:14] First by Jim.

[5:16] Second by Becky.

[5:19] Any discussion?

[5:25] Hearing none, please vote by machine.

[5:26] No,

[5:33] send I lions, I Mosher, I Reed, I Peterson, I Vermeer, I Bealer, I.

[5:40] Okay, resolution passes.

[5:42] Item number five, under new business.

[5:45] A is a resolution approving 28E agreement with the Spencer Community Schools regarding the use of utility task vehicles on the city trail system.

[5:58] First by Tom, second by Julie.

[6:02] Any discussion?

[6:03] Is this just a renewal of an already existing agreement?

[6:10] I imagine.

[6:11] It's actually a brand new agreement.

[6:14] We noticed that the school system had been using the trail system like the park system.

[6:19] The park's department does for their small motorized vehicles getting to and from their

[6:24] locations and current park rules state that no other entity usually in the private sector

[6:34] are able to use the trail system for that, so we contacted the school district and just wanted to

[6:39] clear up and make the agreement official. We also asked them to clearly mark and label

[6:45] their vehicles so that from a distance we can tell very quickly if it's a park vehicle, a school

[6:51] vehicle, or other. So this just cleans that relationship up.

[6:58] Thank you. Any other discussion on this?

[7:03] Hearing none, vote by machine.

[7:10] Nelson, aye.

[7:11] Lions, aye.

[7:12] Mosher, aye.

[7:13] Reed, aye.

[7:14] Peterson, aye.

[7:15] Vermeer, aye.

[7:16] Feeler, aye.

[7:18] Resolution passes.

[7:19] Item B is to approve supplemental professional services agreement.

[7:24] Number four, for bridge replacement on West 18th Street with Kirkham and Michael.

[7:35] First baller and second by Becky.

[7:37] Any discussion?

[7:38] motion.

[7:42] Hearing none, all those in favor?

[7:46] Opposed, same sign? Motion approved. Item 6,

[7:53] Department update,

[7:56] fire chief.

[8:07] Good evening, Council Mayor. I sent you in that detailed

[8:10] report. For the month of August, we had 76 calls for service. 16 of those were fire-related

[8:16] incidents or anything that was not EMS related. 54 were EMS, 37 of those where there are engine

[8:22] company that was going with the ambulance for calls, for those calls were transports or calls for

[8:28] the ambulance that we staff at the fire station and 13 of those calls were lift assists in the community.

[8:35] We had 10 different training events, two of them UMass and eight of them being fired events.

[8:41] We had nine inspections and one plan review identifying three different violations that we're

[8:46] working with business owners to correct. In a couple other highlights for us, we did a push

[8:51] with the support of HR for some recruitment.

[8:56] Out of that, we got eight applications, we interviewed six, and we actually extended offers to four volunteer members in the community, which we'll be working with HR to onboard those members.

[9:08] And I just want to say thank you, one of our largest projects this year that you approved for us was SEBA Bottle Fill Station.

[9:14] It's a critical piece of what we do.

[9:16] It's not just a matter of pumping up air into a cylinder.

[9:19] It's a more sophisticated process than that.

[9:21] And the one that we had did not meet safety standards.

[9:24] And our newest one that you did approve for us is in service and

[9:28] operational at this time.

[9:29] So thank you for that.

[9:33] Any questions for Chief?

[9:37] Thanks, Chief.

[9:41] Madam B is Goff.

[9:46] Brian.

[9:52] Good evening, Mayor and Council.

[9:53] Well, the golf course has continued to be very busy pretty much every day, which is a great

[9:59] thing.

[10:00] I've seen a lot of familiar faces out through each day and a lot of new ones as well.

[10:03] So it's great to have people take an advantage of the golf course here in our community as

[10:09] well as folks that come in from out of town.

[10:11] It's always great to see all of those.

[10:13] Right now we're doing our 2027 season pass special.

[10:19] So if anybody is currently does currently not have a season pass at the municipal

[10:24] golf course, they can purchase that now. The payment can be made online at our

[10:29] website or in the clubhouse and that will allow them to play golf for the remainder

[10:34] of the 26 season and all of 27 and that option also includes card storage, driving

[10:40] range, punch cards, whatever anybody might want to purchase. So it's a great

[10:45] opportunity for folks that don't have a pass right now to go ahead and take

[10:48] that and get some golf in yet this fall and all of next year. We had a little

[10:56] over four inches of rain at the golf course this past weekend. I was a little

[11:00] bit surprised coming to work this morning that there wasn't a lot of worst

[11:05] conditions than I was expecting but with a severely dry ground soil that we've

[11:11] have in town throughout the community wherever everything soaked in the ground

[11:16] pretty good. It was still pretty saturated, but we were able to open up for golf this morning by

[11:21] nine o'clock and had a few people out dodging the rain here throughout the day, but we expect

[11:27] another busy week coming up. Most of our leagues are finished now, so we saw some event scheduled

[11:32] that are on our calendar. Otherwise, lots of open golf times available. Any questions for me?

[11:39] Thank you.

[11:40] Your retirement has been denied.

[11:45] Sorry.

[11:46] Thank you.

[11:50] We'll delay it.

[11:51] We can delay it one day, then, Tom.

[11:55] Thank you.

[11:56] Thank you, Brad.

[11:58] Library of Port was given.

[12:00] Sarah Buss gave us one of those.

[12:03] Parks and Rec.

[12:04] Rob Bob.

[12:05] There's one in here for Parks and Rec who cannot be here.

[12:08] planning department. Adam sent off one in here for us too. He can make it so we're next we're at

[12:16] police.

[12:24] Good evening. A month of August had the police department responded to 870 calls for

[12:29] service and performing 34 arrests. Likewise the comm center answered 2,365 phone calls of which 382 were

[12:39] 911 calls. August 11th, 13th, we had Department-wide training. Officers came in. Topics included

[12:48] Bloodborne Pathogens, Hazardous Communications, Pepperball Training, and Emergency Response

[12:53] Training held at Lincoln School this year.

[12:57] The Community Organizations active in disaster

[13:00] pilot program was held at Oniota Learning Center. Had most of the department's attending,

[13:06] was an eight-hour training session there with emergency management.

[13:12] Koanas, sponsored a touch of truck event on August 22nd in which the police department

[13:17] had a patrol car as well as officers attending the event as well attended.

[13:23] And lastly, the Iowa Great Lakes hiring co-op is now accepting applications for the position

[13:28] of police officer.

[13:29] So I encourage the general public to reach out, go to the department's Facebook, spend

[13:34] but an application testing is first part of October.

[13:38] That's all I have, any questions?

[13:41] Thank you.

[13:41] Thank you, Chief.

[13:43] And M.G., Public Works.

[13:47] Hello.

[13:48] The landfill division, you may recall,

[13:51] recall we had a capital improvement program

[13:53] to do a project to do a spray foam

[13:55] of a cold storage building and that's been completed.

[13:58] Folks seem to think that's really improved operations

[14:01] over there as well.

[14:03] Equipment maintenance.

[14:04] So we had to have an undercarriage rebuilt that track system underneath the track loader.

[14:08] I think it has around 5,000 hours on it now that unit was purchased new.

[14:14] The street division, there's been a lot going on as you noticed kind of the pre-school.

[14:18] We want to do all the painting, crosswalks, painted lane dividers, weed control, alley and street paving.

[14:25] I wanted to mention you notice that the spray oil and rock that goes on for more of a permanent patch.

[14:32] We hire a private contractor to do that, that we don't have that equipment that went really smooth last week.

[14:40] Good ride surface on that.

[14:43] Also, inner department, departmental.

[14:46] We did some cleanup help from the landfill or taking wood chips from the tree site to the landfill.

[14:55] they use that during wet weather operations on some of the lanes and in the traffic.

[15:00] Also assisted the park department with removing the benches at the ban shell. Solid waste division, I thought that was a nice compliment or comment that Tom Clark made that how much the cashless operation has improved their operations by improving efficiency and streamlining. So that was a good change there. Also the maintenance project that will be going under, will take, in effect, will be the glass containers that are at Wal-Mart,

[15:29] and high V those got really faded and dingy looking so we've got a project we're going to systematically have one of those painted and replaced it and swap another one out new decals and freshen those up public works received requests for proposals for biosolids application at the wastewater treatment plant you'll see a contract come through next council meeting we'll have that ready we received good numbers on that with some savings to the operating

[16:00] Public Works also worked on inspections, March here in the office, he had quite a few sidewalk inspections, vehicle input for fleet maintenance software, lots of phone calls recently, had some rain event questions and things we had to follow up on, we also took vehicles to the touch of truck event as well, so anything else?

[16:23] Any questions?

[16:25] Thank you.

[16:25] thank you. Next item 7's engineer report Ross.

[16:35] Good evening everyone, quick update. On the

[16:37] rise project on 37th Avenue West, the loss construction completed the cul-de-sac paving last week.

[16:45] So work to be completed on that project includes moving the rest of the dirt,

[16:51] or placing the top soil. They got to build the storm sewer on four street that starts at

[16:56] 30-second avenue and comes over to the South Tech Park and then there's a piece

[17:01] of sanitary sewer on the south side of the Tech Park that has to be constructed

[17:05] also yet. On 4th Avenue West, the underground work is complete on that portion

[17:11] of the project. Delos began moving dirt and started subgrade prep and then they

[17:18] got rained on this weekend so they had a pretty good lake up there this morning that

[17:22] they are trying to figure out what to do with, pump it out and try and get a

[17:26] right out. So I'm not sure that they'll get anything paid this week just because all the rain, but that's kind of where we're at up there.

[17:34] And then a few miscellaneous things on the sewer inspection with a cooler engineering. We've currently got four flow meters installed in the storm sewer system.

[17:47] They're in various locations throughout the community. They've been in for about three weeks. We captured some pretty good data over the weekend, obviously.

[17:55] Those are the kind of events we want to see when we're gathering data, and they'll

[18:00] continue to read those through the middle of October, and those flow meters just capture

[18:05] data so that they can calibrate the storm water hydraulic model for their computers.

[18:12] And then on the lead service line project, Holstein excavating is completed 23 water services

[18:18] on that project.

[18:19] there's about 240 I believe to do and we've been adding a few as we go they've

[18:26] got those 23 done and they've got the street patches completed also their

[18:30] underground crews been out of town last week and this week and we think they'll

[18:35] probably be back next week to get started again so any questions?

[18:42] Thank you.

[18:44] Wes Boyer with Bolton Mink provided us with update on the projects he's got

[18:51] going on just to highlight to those out there in the public. The splash pad still remains substantial

[18:58] completion of October 16th. Everything is on schedule. 18th Street Trail segment, the bike path

[19:04] part on the 18th Street before the bridge, substantial completion is still October 30, 2026.

[19:12] So there's just some other items there that just to bring up speed on otherwise the pull report is

[19:18] in there in your packet. Item number eight, city manager report.

[19:24] Got it. Thank you, Mayor. I wanted to hit a highlight from each of the department heads

[19:29] that was not able to be here tonight on the parks department. You could note that the West

[19:33] 18th Street bike trail that you approved, the pre-construction meeting will happen this month

[19:37] with completion of that stretch by the end of October. Adam has prepared and is ready

[19:44] for a data center conversation, should you ever want one?

[19:47] You did a statewide analysis of what municipalities allowed data centers, did a map of that, some language.

[19:54] So it's nothing that's on the agenda, but if you ever want to have that discussion, we're prepared as a staff to have that.

[19:59] And at the library, you just wanted to point out that Sarah Beth was able to secure in her staff a $16,000 grant from the State Historical Society of Iowa to digitize newspapers.

[20:09] So they've put a lot of work into that grant and that's an excellent resource for the public, and then on the human resource side Jessica has been working on some collective bargaining, the beginning of that process is starting, so just a reminder last year in our budget, we did a one year agreement, usually there are multi-year agreement, but we did a one year agreement for a one and a half percent cola for the current fiscal year, so we'll begin those conversations and negotiations this fall.

[20:37] So that's those reports.

[20:40] On my report, continue to work on housing incentives.

[20:45] Sorry, we presented you a rough draft of some.

[20:48] We want to jump back into that conversation late October, November, and see if we can't get something lined up for the beginning of our next fiscal year.

[20:56] So we want to incorporate that into our budget, probably look at funding sources to offer incentives of how and

[21:05] where you want to see the town continue to emphasize housing rehabilitation and new construction.

[21:12] Continue to get ready to launch a RFP for our Comprehensive Land Use Plan. As a reminder,

[21:18] 2017 is our current one. It's outdated, especially post-disaster. We need to update that.

[21:26] Demolition RFPs should be going out here within a month. We're all the way through the SDC

[21:32] the acquisitions, I believe, we have one left, two left.

[21:36] And we've started on the FEMA 404 buyouts,

[21:38] curious starting to process those.

[21:40] So just a little update on that, once the property is acquired,

[21:44] then the asbestos inspection happens, then the demolition happens.

[21:47] And we're trying to get the best bang for our buck on the bids for

[21:51] the demolitions, so we want to package all these together at the same time.

[21:54] So it'll probably be mid to late fall when the public will start to see these houses and

[21:59] Department complexes come down.

[22:02] Iowa League of Cities Annual Meeting is in Ventendorf this year.

[22:06] That'll happen at the end of the month.

[22:08] If anybody has any questions or wants to get notes from any of the sessions,

[22:13] elected officials are also welcome to attend.

[22:15] It's open for anybody.

[22:17] Army Corps of Engineer River Study, they've launched that now.

[22:20] So just as a reminder, it's a year-long study.

[22:23] We'll get the results in the spring of 2027,

[22:26] And that will help us determine what type of flood mitigation projects we can apply for under large federal programs.

[22:33] Moving forward, an exciting announcement with the Iowa Flood Center.

[22:37] I sent you a memo earlier last week about a partnership with NASA and

[22:41] Rutgers University and the University of Iowa.

[22:44] We were accepted with the only municipality in the study in Iowa.

[22:48] That's participating.

[22:49] The cool part about this is NASA's working on the ability to predict

[22:55] predict rainfall amounts in our area in the upper Midwest, specifically in Iowa, that deal with the Rocky Mountains and the formation of the systems before they're fully formed, based on the evaporation and cloud density content to be able to increase the lead time that we can get to be able to predict flash flooding because we'll be able to have an earlier prediction on how much rain could fall where.

[23:21] And so Spencer I was part of that. They're using the 24 disaster as a model and it originated out in the Rockies and came across the plains. So that's exciting. That'll kick off here this fall.

[23:34] So with that, I'd entertain any questions, Mayor.

[23:38] So Kevin, I know there's a data center meeting with supervisors coming up. Are you part of that?

[23:47] Yes, super well. Supervisor Bachelot sent an email out to my knowledge. He's assimilating or assembling people. I was in that loop. Okay. Yeah. I'm not sure the extent, you know, of what the meeting is, but yeah.

[24:05] Yeah. Yep. So, like I said, if you all ever want to have a conversation like that, we're prepared for it.

[24:11] So,

[24:13] any other questions?

[24:17] Thank you, City Manager.

[24:20] Item 9 is the Mayor's Report. Got a few different things here to talk about.

[24:24] Number one, hopefully you all had a safe Labor Day weekend and enjoyed your time with family and friends or whatever you did.

[24:31] Got a big big thing coming up for the Spencer area in Clay County called the Fair.

[24:36] I don't know if anybody has ever heard of this, but it should be kind of a big deal a lot of people here

[24:42] So let's represent Spencer really well with a lot of the new people coming in

[24:47] Typically every year we get a letter thanking us on

[24:51] You know how nice the town looks and the main drag and grand and everything

[24:56] With that there is some more construction if anybody hasn't seen or driven on 71

[25:01] They just closed off the left lane on both sides of 71

[25:05] one right before the fair. I want everybody to understand that the city of

[25:13] Spencer has zero to do with that. We didn't even know that they were closing

[25:20] off that road or highway or anything. So we have zero to do. That is all the

[25:25] Iowa Department of Transportation and they're getting ready to start making

[25:29] in the cross section and the median in preparation

[25:34] for the road construction that will happen next spring

[25:37] in summer.

[25:38] So keep in mind, it is still flowing.

[25:41] It's just one lane traffic from just north of the Y

[25:44] all the way to faithless and church area.

[25:48] So keep that in mind.

[25:51] Watch traffic.

[25:53] With the fare, the Spencer Chamber has lunch bunch passes.

[25:58] So if you just want to go out there for lunch, you've got some people at your office or work or whatever and you want to catch some lunch at the fair, you can stop at the chamber and pick up some lunch bunch passes that just get you right in to get to the fair court and come back out during your lunch hour.

[26:16] I attended the Clay County 175th exposition at the Clay County Heritage, which is really neat, it's all the county around and Spencer has a bunch of neat historic things from way back when, along with a lot of the other towns.

[26:33] So if you haven't had a chance to check it out, please go to the Clay County Heritage and check out their 175th exposition that they got out there.

[26:41] I attended two home dedication so part of the council was you know we want to do we need housing we need homes and just just so the public's aware and the council's aware we got two brand new homes and Spencer one was from the men and

[26:57] night. They had their home hand off or whatever. Gorgeous home. They did a great job. The owners of

[27:07] that house was very tickled, very happy. They've been there since that house was built originally

[27:14] toward down and built a new one. The second dedication was with Habitat for Humanity. They did one

[27:22] also, so we got two new homes up so far with a lot more to come, a lot more things in the works,

[27:28] but I just want you to know we are moving forward with our goals of providing housing for

[27:34] Spencer areas. I also attended the co-ed training with Kevin and Chief, eight hour training block,

[27:43] attended that. The other thing was, I just want to, I know this is one area, but

[27:49] But, um, dear friend area had a neighborhood block party and I would encourage other blocks

[27:56] to start doing that.

[27:59] It was really neat to see.

[28:00] There was probably, I don't know, 200 plus people at this block party at the park.

[28:06] Um, it was just a pot lock and they did have live music there and it was just really a neat

[28:12] thing to see the neighborhoods come out and support that.

[28:16] So I would encourage all neighborhoods to look at that and you know, yeah, it takes somebody to step up and say they want to plan it

[28:23] They want to do it. They want to help out and I know it takes a lot of work to do that stuff. But it was well-received, well-attended, and I encourage all neighborhoods to start looking at doing something like that

[28:36] It's just a good way to get out and meet your neighbors, and that's what we encourage. So

[28:40] So with that, are there any questions?

[28:48] Seeing none, item 10, Council Committee reports, Kevin.

[28:55] September 21st, two meetings coming up, regular council meeting at 6.30, and prior to that,

[29:00] committee of the whole meeting will have a discussion on sewer rates and flood insurance.

[29:05] The flood insurance is a follow-up.

[29:07] We have the costs that we didn't have before on the boiler system that you can decide which direction

[29:16] you want to go there and then of course on the sewer rates, this would be the discussion ahead

[29:20] of the final decisions of what to increase the sewer rates for prior to McClure having their

[29:29] engineering study completed. So they'll be roughly two increases in the pipeline. One would be

[29:38] this discussion and then you'd have a final increase once the scope of the projects are done.

[29:44] But this was the timing to have that discussion, so Matt Stoffel from PFM will be here to walk us through the modeling and give you a couple different options and see which way you want to go with that.

[29:56] So just as a reminder, the significance of that is the more...

[30:00] Cash, we can bring in on the front end of the project. The less we have to borrow, which means the less interest we have to pay over the life of the project. It's a cheaper way to go versus just waiting to finance the entire thing at the end of the project. So, just something to think about going into that meeting. It's a follow-up from the last conversation the council had about a year ago, a year and a half ago.

[30:29] Any questions? Thank you, Kevin.

[30:31] I have number 11. It's proof, bills, and claims. I get a motion.

[30:37] So moved. First by Amy. Second by David. Any discussion?

[30:46] Here and none. All those in favor? Aye.

[30:50] Opposed? Same sign. Motion approved.

[30:55] Item 12. Other businesses are opportunities to address the council.

[31:02] see and none. Item 13 is closed session.

[31:09] Item A is closed session pursuant to Iowa Code Section 21.5.

[31:14] Prinsies 1, Prinsies C, to discuss strategy with Council's concerning litigation.

[31:22] First by Becky. Second by Jim. Discussion.

[31:27] Oh, City Attorney's Health.

[31:30] Can you confirm the discussion meets the requirements of Iowa Code Section 21.5 Sub-1 Sub-C?

[31:37] Yes, it does.

[31:38] Thank you.

[31:40] Okay, all those in favor?

[31:42] Aye.

[31:43] What was the same sign?

[31:45] Then, Jeep, you can prepare the room, going into closed session.

City Council Meeting

Transcript