City council votes on numerous items

By Kelly Terpstra, kterpstra@charlescitypress.com

Change orders, waivers, rezonings and remodelings.

The list was long Monday at the last regular Charles City Council meeting before the Christmas break.

One item on the agenda that was approved was a partial remodel of the Chamber of Commerce offices, which also house Community Revitalization, the Charles City Area Development Corp. and the Community Foundation.

The upgrades include replacing the windows and doors of the offices at 401 N. Main. There is poor insulation on the windows and doors as well as issues of ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessibility to the building, according to the proposal.

The proposal also includes a remodeled entryway so that a 24/7 visitor’s center could provide information such as brochures and maps for people coming into town.

“We’ve been putting some funds back each of the last couple years for the 401 N. Main building, knowing that we’ve got windows and doors that need to be replaced,” said City Administrator Steve Diers.

Martin/Gardner of Cedar Rapids was approved to begin the design work with an agreement for services for a lump sum of $5,000. Design finalization was listed as Jan. 11 with bids from contractors to be received by Feb. 26. The project has a completion date of June 11.

“The project could move along as fast as we’d like it to. We don’t want to move along too fast because we’re going to fund additional dollars in fiscal year ’20, I feel,” said Diers.

The city’s comprehensive plan was approved. The “living document” is essentially the road map for how the community sees its development over the course of the next 10-15 years.

The top seven items that were listed as key priorities within the plan implementation were:

• Restaurant recruitment.
• Bike trail development.
• Technical job skills training.
• New events center.
• Housing upgrades.
• Expansion of broadband.
• Moving the fire department of out of the flood plain.

The Park Avenue Urban Renewal TIF district certification was decertified by $153,445. Review of the district certification found that the TIF revenues should be reduced after realizing there are enough funds to fully support current outstanding debt obligations.

The Riverside/Illinois Street and Hildreth Street projects were approved for change orders and were given extensions so that they could be completed next year. The new completion date for the Riverside/Illinois project has been moved to June 14, and Hildreth St. is set for Aug. 16.

Two public hearings were set regarding the new county law enforcement center that is scheduled to be built starting next year. Resolutions were approved to set public hearings for the vacation of street right-of-way on South Jackson Street, as well as the rezoning of the buildings at 101 and 111 S. Jackson Street from residential to business.

Floyd County has acquired the properties on the west side of Jackson Street between Gilbert and Court streets, including the previously purchased former Davico property, to be demolished to make room for the new LEC. The public hearings are set for Jan. 7, 2019.

The City Council also waived a parking requirement for stalls that will be built on the west side of the new LEC property. Currently the site plan allows 12 feet between the property line and the parking lot. That is three feet less than the required 15 feet.

The council approved the deed from the purchase of property from Kevin and Becky McEnany. The property will be used as part of the WRRF (Water Resource Recovery Facility). The city bought the 25 acres of land for $415,000 and it will be used to create equalization basins for the new wastewater treatment facility.

“The equalization basins rebids are a critical part of this project,” said Diers.

The 2019 sanitary sewer lining project will line 8,400 lineal feet of sanitary sewers mains in town. A public hearing date of Jan. 21, 2019, was approved to hear comments on the final plans on the project.

The second reading to rezone the building at 500 N. Grand from general residence district to multi-family residence was passed.  

The council also voted to close city offices for an additional four hours on Christmas Eve. The day was originally scheduled to be a half day off for city employees.

The council also went into closed session to discuss acquisition of property.