Mayor: Job announcements require look at city housing

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

With recent announcements regarding potential job expansions in the area, Charles City Mayor Jim Erb believes the City Council should consider the city’s housing needs, he said during Monday’s regular meeting.

The comment came after City Administrator Steve Diers reported the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s tax rebate incentive for Cambrex, which is planning a $27 million expansion of the Charles City facilities.

The expansion will offer 29 new jobs to the area with wages exceeding $16.85 an hour, Diers said. He added the city will be discussing a local response to the news during an upcoming Southwest TIF Committee meeting.

“We’ve had other successes in the recent past, talking about an extra shift at the poultry processing plant,” Erb said, referring to Simply Essentials.

“I don’t see the amount of housing available to take up a lot of these good-news announcements without having some type of program to work on housing,” he added. “Back when I first began, we were talking about housing incentives … to keep ourselves competitive in terms of getting people to live in Charles City.”

The comments were made during Diers’ city administrator report, and no action was taken on the issue.

ORDINANCE READINGS

The City Council approved two public readings of ordinances concerning the legal sales of fireworks and a procedure to determine an impounded “vicious” dog’s fate.

The council performed a second reading amending zoning laws to allow the sale of fireworks in the B-4 highway service business district, the M-2 general manufacturing district and as a special use in the M-1 light manufacturing district and B-3 district.

According to the ordinance, sales of fireworks are permitted in highway and heavy manufacturing locations, but require special permission for businesses in more “retail”-oriented locations. Sales of fireworks is not permitted in residential districts, Diers noted as he introduced the ordinance.

The council approved the first reading of an ordinance amendment regarding dogs ruled to be vicious who are held at PAWS Humane Society. The amendment allows city officials to rule if a vicious dog is safe to return to the owner, if the owner is required to meet certain conditions before the dog is returned, or if the dog must be euthanized.

The amendment attempts to address a gap in current law that barred owners from picking up a vicious dog up from PAWS, but did not specify what would happen to the dog, Assistant City Attorney Brad Sloter said.

OTHER BUSINESS

The Charles City Police Department swore in Officer John Jenkins. He lives north of Floyd and recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Jenkins told the City Council. He is originally from La Porte City.

The city council also approved a bid for $19,900 by YC Commercial Roofing to replace the flat roof of the main building at the wastewater treatment plant.