Totes rolling in to Charles City April 1, 2018
By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com
The Charles City Council approved a contract with Jendro Sanitation to switch to rolling totes for city garbage collection, effective April 1, 2018.
The move comes after several months of preparation and discussion between Jendro and the council, which also moved to extend its current contract until the new program is adopted.
The council approved an increase in the base payment for solid waste from $6.45 to $7.15, effective immediately.
“There hasn’t been a change in that reimbursement amount since 2008,” said Charles City Administrator Steven Diers.
The increase will help Jendro in the cost for updating to rolling totes, Diers said, but the price increase would have happened whether the city changes collection containers or not.
The price increase was supposed to have taken effect already, said Charles City Council member Michael Hammond.
The totes will be owned by Jendro, and the cost of the totes and new trucks will be shouldered by the sanitation company.
Garbage will be picked up weekly and recycling will be picked up every other week.
The orange bags currently being used will no longer be needed unless a household has garbage in excess of the amount that will fit in the tote, Diers said.
“The start time will change to as early as 4 a.m.,” Diers said.
The contract allows Jendro to request an annual increase in payment once a year.
“The spring clean-up partnership remains in the contract,” Diers said. “The contract will be in effect for 10 years.”
The vast majority of users will see a price decrease, Diers said. Some people that have a high volume may see an increase.
Charles City residents will have more volume to fill their recycling totes.
“This looks like a positive change,” Joerger said.
Cambrex
During the meeting there was a public hearing for the development agreement and Cambrex.
It was originally pulled from the agenda, and at the beginning of the meeting Diers added it again, citing the announcement in the paper as meeting the 24-hour notice requirement.
The hearing for the development agreement for Cambrex went on without comment from the public.
Cambrex is doing a $27 million expansion.
“It’s a real positive for the community,” said Charles City Council member Jerry Joerger.
Community rating system
Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Floodplain Section performed a community assistance visit to assess the city’s floodplain management compliance in July.
During the visit, Charles City Mayor James Erb and Charles City Engineer John Fallis met with the FEMA and DNR representatives to discuss the findings of their visit.
There were 16 potential violations of flood plain management in Charles City, which were resolved.
Now Charles City’s floodplain management is in compliance with FEMA regulations, which means the city can proceed with the enrollment phase of the CRS program and is eligible for lower premiums for flood insurance.
A CRS coordinator has to be named, and then a CRS specialist will be assigned to Charles City and the city will be put into a class to get a premium reduction for flood insurance.
Zoetis
Zoetis is considering expansion that will invest millions of dollars and mean new jobs to Charles City.
The council voted on public hearing date for urban renewal plan amendment with language granting Zoetis a tax rebate agreement.
Most of the left side of the council chambers had Zoetis employees sitting on behalf of the resolution.
“The state is looking at this pretty seriously as well,” said Charles City Council member DeLaine Freeseman.
This is the first time Zoetis has asked for a dime, said Charles City Area Development Corporation Director Tim Fox, since he’s been in his position in 1998.
The agreement will bring in six new jobs and cost Zoetis $55 million, if it chooses to expand its location in Charles City.
The public hearing date is set for Nov. 20.
Fireworks
The council also held the final reading of an amendment to the Charles City fireworks ordinance. The city is removing a requirement for local licenses.
The city then introduced another amendment to the fireworks ordinance defining consumer fireworks and adding the sale of consumer fireworks as a principal permitted use in B-4 highway service business district and M-2 general manufacturing district, and as a special use in M-1 light manufacturing district and B-2 general business district.
By allowing it as a special use in B-2 it automatically allows its special use of B-3, said Fallis.
After the council approved the first reading of the ordinance it set a public hearing on the ordinance on Monday, Nov. 6.
No Parking
The city approved a no parking section on North Grand Ave.
On the east side on North Grand across the tracks that run along Main Street, there’s too little space on the street for vehicles to get through when a car is parked there.
The driveways have been getting crowded, and trucks can’t get through.
The no-parking zone would be on the east side of North Grand Avenue from the centerline of the Canadian National Railroad tracks to 75 feet north, according to City Council documents.
Miscellaneous
Roy Schwickerath was appointed to fill a vacant term on the planning and zoning commission by Charles City Mayor James Erb and approved by the council.
The next meeting will be a planning session at 6 p.m. on Oct. 23 followed by a special meeting.
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