Community Notes: City Hall remodel underway, clerk transition ahead

By Dean Andrews, Mayor, Charles City

The biggest change going on right now in City business is the beginning of the remodeling of City Hall.

As many of you have probably noticed, the walkway between City Hall and the library has seen the removal of all of the overgrown trees and shrubbery. This area will be refreshed with a new sidewalk and new landscaping which will not only tie the two buildings together as one campus, but will also better highlight the entrance to each facility.

The front door to the Library is still fully accessible with a walkway from the back parking lot.

A couple of council members and I were able to tour the inside of City Hall last week to see what has been going on. Many of the office walls have been removed in preparation of more efficient space use of office setup.

The contractor told us we should see some work soon outside as they expand the roof to enclose the current sidewalk area. This will increase the indoor space for a better floorplan.

If you have not noticed, the arches along this front sidewalk are showing many areas of failing brickwork. Since some plan would have been needed to somehow repair these pillars, it was decided enclosing this area for most usable space was a better use of available dollars.

The work, although still early, is on pace for completion next April.

The next area of change in our office is the retirement of City Clerk Trudy O’Donnell, whose last day with the City will be this Friday, April 18.

I was on the council 17 years ago when we hired Trudy, and I think we made a great choice.

Trudy has worked alongside our City Administrator Steve Diers to keep our city finances in good order.

Finances, however, are just a part of what Trudy does. She is in charge of the front office city administrative staff, a staff which works well together due to Trudy’s leadership. To say she will be missed is an understatement.

As we move along, we have hired Brittney Lentz to take Trudy’s place. We had several good candidates that applied and interviewed for Trudy’s position.

Brittney stood out due to her overall experience as well as her great demeanor. Brittney has served many years as the city clerk for Plainfield, but said she was ready to move on to a larger town and bigger challenges.

This is very similar to what Trudy did 17 years ago when she came to us after being the city clerk in Riceville.

Brittney will officially begin her duties on Monday, April 28. So stop in sometime in the next few weeks and say thanks to Trudy and hello to Brittney.

Another major city issue which we are just finishing up is the fiscal year 2026 budget which goes into effect on July 1 of this year and continues until June 30 of 2026. (Fortunately Trudy stayed around long enough to be a big part of completing this budget).

With this year’s budget, the levy rate will actually go down one and one-half cents per $1000 of valuation. What this means is unless you did something to improve your property’s valuation, the city’s share of your tax bill for next year should remain relatively constant.

Due to some properties’ increase in valuation and some new properties, the city’s total tax askings will increase by about $121,638 which is an overall increase of about 2.8%.

As most of you know, if you live in the Charles City city limits, your total tax bill is a combination of city, county, school, and several smaller taxing entities. The city’s share is about 41% of your total property tax bill.

So as you can see, there is always something going on in your city. My goal is to always look for what we can do to make for a positive and progressive Charles City.