Charles City Council hires new city clerk

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Council discussed the general property tax levy, prepared for summer activities, and hired a new city clerk during its regular meeting on Monday, April 7.

Ahead of the regular meeting, the council held a special public hearing for the city’s consolidated general fund levy for the upcoming fiscal year.

The state mandated change to the levy process requires a separate hearing following a notification mailer that has been criticized for being both expensive and misleading to taxpayers due to not using real values of what property taxes will be in its calculations.

“It costs counties thousands of dollars to send these out,” said Mayor Dean Andrews. “The intent was to clarify the process, but all it did was muddy the process.”

This year’s general fund levy will be $8.3053, down $0.08305 from the previous fiscal year.

While the levy rate itself is going down, city revenue will see a small increase as taxable valuation goes up, amounting to nearly $39,000 in new money for the general fund.

It was also noted that the $8.30 levy is just the city’s general fund levy. The total city tax rate will be roughly $15.95, which is down 1.4 cents from last year.

Moving into the regular meeting, the council met with Community Development Director Mark Wicks to discuss and approve street closing requests for this year’s schedule of summer events.

The Charles City Farmers Marker will return to Central Park this summer, operating from 3:30 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays starting on May 3.

Party in the Park is planned for May 30, June 13, June 27, and Aug. 1.

And the Independence Day celebrations will run in the park on both July 4 and 5, which includes the Independence Day parade returning to its traditional route after having to work around last year’s construction on Main Street.

“I’m glad to see that it’s going back to the original,” said Wicks.

Addressing the issue of notifications for businesses and residents along the parade route, which was discussed at the previous meeting, Wicks said that the chamber will be making direct contact with businesses on the route and sending letters to residents and landlords on the affected properties.

In other business, the city approved the appointment of Chris Tonn to the Historic Preservation Commission, replacing outgoing member Carol Frye.

The council also approved the city’s renewal of its insurance package with First MainStreet Insurance, made its second payment for work done on the City Hall/Police Department renovations, and approved a change to the Unified Development Ordinance to extend the expiration period for conditional use permits and variances to two years.

Finally, the council approved an employment agreement for Brittney Lentz to serve as the city’s new city clerk and finance officer.

Lentz, who has spent the last 18 years as the Plainfield City Clerk, was selected among a pool of candidates interviewed last week. She will officially begin on April 28, but will be working with City Clerk Trudy O’Donnell before that to familiarize herself with Charles City.

“We’re excited to get Brittney on board and hit the ground running,” said City Administrator Steve Diers.

On that note, O’Donnell concluded the meeting with her final clerk report, thanking all of the co-workers and elected officials she has worked with over the last 18 years in a tearful speech.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the citizens of Charles City and to help the city become known across the entire state as a progressive and ‘happening’ city,” said O’Donnell. “I couldn’t have done my job without my exception co-workers, mayor, and City Council. We have made a great team and I will miss seeing them every day.”