Sheldon, Iowa — The Sheldon City Council has agreed to use the services of Hinson Consulting in their search for a new city manager.
A tentative schedule is to set August 17th as the deadline for receiving applications for the city manager position, with the screening of candidates and interviews to follow. If this schedule is followed and a candidate is offered the position a new city manager could be named in mid-September. The council took some time-out during Wednesday’s meeting to make a phone call to Brad Hinson to ask questions brought up by council members. In answer to one of those questions, Hinson assured the council that their firm will work with the City as long as it takes to find the right person.
In other action, the council passed on to the third reading an ordinance amending downtown parking as well as parking restrictions on a portion of East 6th Street.
A discussion of the contracts with the City’s solid waste collectors was also on the meeting agenda, but Mayor Katricia Meendering said she was not confident with entering into a decision at this time because there are too many aspects of the contracts that need more study.
The council also heard reports from the police department, Crossroads Pavilion, and development director. Police Chief Lyle Bolkema reported they received 49 fireworks complaints this year, compared to 29 in 2017. The police department wrote five fireworks citations for violations of the city ordinance. During one of the fireworks investigations, the officer also issued two tickets for providing alcohol to someone under the legal age and two tickets for underage possession of alcohol. The mayor reported that she had also received fireworks complaints. City Attorney Micah Schreurs commented that a fireworks violation is a simple misdemeanor that can result in a $250 fine, plus a 35 percent surcharge and sixty dollars in court costs for a total of $397.50.
In her report to the council, Events Center General Manager Brittany Behrendsen said that during the past fiscal year the Crossroads Pavilion incurred expenses of $253,990 and revenues of $239,000 a loss of a little under fifteen thousand dollars. The City had expected operation losses to be much higher.
Development Director Curt Strouth brought the council up to date on a new marketing campaign, a scholarship program, the Prairie Trail Apartments, and some very positive financial statistics indicating the growth of business in the city.
