Sheldon, Iowa — The City of Sheldon has a specific plan in place for times when it is necessary to cancel Parks and Recreation programs because of extreme or dangerous weather conditions. At their Wednesday meeting the Sheldon City Council approved of this plan. It outlines who is responsible for canceling or postponing activities and how these decisions will be transmitted to the public. To see the complete text of the plan, CLICK HERE.
The council also gave their approval to a process for developing a Master Plan for the new Crossroads Community Park area. This will include the pond as well as the greenspace in that 40 acre area. This process includes several workshops for city leaders and two open houses where the public will be able to learn about the progress of the planners. Input from the public will be welcomed at these two meetings.
No specific dates have been set for this activity, and it will be sometime before the actual development can begin. This park development is in the future plans for the city, but not in the current budget.
The cost of developing the Master Plan will be no more than $20-thousand, with the SCDC picking up the tab for half of the cost.
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Original story posted at 6:10am, 9/6/2018
Sheldon, Iowa — When the Sheldon City Council met Wednesday the majority of the discussion concerned what to do about three building locations in the City that are considered a nuisance and a danger to the public. One is located at 428 Park Street. City Attorney Micah Schreurs told the council that this building was destroyed by fire in 2016. He told the council that he was given six different addresses of the current title owner, but the owner or owners who had bought the property at a tax sale could not be found. The City could go through the process of acquiring the property, but it would cost between 28 and 30-thousand dollars to clean it up because of the asbestos.
The second property under discussion was the Sunset Motel property on South 2nd Avenue. The council was told that the owner of this property is deceased and contacts with the next of kin failed to find anyone who was interested in the property. Police Chief Lyle Bolkema told the council that the house at this location is “not in bad shape, but the motel rooms are garbage”. The street department has boarded up the doors, but they were kicked in. The City is also mowing the grass and weeds. Back taxes on this property add up to $11,432.00 .
The third property discussed is what has been referred to as the Thermo-Cel building, which is on Iselin Avenue. The council was told that the Thermo-Cel company was shut down by the Secretary of State in 1987. It was reported that the roof is gone, the walls are falling down, and there are large pits of water in the basement. Public Works Director Todd Uhl said, “I won’t send my people in there”. It is estimated that it would cost $145,000 to clean up this property. However, there is an entity interested in acquiring the location who might help cover the cost.
Mayor Katricia Meendering expressed her concern for the safety of children in the area of the building and for that reason the council’s initial focus should be on cleaning up the location. City representatives will meet with the party who is interested in the Iselin Avenue location to see if they would be interested in sharing the cost of clearing the property.
In his report to the council on City projects, Todd Uhl said that 16th street is a problem, because that construction company doing the work is far behind schedule and he can’t force them to come and work. However he said this will end up in a penalty situation. There is a penalty of one thousand dollars a day for every day the work goes beyond the contract completion date.
