Sheldon, Iowa — The Sheldon City Council got their first look at the police department’s K9 Balin during their meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Balin’s human partner, Officer Eric Meineke, introduced the animal to the Council, then answered questions from the body about his and Balin’s 14-week training course in the Twin Cities, as well as how the K9 has been doing since joining Meineke on patrol a week ago. At the end of the session, Meineke attached Balin’s Sheldon Police Department badge to the dog’s collar, calling the meeting before the Council the dog’s swearing in. He explained that all Sheldon police officers have badge numbers in the 20’s, with Balin’s badge being number 29, to signify the K9 member of the department.
In other action, the Council approved the relisting of the last city-owned building lot in the Trilogy Addition. The corner lot, which is located at East 6th Street and 26th Avenue, just east of Fieldcrest Assisted Living had been placed on an Option to Buy in 2017, but that Option expired in 2018 after not being exercised. The Council gave the go-ahead to relist the lot for sale with the local real estate agents.
Public Works Director Todd Uhl reported to the Council on water conservation in Sheldon under the voluntary Water Watch. He told the Council that water usage in town is still higher than he’d like and that residents still need to conserve water. He says the situation is made worse by the fact that Sheldon didn’t see nearly as much rain over the weekend as some other places in the area. Much discussion was had by the Council on whether mandatory water restrictions should be instituted at this time. Uhl said that mandatory restrictions are probably on the horizon, but he really doesn’t want to see them until it’s absolutely necessary. He said that, barring a mechanical failure at the well site, he favored staying with voluntary conservation measures. However, he told the Council that the City is, in his words, “ultimately going to end up on mandatory restrictions.”
