Sheldon, Iowa — The Sheldon City Council held a work session Tuesday to review the goals set two years ago, and set goals for the future. In addition to the Council and Mayor, City Manager Scott Wynja, Councilman elect Pete Hamill, City Clerk Angela Beckman, Public Works Director Todd Uhl and Police Chief Lyle Bolkema joined in the discussion.
The session was led by Jeff Schott of the University of Iowa Institute of Public Affairs. The first order of business was to review the goals set two years ago. Many of these projects such as infrastructure improvement, economic development and airport maintenance are on-going. However City Code enforcement on problems such as nuisances have not been resolved and need attention. The problem of an alternate water source still exists because of the slow progress of the Lewis and Clark Water project. City Manager Scott Wynja said the outlook for Lewis and Clark water is a little brighter than it has been, but at present if an industry that uses a lot of water would want to locate in Sheldon the City would be hard-pressed to serve their needs.
Another goal set two years ago was to put a building code in place for the City. This has not been fulfilled because of public opposition to the idea. However, the Council would still like to see such a code put in place for rental property.
Major accomplishments over the past two years include the Runger addition development, the downtown project, the large number of housing starts and the condos near Fieldcrest. It was also mentioned that the City has paid off the Aquatic Center loan, and continued a strong partnership with the SCDC, the schools and the County. Several times during the session Schott commented on the good working relationship between these entities. He said that he has seen many situations where the city and development department are constantly at odds and therefore get nowhere.
At the end of the session four major items were listed as new goals for the future. One was continued work on the Events Center and Community Park. The number two item was listed as developing a plan for the Sheldon Community Ambulance Team’s future. Third was charging franchise fees. At the present time the only franchise fee collected by the city is through HTC Communications for their Cable and Telephone system. The other possibility is a franchise fee on Mid-American Energy, but at the present time Mid-American is operating in Sheldon without a franchise. The City will look into the possibility of working with Mid-American on this issue. The state allows cities to collect a fee of up to five percent which the utilities would pass on to their customers. The Fourth new goal is to identify a location for an affordable housing development.
