Sheldon, Iowa — During their regular meeting Wednesday, the Sheldon City Council agreed to approve an Expansion Agreement with the Lewis & Clark Water Project.
At their September 25th meeting, Public Works Director Todd Uhl told the Council that L&C is planning an expansion of water per day. Sheldon’s participation would allow the City to receive more water per day than they are signed up for now. The total project cost in today’s dollars is $114 million, with Sheldon’s share being $4.32 million. Sheldon’s portion of engineering costs for the first phase of the project would be $30,375.
City Manager Sam Kooiker told the Council that he had received a call from a Sheldon resident, urging the Council to not pass the Lewis & Clark resolutions that were on this week’s agenda because Sheldon has yet to see any water from the original L&C agreement. Despite that citizen’s objections, the Council unanimously passed the two resolutions regarding Lewis & Clark; the Expansion Commitment Agreement, as well as the Resolution in Support of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Funding Request to expand the L&C to 60 million gallons per day.
In other action, the Council approved a resolution regarding an agreement for engineering purposes to proactively review the pavement condition at the Sheldon Regional Airport, and explore solutions, a resolution authorizing payment for an Urban Renewal Project involving the airport, and a third resolution involving hangar rental fees. The measures passed unanimously.
City Manager Sam Kooiker reported to the Council on the Garbage and Recycling contract negotiations for the current contracts that expire July 1st of next year. He says there has been an ongoing conversation and the goal is to have a tentative agreement in place prior to the January Budget Workshops.
Mark Gurtler of DeKruif Disposal told the Council that since the topic of residential recycling has become a hot topic in town, the frequency with which the City’s downtown recycling receptacle has had to be emptied has dropped off dramatically.
The Council ended their meeting by going into closed session to discuss the potential purchase of property.
