Sheldon, Iowa — The ground breaking for the Lewis and Clark water project was held in 2004, but Sheldon is one of the cities still waiting for the water. At Wednesday’s council meeting, Troy Larson, executive director of the project said, ‘there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
The line between Sioux Center and Hull is already in place. The next step is to complete construction from Hull to Sheldon, which is projected to be completed late in the year 2023. There will be a water tower placed somewhere between Boyden and Sheldon. Depending on the height of that tower, it might help the City of Sheldon put off the construction of a planned new Sheldon tower until a later date.
Sheldon has contracted for 1.3 million gallons of water per day from Lewis and Clark, which will be very soft, high quality water that would probably be blended with water from the City’s current wells.
In other business, a new member of the Sheldon Police Department took the oath of office. Originally from Northwest Iowa, Tim Loeschen has been a full-time police officer in Aurora, Colorado. He will replace Eric Meinecke as a reserve officer. Meinecke vacated that position to become a full-time police officer.
The council also gave their approval to the amendment of the zoning ordinance regarding residential first floor use of buildings in the downtown area. In each case the property owners will have to ask the Board of Adjustment for a special exception.
They also passed the second reading of an ordinance amendment dealing with residential use of the second floor in buildings in the Arterial Commercial District. Then, they waived the third reading and passed the amendment which allows the Board of Adjustment to grant a special exception in these cases.
The council accepted the retirement notice from Kent Lohrenz, EMA Director, and gave their approval to Mike Davis as the new director. The name of the new assistant director will be announced at the next council meeting.
And, there was a discussion on how public comments are scheduled during Council meetings. There will be more discussion later with the idea of allowing all public comments, with the exception of those in public hearings, to be held at the beginning of the meeting. There would be limits to how long each person could speak and and questions could be submitted to the council in writing, which would allow council deliberations to be conducted in a more business-like manner.
The last item on the agenda was a closed session for the purpose of conducting a City Manager evaluation.
Photo Caption: Reserve Police Officer Tim Loeschen is given the Oath of Office by Sheldon Mayor Greg Geels as Interim Chief David Dykstra and Officer Jett Korver look on.
KIWA Staff photo
