Sheldon, Iowa — Hearing no comments during a public hearing at their meeting Wednesday, the Sheldon City Council approved a multifamily residential urban revitalization plan for Block One in the Prairie Trails Addition.
Eagle Construction is purchasing that area with plans to construct a thirty-unit residential structure and nine townhouses. The council then waived the need for three readings of an ordinance designating the area as a revitalization area and passed it on the first reading. This action will make it possible for Eagle Construction to begin work on the project this fall.
In other action, the council set October 4th as the date for a meeting on the proposition to authorize a loan agreement on the issuance of general obligation capital loan notes not to exceed $3.78 million. We are told that $880,000 of this amount will be used on the 16th Street project and the remainder to help finance the wastewater plant improvements.
The council also decided on how to proceed with the increases in the sewer portion of utility bills to pay the cost of the work on the wastewater plant. It has been estimated that the total cost will be between 11.8 and 11.9 million dollars. Twenty-five percent of this will be financed by tax increment financing funds. The remainder will be paid by borrowed money, and the payments will have to come from increases in current sewer rates. These increases will come in six-month intervals beginning January 1st. The first reading of an ordinance authorizing the increases will come before the council on October 4th.
During the “Public Comments” time, Harold Postma spoke to the council in support of a “National Week of Repentance,” which is scheduled for September 24th through October 1st. In his comments, Postma said, “America is in trouble and help does not start in the White House, it starts in God’s House”.
