Sheldon, Iowa — At an early morning special meeting Friday, the Sheldon City Council approved an amendment to the City’s Urban Renewal Plan. This amendment corrected an error that occurred back in 2007. No one at Friday’s meeting addressed the issue at a public hearing held before the vote, but Mayor Katricia Meendering read two letters related to the issue. One was from Sheldon Community Schools Superintendent Robin Spears, in which he expressed concerns about the amount of property evaluation that has been diverted to Tax Increment Financing. Spears letter also acknowledged and supported the economic development activities of the City of Sheldon. Spears asked the City to give strong consideration to releasing TIF valuation back to the regular tax valuation.
Mayor Meendering also read into the record, the response of City Manager Sean Hutchison to Spears. The City Manager stated he understands the pressures that all of the affected taxing entities encounter. Hutchison added that the City will consider balancing the need for support of economic development activities that help the entire community, with the ultimate goal of increasing tax valuation that will benefit all taxing entities.
In other action, the Council extended the HTC Communications cable franchise ordinance until a later meeting to be held after final publication. The City Attorney told the council that HTC has been very good to work with on this ordinance and he experienced a very good exchange of ideas with HTC and their attorney.
And, the final subject of Friday’s meeting dealt with the hiring of a manager for the new Crossroads Pavillion Events Center. The Search Committee reported to the Council that they had done extensive research into arrangements between other communities and their events center management. It was recommended that the salary range for the Events Center Manager position should be 35 to 50 thousand dollars per year, plus benefits. There was also discussion of adding a commission or bonuses for bringing events to the Center, but the general consensus was that weekends would be booked quite regularly by such events as weddings, with the Events Center Manager working on booking events during the week. The Council voted to give the Committee the power to negotiate with prospective candidates for the position, with the Council having the final decision.
