Sheldon, Iowa — The Sheldon City Council has given their approval to the Crossroads Pavilion Board’s decision to hire Katricia Meendering as the new General Manager for the event center during their regular meeting Wednesday. Council member Geels announced that 29 people had applied for the position. Five were interviewed, with three advancing to a second interview. He said it was a very difficult decision among the finalists. Meendering then announced her resignation as Mayor effective March 6th. After calling the March 6th Council meeting to order she will hand the meeting over to councilman Brad Hindt who will serve as Mayor Pro Tem for up to 40 days. During that time the City will be searching for people who are interested in being appointed to the position. Anyone who might like to be appointed is asked to send a letter of interest to the Sheldon City Office.
To see Mayor Meendering’s Resignation Letter, CLICK HERE.
In other business the council discussed switching the make-up of the city council to all at-large positions. That suggestion came about because of the difficulty often met in finding candidates to represent specific wards. However, there were concerns that with all five council positions running at-large, one section of the city could possibly have all five members elected, which could result in action from the council that would favor that part of the city. There would also be the possibility of a group of people with a certain agenda taking over. The change to an all at-large council could only be made through an election. An election could be called for through a petition signed by at least 18 voters.
The Council spent a great deal of their time listening to presentations from the Sheldon Community Ambulance Team (SCAT), the fire department, Sheldon Emergency Management Agency (EMA), and the police department regarding their projections of capital improvement financial needs over the next fifteen years. Since it has been difficult to fund some of these projects due to the increased costs of ambulances, fire trucks, and other equipment, the council is looking into the possibility of using franchise fees that would be collected by Mid-American Energy. Since the council was concerned about the need to get the public involved in this decision, it was suggested that the City could enter into a franchise agreement with Mid-American without the franchise fees. If it was decided to collect the fees, this could be added to the agreement later. Mid-American normally has twenty or twenty-five-year franchises with cities, but has proposed a fifteen-year agreement with Sheldon. The city manager, city attorney and Mark Reinders of Mid-American will work on a possible agreement and give the public ample opportunity to learn more about it before further action would be taken.
