Sheldon, Iowa — The City of Sheldon is getting very close to receiving water from the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System. That and other updates were given at the Sheldon City Council meeting this week.
The meeting started off with public comments about the former Bethel property. Comments were brought up about how the property is being maintained presently. One concern was with the drainage in the area of 6th Avenue and 8th Street. Another concern, brought up by two individuals is the grass and weeds in that area. Also mentioned was the fact that there are a number of construction items being stored there. The individual that brought up the concern noted that it is zoned residential, not industrial.
The council was able to finish up the work with the code of ordinances. City Manager Sam Kooiker tells us more.
Kooiker says the Sheldon ordinances should now match state law, where needed. He highlighted one change, and that was that nuisances are now better defined, and the city will be able to add on a significant surcharge if someone doesn’t mow their grass, which, he says, should make it easier to enforce, since it would be far cheaper to call a mowing service than to pay the surcharge.
He tells us the bows were able to be tied to finish out some recent projects.
The budget was also amended at the meeting to include some public works projects that were not done last fiscal year.
Interim SCDC Director Mark Brown gave an update at the meeting and he says that things are going reasonably well in the office. The council thanked him for his service.
Interim Sheldon EMA Director Wayne Barahona also gave an update. He says things are going well for the EMA as well. They are chartered for 12 members and have 11 at this time, so they may add one more member. The council thanked him and the EMA volunteers as well.
Public Works Director Todd Uhl informed the council and citizens that they hope to be hooked up to Lewis & Clark in November. He asks the public to pay attention to any notices they release. Uhl says he thinks the additional water will be helpful in a number of ways, including that it will probably be a future tool for development.
Uhl also mentioned that while the contractor has until July 2024 to complete the new water tower, they actually expect it to go online yet this year. He says he’s heard positive comments about the paint job of the tower, and he thanked the group that worked on the design.
Meanwhile, Uhl says they will soon start allocating funds for repainting the old tower once the new one is in service. He says they did paint the inside of the old water tower five years ago, but it needs to be painted on the outside. He says people should be thinking of ideas for the design. He was also asked the capacity of the water towers. He says while they look very different, they hold the same amount — a half-a-million gallons, each. Uhl also mentioned that crews are removing unsafe trees from the parks. At this time they are focusing on ash trees, which are threatened by the emerald ash borer, and cottonwood trees. He tells us some of the cottonwoods they cut down in Hills park had large voids on the inside and were unsafe. He says that reinforced in his mind that they were doing the right thing by cutting them down.
