Sheldon, Iowa — The Sheldon City Council met in regular session on Wednesday evening.
Council members voted unanimously to approve the consent agenda. On the consent agenda, among other items were a beer permit for Family Dollar, the approval of certain items for Village Northwest Unlimited’s Run Walk and Roll in June, the approval of fourth quarter ambulance insurance adjustments, a resolution setting Hills Park camping fees, a resolution approving the Upper Story Housing Development agreement, and a resolution adopting a public records request policy.
The council held a public hearing for the Western Avenue project. There were no live or written comments. There were three bids and the council voted to accept the bid from Sioux City Engineering in the amount of about $4.05 million.
They also held a public hearing for the PTC patching project. There were no live or written comments. Those present were advised that this is for the corner north of Sheldon Middle School. The council voted to accept the bid of Van’t Hof Concrete for about $255,600.
Both the Western Avenue and the PTC patching projects came in under the engineers’ estimates.
The council voted to select Center Benefits to assist with some HR services.
They also talked about some budget matters. City Manager Sam Kooiker says there were some changes.
A special council meeting for a property tax levy hearing will be held on April 2nd at 4:15 p.m.
The council then heard the annual report from SCAT — the Sheldon Community Ambulance Team. Jared Johnson with SCAT told the council that in 2024, they took the highest number of calls they had ever taken. In ten years, calls have gone up 65 percent. Council member Tom Eggers wanted to know if anyone had any idea why. Several possibilities came up that could each or all be involved. The fact that SCAT is now taking calls in Sanborn and Archer, and the fact that northwest Iowa has an aging population were two of the chief suspected reasons, but the council was told that may not explain the entire increase.
Johnson noted that SCAT is always looking for volunteers as volunteerism is going down. In fact, he says the council should consider the possibility that they may have to hire more people. But Johnson says he often wonders — even if they pay people to be EMTs, will there be people who want to do the job? He also says they may have to consider an EMS levy, especially if they have to hire more people.
During Public Works Director Todd Uhl’s report, he told people that work toward painting the old water tower continues.
Click here for an agenda from the meeting.
Watch the meeting below:
