Sheldon, Iowa — The Sheldon City Council met in regular session on Wednesday afternoon, February 7th.
In their consent agenda, they approved a couple of alcohol licenses, the fourth quarter 2023 ambulance insurance adjustments, and a pay estimate for nearly $43,000 for the twelfth payment on the water tower project.
In new business, the council held a public hearing regarding the South 5th Avenue farm lease. This is a lease with Don and Dianna Roetman. City Manager Sam Kooiker says the property is a small, long, and narrow piece of property on the south side of the portion of South 5th Avenue that runs straight west from Old 60 north of Maintainer. He says while the property is very small, there was not a lease in place, and there should be. Kooiker says the option to put a trail in this location is still available, should that come to fruition in the future. There were no comments during the public hearing and no written comments. Councilmember Ken Snyder said he had somebody call and ask why they were leasing the property for such a low rate. City Manager Sam Kooiker says the property actually includes the roadway, so there is not very much farmable land involved. The resolution for the lease agreement passed unanimously.
The council also continued to discuss the budget. Kooiker says that during the January 24 budget session, there was discussion regarding the loss of the Crossroads Pavilion’s property tax levy. He says there appeared to be support for exploring a modest shift in Hotel Motel tax to make up for the loss of Pavilion’s property tax levy. At Wednesday’s meeting, a resolution was passed to make the shift, which will mean that out of the seven percent hotel-motel tax, 3.65 out of 7 will go to the Marketing Committee. One-seventh will go to the City’s Park Reserve Savings fund. 1.75 out of 7 will go for Crossroads Pavilion operations, and 0.6 of one percent out of 7 will go for Crossroads Pavilion Capital Improvements.
Kooiker also reminded the council that any other changes to the budget need to be made soon. The council set the budget hearing for 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024.
In the reports section of the meeting, Public Works Director Todd Uhl informed the council and the public that while the Lewis & Clark Regional Water system has been hooked up to the Sheldon water system for a while now, the ribbon cutting has been scheduled. He says it will be on April 23rd at 11:00 a.m. Uhl also stated that unless the situation changes, there are no more water restrictions. He says, “You can make your lawn as green as you want it.” Uhl also told the council that due to the nice weather we have been experiencing, they’ve started survey work on Oak Street.
The council also asked if Uhl had heard any comments about the new Lewis & Clark water. Uhl says the overwhelming majority have been positive comments, with a few comments about the different taste of the water. Uhl says soft water and hard water don’t taste the same.
Click here for the meeting agenda: https://towncloud.io/go/sheldon-ia/agendas/424
You can watch the full meeting below:
