Council - Regular Meeting

We'll call the meeting to order. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, welcome everybody. This is our regular city council meeting for June 8, 2026. I'll start with a roll call.

Weber?

Yes.

Hanna? Yes. Moore? Yes. Broussard?

Present.

Maynor?

I'm here.

O'Loughlin? Yes. Appleby? Yes.

Moved to item number three. I need a motion to approve the agenda as presented. So moved. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Passes 7-0. Next we move to public comments. Steve, all you. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Steve Gibbs. I live here at 1102 David Drive, Independence, Iowa. And why I'm here today is because I'd like to know, do we have regulations on these e-bikes and these scooters?

Yes, yes.

Then why, I guess my biggest concern is, why ain't we giving them tickets? Why ain't we doing none of that?

My understanding from talking with the police chief about this issue or the police captain about the issue is the first contact they make with somebody, it's an education effort to help the individual understand why those regulations exist and so on and so forth. After that, if there's a second contact, then they would issue a citation at that point.

Only where I have an issue, it was on the other morning. We had a police officer at our house, and he watched the scooter go right through the stop sign, right up on the curb, and he just shook his head. I mean, it don't seem like nothing's getting done about it. And I got a lot of concern. My concern is I almost hit one of them.

Did you have an officer speak with you Friday night?

Yes, I did. She talked to me for a couple minutes, and then supposedly she went out and talked to them parents. Well, them parents have been warned I don't know how many times. But this is another episode, okay? And, I mean, I'm more worried about people, innocent people, going to get ran over by them. And if it's to my understanding, if you're going to ride a bicycle at night, you have to have lights on it, right? Am I correct? Correct. Okay, these scooters do not have no lights at all. And what I'm worried about is somebody's going to get hurt and it's going to be the innocent person. Or somebody's going to hit somebody and hurt one of them people on the scooters that is not following the law. And then the person that hit them either kills them or they're in bad shape or whatever, that person's going to be the one that gets the, you know, people commenting on Facebook and this and that. Why did you hit this person? You know what I'm saying? But, I mean, there's nothing being done. And it's going to get worse because school's out.

We just started the program. You can only see it if you're looking at Facebook. But we did a big citywide information. And attached to it were all the different ordinances and everything else to show the people exactly what the rules were. And I don't know if you've had a chance to see that.

No, I haven't.

It's fairly new. It's been out maybe a week or two.

I talked to one police officer and she said that what she thought that really needs to be done down on Main Street is that we need to get signs on Main Street to let these people know before you guys start issuing tickets or what we're going to do about it.

We just had a conversation about that this morning or earlier today about the fact that some signage might help in that area down there.

I think it would. I think if you put the signs up, you know, down Main Street and everything else. that then we need to start holding these people accountable for it because they don't really care.

Because the area of Main Street itself, they have to walk them. They can't do anything with them other than walk them. They ride them.

I've got a couple people sitting here who's watched them and hollered at them before. And I'm worried about it because if someone's going to get hurt and if I hit somebody... I'm going to feel really terrible.

It's a concern that we all have. It's just a matter of, it's not like it's new. This is something that we've had on the books, you know, not specifically for e-bikes, but for bicycles and everything else for the longest time. I mean, it's been on for 10, 12 years at least.

But it seems like more people are getting them, you know what I'm saying? It just seems like they're coming out of the woodwork, you know what Coming at you faster than they were before. Oh, it's just terrible, yeah. And I know that we in Independence ain't the only problem that's having problems with them. I mean, a lot of different towns are having problems. And the biggest thing is that I just wanted to know, you know, what their guidelines are. I mean, are they supposed to be doing what everyone else is supposed to be doing? You know, when I come to a stop sign, I stop.

And they have to follow the rules of the road. Absolutely. That's the requirement.

Are they riding on the sidewalk?

Oh, they're on the road, sidewalk. The one I almost hit, I was turning on Chatham and I had the green light and I seen her whipping down through there and if I didn't slam on my brakes, she would have hit me but she gave me the look like You've got to watch out for me.

That's a problem. Thank you.

We were trying to turn on Chatham, and she was on the sidewalk.

Yeah, and I had the green light.

Okay. They have a sidewalk light, too, so I'm not sure. Could have been timing on that one.

Okay. Yeah, but they ain't supposed to be riding them down on our sidewalks. They ain't supposed to be riding bicycles down the sidewalk in front of businesses.

Steve, thank you so much. We understand. Thanks, Steve. You're not on the list, but do you want to be on the list? Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah. We had already filled out the slip before you came, but you're welcome to come up. I figured that's why you're here.

I'm just wondering if that was on the agenda. I mean, because you don't have a problem talking to him, but you sure do have a problem talking to me about stuff, but that's neither here nor there. I'll dispense with the pleasantries because you guys know who I am. I've come before this council several times raising concerns because I believe citizens have a right to raise the concerns about the government without feeling that they have become the focus of increased scrutiny afterwards. Since speaking publicly, I've experienced a series of events that have me questioning whether I'm being treated the same as everyone else. Actions that went unenforced for years suddenly became enforcement priorities. Situations that had never related in citations before suddenly resulted in citations. Whether intentional or not, the appearance this creates is troubling. I previously provided photographs showing my truck parked in the same manner for years without issue, including occasions where law enforcement officers were present nearby and no citation was issued. And you guys think that after talking with you, and you talked with him, and he said he was there for a different reason, and he was, but he could have warned me right then but he didn't open up his mouth. Didn't open it up until I came in here and filed a lawsuit against you guys. Then I get parking tickets. Anyway. Screw this. What I'm here to say is the fact that I went down and I changed my lawsuit against the city of Independence and the police department to now include targeting. I proved it to you guys. I showed the picture. I don't care what you say. That was the bumper of my truck. I can show you. I can take a hundred pictures of the truck of my bumper and show it the same damn thing way to you. I've got 30 different people that'll come up here and tell you that I parked my vehicle in that area for the last nine years that I've lived here and nobody said a word to me. Cops have driven past my house and nobody has said a word to me at all about parking in that area. They've driven right on by. He's one of them. He's driven right on past my house. Hasn't said a word to me about my vehicle being parked there. But as soon as I say something about it to you guys that I'm suing you, now I get enforced. And then when I tell you I'm going to pay for everything and change, you guys change an ordinance so you can only pay for stuff for $5 and change. Is that all the time? The only thing that you guys have to worry about? You don't have anything else that you need to worry about but to pass stupid ordinances like that. You can sit here and change ordinances because I come up with a bag of change. And you did it after I did it. Every last one of you should be voted out of office. And yet large people, the one who's up for reelection, I'm taking your seat. And I suggest everybody out here watching, you find out who your city council member is and you go after their seat too. Because they're not doing anything for you except passing stupid ordinances. And since you're here, Bose, you can take these back to Lyle to have him pass out. These right here are pictures of me and my wife. Me and my wife. There are enough pictures right here to be passed out to every one of you officers. Because a picture will last a hell of a lot longer than the glares that we get whenever you pass us. This isn't a city council that cares about its citizens. This is a city council that somebody stood up to and now you guys are backpedaling. Now you guys are trying to figure out how to cover your ass because somebody stood up against you about something stupid.

Got about 45 seconds.

Because you sure as hell haven't sent me a letter to get the new thing out of the right of way that could cause damage. It was all about a toilet. You guys aren't a city council that cares about the city or cares about the citizens. You're a city council that passes stupid regulations that says you can only pay for fines $5 worth of change because I'm just going to pay for all my fines and change to prove a damn point. Every last one of you needs to be voted out. Every last one of you. Because you guys don't care about the citizen. You don't care about what's good for the city. You don't give a damn. You don't care at all. So I'm telling you guys out there in Facebook land, find out who your city council member is. Go against them and get a seat because I'm running and I'm taking an at-large position.

You're out of time, Mr. Kendrew. Thank you.

so he can pass them out to his damn officers so they stop blaring at me whenever I drive by because a picture lasts a hell of a lot longer than a stare or a glare. I'm sick of it.

Move to item number five on the agenda. I need a motion to approve and accept the consent agenda that includes the following. The minutes of the May 26, 2026 regular meeting, the Celebrate Indy special event application for the time period Thursday, July 2 through 2026 through Sunday, July 5, 2026. Did I say 2026 the first time? OK. The Celebrate Indy special class retail alcohol license application that includes the outdoor service with a tentative effective date of July 2, 2026 through July 6, 2026. The Independence Area Chamber of Commerce special event application for the 165th annual 4th of July parade to be held on Saturday, July 4, 2026, and the renewal of retail tobacco permits for fiscal year 2027. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Passes 7-0. Next we move to the financials, item number 6 on the agenda. I need a motion to approve the claims for payment. So moved. Second. A motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Passes 7-0. Next we move to item number 7, which is the bank reconciliation. This is for information only. Anybody have any questions or comments with regard to this? Hearing none, we'll move to item number eight, which is the revenues and expenses to date. This is, again, for information only. Anybody have any questions or comments with regard to that? Okay, let's move to item number nine then. This is the public hearing. It's a public hearing for the Snow Removal Acquisition Improvements Project at the Independence Municipal Airport. Pursuant to the agenda, I'll now convene a public hearing on the Snow Removal Acquisition Improvements Project for the City of Independence Municipal Airport.

I did not receive anything prior to the meeting.

Okay, since there's nobody here to speak about it, we haven't received anything, I'll now close the public hearing at this time. Move to item number 10. This is a same topic. I need a motion to approve and authorize the mayor to sign a resolution awarding the contract contingent upon receipt and execution of a grant agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration and approving an application for federal aviation funding assistance for the snow removal acquisition improvements project. to Bodensteiner Implement Company of Alcater, Iowa in the amount of $457,378.64. So moved. Second. The motion is second. This is the project that we've talked about in work session. Is this a 90-10 or 80-20? This is a 95-5. 95-5. Yeah. That's important for our citizens. And in case somebody doesn't understand what that means, we would be responsible for 5% and the FAA would pay another 95% of it. Sure. Further questions, comments with regard to this particular motion? Hearing nothing else, this will then be a roll call vote.

Hannah?

Yes.

Moore?

Yes.

Broussarder?

Yes.

Maynor? Yes. O'Loughlin? Yes. Appleby? Yes. Weber?

Yes. That passes 7-0. Next, we move to item number 11. This is another public hearing. This is on the proposed sale of real property for 16 9th Avenue Southeast. Pursuant to the deed, I'll now convene a public hearing on the proposal for the sale of this real property.

I did not receive anything.

Okay, so there's just nobody here to talk about it. You didn't receive anything. I will now close the public hearing at this time. Moving then to item number 12. I need a motion to authorize the mayor to sign a resolution awarding the bid and authorizing the sale of 416th and 9th Avenue Southeast to Jared Donnelly for the purchase price of $1,500. So moved. Second. The motion is second.

Do we know what he's going to do with that piece of property?

So what he included in the response was that he's just going to clear the property, demo the house, and then leave it as a green space. See how it was the adjacent property to it.

But it is buildable?

It's difficult at best to build anything there because of the floodplain that exists.

Okay.

Anybody, any other further questions, comments with regard to that? Hearing none, this will be a roll call vote also.

Moore?

Yes.

Persauder?

Yes.

Maynor?

Yes.

O'Loughlin? Yes. Appleby? No. Weber?

Yes.

Hanna?

Yes. Passes 6-1. Next, we move to item number 13. This is the Wastewater Treatment Plant Modifications Project. Pursuant to the agenda, I'll now convene a public hearing for the proposed plan specifications, form of contract, and estimate of cost for the proposed wastewater treatment plant modification project.

I did not receive any comments.

Since there's nobody here to speak about it, I'll now close the public hearing at this time. Move to item number 14. Item number 14, I need a motion to approve and authorize the mayor to sign a resolution. Finally, approving and confirming plans, specifications, form of contract, and estimate of cost for the wastewater treatment plant modification project. So moved. Second. I have a motion to second. The funding on this would be the state revolving fund loan and the cash reserve that we already have. There is no property tax increase with respect to the wastewater treatment plant modification project.

We will consider the awards for this at the July 13th, the award of the contract at the July 13th meeting. This is just the first three pieces of the process.

Okay, do you want me to do 15 then first?

No. We have to approve the resolution and then we consider the bits.

Okay, so any further discussion regarding this? If there is none, we go to roll call vote then.

Hersider?

Yes.

Maynor?

Yes.

O'Loughlin?

Yes.

Appleby? Yes. Weber?

Yes.

Anna? Yes. Moore?

Yes. The pass is 7-0. Next we move to item number 15. This is a consideration of the bids for the wastewater treatment modification project. This is for discussion and information only. There is no motion required. The bids were received up until 3 p.m. on June 2, 2026 at City Hall. and the bids were opened and read, and they're placed for consideration of such bids at a future meeting, or how are we doing that? You consider the bids tonight. You don't award the contract until the July 13th meeting.

Okay.

If we had done it all in one meeting tonight, then the next item on the agenda would have been awarding the contract. Okay. Does everybody have that information, or do you want me to go over it? There were three bids. The lowest bid was from Woodruff Construction from Waterloo, Iowa. They have all the information. The lump sum bid is $58,176,300. Sorry, yeah, $176,300. The next lowest bid was Wendler, W-E-N-D-L-E-R, Inc., out of Cedar Rapids. They were $61,900,000. The third bid and the highest bid was Tricon, T-R-I-C-O-N, General Consulting, General Construction, Inc., also out of Cedar Rapids, which was $66,700,000.

So those are the bids which we'll discuss then at the... You'll discuss the awarding of the contract. If there's anything anybody would like to discuss about the bids, they can do so this evening.

The only question I have, and I would like to step up, When we started discussing this roughly three and a half, a little bit longer ago, seriously on, we knew in order to meet all the federal guidelines and everything, originally when we first started talking about this, we were looking at an estimated 30 to 35 million dollars. About a year and a half ago, it was stated roughly around $43 million because of inflation and everything going up. Okay, I understand that. But now all of a sudden, a little over three and a half years later, we're at like $58 million. Okay? And I myself, and I know there's a couple others on here that were trying to figure out why was this process taking so long because it ended up costing us a ton of money. 40% difference. So... Where were these numbers so far off in three and a half years time?

I don't know where the 30 to 35 number came from if it was during planning. I didn't do most of the planning work, but at that point you're looking at high level costs and then you add a contingency on to that. Clearly the contingency wasn't high enough to cover the true cost of the project, but the current bids that we received that the mayor read actually were very competitive. I talked to Woodruff Construction, asked them how the subcontracting activity went. They said there were at least three subcontractors that were pursuing all the subcontracting major elements. And so it was a very competitive process. And even though the numbers that we presented didn't have a high enough contingency, this is a good bidding environment. Right now it's at a low interest rate. And the bids that we got are very competitive. The difference between the first and second bid was about 6.4%. So that indicates a good bidding climate. I can't speak of why we didn't have a large enough contingency to address your concern.

Okay, because I just, I mean, that just seems astronomical in three and a half years from where we originally was talking to where we end up at. I mean, it's just, to me, it's crazy. $50 million.

Yeah, some of the 30 to 35, as we went through design, we looked at some reuse.

Can you speak to the, can you speak to the 43 million to the 58 million? Yeah, because that's where the 43 million is what I'm going by. Just step aside from the 30 to 35 million, because I understand that that's the beginning of it, but how do we, how are we so far off? at $15 million from just speaking a couple meetings ago to like now where we have a $58 million bid.

Sure. The $43 million was what the application went in for the loan, and the city was going to put $4 million towards your sewer enterprise fund, I believe. So we're looking at a $47 million construction contract. We're at $58 million.

No way.

$11 million. That's not true.

That's a... That's a grossly off number by what we thought to where we're at. I don't see how $11 million can be attributed to three years worth of inflation.

No, I don't think so either. The volatile nature of post-COVID contracting has a lot of engineers trying to put numbers on things that they really don't know the bidding climate of. And we see things, it's easy to take off the pounds and the cubic yards and and millennial feed, that part is easy. It's the cost per unit that has us engineers like, we don't know exactly what that cost is, and if we're off on some of those unit prices, we can be grossly off on the number. And these numbers are actually, Interesting because I felt good about these results because we were 16% higher than the fifth in the state of Iowa. You have to put the engineer's opinion of construction costs in the contract itself so everybody knows what we think it's going to cost. The number we put in was $50 million. Once I looked at it before, I adjusted some of the numbers for demolition and what we were trying to do for demolition and a few other areas. So I felt like this was a very good bidding climate that we were in and we simply don't know what the unit prices are because we're not the ones that actually do the work. Explain unit prices. So when we, like if we put a concrete tank up, We know the exact cubic yards of concrete and the walls, but the unit price is the cost per cubic yard that the concrete is, and it's for everything. It's to tie the rebar, to pour the concrete, to bring... Tied rebar. Sure, sure. So we don't, as engineers, we don't know what those unit prices are because we don't actually do that work. And the contractors will not give us that number either because they don't want to give us that number. That's their number that they developed and they don't want anybody else to have it. So we're reacting when we advertise a project and we receive bids, we're reacting to that bidding climate and looking at the number of bidders we had and trying to figure out where were we off. So we were clearly off.

When did an engineering firm know how long it took to pour a square the size of this? if nothing else, go to the federal standard for wages, Davis-Bacon wages, and do that. I mean, that's pretty simple.

That's exactly how the contractor does it. They look at a wall and they look at the volume that they have to pour and they put an estimate together of the number of people they need to do that. Then you should be able to do that. We can't do that because we're not the operational part.

But you know what the cost of concrete is. You know what the cost of steel is. And if you apply the Davis Bacon weed schedule to it, voila, you've come up with a number.

And we have hundreds, literally hundreds of unit prices that we're trying to track, and we're just simply wrong in some cases. Hundreds on this? I do want to talk about a similar bid that day. I don't know if Matt shared this with you, but there was another bid that day in Des Moines, and it was for a wastewater treatment plant project. And those bids, there were two of them, they got two out-of-state contractors the engineer's opinion, and it wasn't a strand project, the engineer's opinion of cost was 55 million, it bid at 86. So that's 56% higher. And all engineers are struggling with the unit prices post-COVID because the supply chain and how people do work, it's been a difficult thing for us to assess how

Is there a way to maybe change what we have right now so that we can hit towards the number that we wanted? Have you talked to the bidders and seen why there was an adjustment to what you thought?

We had some high-level discussion about that.

So the problem with that in Iowa is if you value engineer, you have to re-bid the project. We'd be starting over. Because every person who completed a bid has to have the opportunity to provide a cost for what value changes or differences.

This is considerably different than what we planned.

I understand. I'm just telling you what our bond counsel, our legal, has advised us, that if you're going to go that path, you can, but you need to re-bid the project. You would need to go back to the drawing board, back to the plans, establish what you're going to change, what you're going to take out.

I mean, this number is way, way different.

What he's saying is that when we go back to the drawing board, we start the time clock all over again because everybody that had a chance to bid on it needs to have a chance to bid again. So that's why you can't do the value-added engineering. There's a couple things that I'm still upset about, and I don't mean to be disrespectful, but you said something a few minutes ago, and you said that the original number we were looking at was 43. That's what we've been talking about for months.

That's what we've told our taxpayers.

That's what we told our taxpayers. And then you said here that because we had some money that we were putting into it, you're looking at that as a loan number. That's not a loan number to us. That's a construction number. When you tell us it's $43 million to construct it, you're not telling us it's $43 million that we have to borrow. I just didn't appreciate that. The other thing is I've been upset for a long time about this, and that's the fact that it's made in the U.S. made. And we talked at the very beginning about the fact that that was important to us, and I realize that you're going to tell us that it would have been more expensive if we'd have gone U.S.A. made. But the problem with that is that we can't get federal financing, federal loans, federal grants on it because it's not. So while it may have been a lower number, it's not a lower number in the long run to us because of the fact that we are stuck with a situation where we can't get that kind of additional funding. And there was something else, too. I don't know. Does anybody else have anything else?

I just want to make this comment. And Bradley, this isn't directed toward you personally, because like you said, you didn't put the numbers together. You brought us a lot of great information over the course of the time of all the work that we've done together. Let's give you 50. You're $8 million off your firm is. And you say, well, we can't accurately tell you. That's your job. That's what you're paid for. Your firm is paid to give us good advice. This is poor advice from Strand. And it's extremely disappointing for $8 million. An $8 million project in our town is a huge project. This is just the overage that we weren't planning for.

It wasn't even eight, though. We planned for 43. So it's a lot more than that.

That's it. Understood.

Understood. So where we're at right now is this is where it's bid at, 58. So the answer is it needs to be adjusted because that's what we got bidded in. So how do we go about doing that? Because either it needs to be American-made and we need to switch it to do that, right?

You'd have to re-bid it for that too.

Looks like we're at restart, right? Unless you guys want to take the lowest bid at 58.

That pushes it back and then costs just continue to go up.

We should be building right now, realistically.

Yeah, but wanting something and then budgeting for the wrong item, you can't just because, oh, we waited so long. Well, it doesn't matter.

And if we have to rebid it based upon the USA products now, now we're talking another six months to a year before we'd be in this situation. And then do you know how much the average increase?

Not this many millions.

It's 5% to 10% at least increase, at least minimum.

And then we can get federal grant maybe.

Maybe. That's if our current wastewater treatment plant continues to operate. We are, I don't want to say day by day, but right now we're operating with an obsolete plan that we can't get parts. We have to search. Travis is searching the Internet looking for parts because he can't just go out and buy them. So there is a big risk there as well. Please don't interrupt him until he's done, okay?

We don't need to yell at him unless we have a plan.

Oh, no, and that's why I said nobody's yelling at Bradley, but Bradley is representing the company that told us this. So, unfortunately, he's the messenger that needs to carry that back to them. There's no yelling going on.

I know, but the questions aren't being posed to fix it at where we're at right now. I'd rather the questions be, where are we at? Because we're right here.

There's nothing further we can do with regard to the contract amount.

So then just accept it? Is that what you want?

The whole reason that we're waiting until the July 13th meeting to award the contract is so that when I come forward with the contract on July 13th, I can also present a way to pay for this. I don't have that information today. It's been four business days since we took the bids.

Okay, so what would you like is what I'm saying? Because we're here and we're here now.

This is not a motion. There's no motion to approve anything right now. Where we are is, as Matt just said, we're going back, talking to our bond people, talking to our loan people to see if there's some other option that we can come up with that we can afford to do better than this because this is going to be difficult for us to fund. And that's why when we actually have the vote by council, when that comes up, we need to have everything in front of the council so that they can make an educated decision. It's not like we can say... We're not going to do anything because we can't. We're not in that situation and we have to do something, as Brian just said. We don't have a choice on that, so we're going to have to do something. And the last time council had this years ago, they decided that they were going to do a Band-Aid fix instead of a full fix, and that's what, and as a result of that decision, not that they, they used what information they had at the time. I appreciate that. But the fact that they could have gotten this project done for $15 million or $20 million back then is considerably different than what we have to pay in today's dollars.

All the questions and discussion that you guys are having is the exact reason I didn't bring forward awarding the contract tonight. Because I don't have answers for your questions. And I can't in good faith put something, especially a project to this size, it doesn't really matter the cost, when I don't know how we're going to afford to pay for it, I'm not going to ask you to approve it.

So where, after hearing us discuss this and where their values are, that you could move forward? What do you think is a good suggestion?

So when we approach a project like this, we're always looking at ways to save money. And in one of the presentations before you took chair, We talked about the number of items that we were reusing. We're reusing the headworks building. We're reusing the administration building. We're reusing what's called the pump building for another resource. We're reusing the chlorine contact tank. And so we were trying to reuse elements that we as engineers didn't feel were compromised that could be... have to spend money for a new building or a new tank. So we're continually looking at ways to save money, and we did that here. There simply isn't anything that we can delete in this contract. There's things we could maybe tweak, like going from a certain pipe to another pipe. But there isn't anything that we can wholeheartedly delete because there isn't anything. It has to do a job. The current plant was built in 78, so it's almost 50 years old. Some of the equipment is actually almost 50 years old. And so unfortunately, there isn't anything that we can delete that you don't need to add in the near future then. And that's the concerning thing about a treatment plant project in my business, that it frequently is in this situation where you're redoing it once every 40 years, and then it's a huge number. And that's, I don't take any offense for any of the concerns here tonight because I'm equally concerned. I want to serve a community to keep rates as low as possible. The engineering side, we've tried to do that. The bidding climate, we can't control. But I truly believe we were in the best bidding climate that we've been in since post-COVID. Because the numbers that we see, I know the city council doesn't see them. We bid wastewater treatment plants a lot. There's a treatment plant in the Chicago area and it's the same percentage over that I referenced for the Des Moines project. We just bid a northwest suburb Chicago project. It was 50 million, came in at 78. We started looking at the numbers. They had one electric bidder. And they are actually competing with data centers now for subcontractors. And that's why I emphasize that when I talked to the contractor post-bid, I asked how his subcontracting activity was on this. He said, I got three bids for everything. At least three. So the activity here was outstanding. I said in my letter that you may not have yet, but we distributed over 100 drawings and specs to potential bidders on this project and people that were interested as bidders, exchanges, etc. And so, unfortunately, this magnitude of a project, we always have this conversation. It's not always, we're not always 16% low or 20% low, right? We'd like to be that higher number, but we simply weren't here.

Just one more. I'm sorry to interrupt you.

Go ahead. No, I was done.

The only last thing I would say is that this is a large project that we've had, obviously, in terms of a bid, but Over the last couple of years, we've been fortunate that when the bids are coming in on the engineering, we're actually less on a lot of them. This is quite a shock to us to be so far over. And we understand exactly what you're saying. I just am expressing to you that we're shocked by it, and that's all we can do. And Matt will sit down. We'll put some numbers together. We'll put some ideas together. And when we come back to bring this back before council to actually have a vote on something, we'll have a lot more information for all of you so that you have a better idea exactly what we can and cannot do. Thank you so much for coming today.

I'll be back for the July 13th meeting. I don't think there is anything then on the June... Not related to this, no.

I do appreciate you fielding the questions and comments. I'm sure you knew that coming into tonight you were going to do it. I'm equally disappointed. I appreciate you. It couldn't be worse. Don't tell us that. Can you imagine if that would happen? I know, I've seen it worse and I appreciate it.

I appreciate it.

All I know is we are going to be ridiculed big time by the citizens on this thing. I can see that coming already and if it doesn't happen, I will be totally surprised. But when I saw this number of 58, I thought... I could see maybe 48, 49, wow, this just really missed the point, you know. And in regards to, you know, starting over, we can't afford to start over because, I mean, you're talking it's going to be a year or so down the road before you do all this again. And that's going to delay, because before this gets completed, we're looking at, what, two and a half, three years before completion? Three and a half construction. Three and a half years construction, you know? And we don't, like Mr. Persauder said, we don't know how long that plant's going to hang together, you know? So we need to move forward. It's just an unfortunate number that we're dealing with. That's all I got to say.

But thank you for your time. Thank you again. All right, so let's move then to item number 16. I need a motion to approve and authorize the mayor to sign a resolution to replace and repeal resolution number 2025-52, setting the solid waste collection fees and environmental impact fee rates. First, I need a motion. Second? Second. Did I get a motion yet?

I have a motion.

I'll second it. Okay, this has nothing to do with the wastewater treatment plant. Just let me start by saying that. The changes that we're making here are the contractual changes that we have with Kleesner. So all we're doing is updating the resolution to show what the current numbers are with regard to the Klezner contract for the solid waste collection fee and for the environmental impact fee.

There's no changes to the environmental impact fee. The $2.50 environmental impact fee is the same as what it was before. It's just part of this resolution, so it has to be added or put back in there. When we asked Klusner and everybody who submitted a bid last year about this time for trash service, we did three-year contracts is what we asked them for. Klusner's bid has an automatic every year. There's an adjustment in there for, I want to say it's around 3% is what it goes up each year. And that's what this resolution is doing. It's to keep us in line with what our contract to Klusner says we will do.

Okay. Further discussion?

So the trash price is going up again?

Yeah. Well, sticking with the contract that was signed. There's automatic escalators any time you're signing something like that?

I'm just kind of hopeful that once we got closers, it would go down early enough.

It did initially from where it does. And it's still down. And it's still less than what it was with our previous provider.

Bummer. Okay. Roll call vote then. I'm bummed about a lot of things these days. Roll call vote then.

Maynard. Yes. O'Loughlin. Yes. Appleby. Yes. Weber.

Yes.

Hanna. Yes. Moore. Yes. Broussard.

Yes. Okay, that passes 7-0. Next, we move to item number 17. I need a motion to approve and authorize the mayor to sign a resolution to approve a moratorium on the enforcement of parking regulations on the south side of 12th Street Northeast from 8th Avenue Northeast to 11th Avenue Northeast. First, I need a motion and a second.

So moved. Second.

Okay, this is Gator, and the reason for this is they've got some plans for some construction, and as a result of that, their current parking lot is not going to be available to them for the construction process. So what we're doing is we're moving the cars to allow them to park on the side street on the south side of the street.

South side of 12th Street Northeast from 8th Avenue to 11th Avenue.

And you'll hear more about the project and stuff that Gator's involved in, but we wanted to start with getting the parking segment of this out of the way first. Further discussion on this?

It's just temporarily there, right?

Yeah, until January 1 of 27 is what they asked for. So it's basically just for the rest of the year. And it's just parking? While they do their expansion.

And it's just parking on the south side right adjacent to the parking lot.

And that street's plenty wide enough. That was what I was going to talk about. So 12th Street Northeast is around 30 feet, just a little over 30 feet wide. For reference, 6th Avenue Southwest is 28 feet, and we allow parking on the east side of that street all the time. Further discussion?

We'll call back.

O'Loughlin? Yes. Appleby? Yes. Weber? Yes. Hanna? Yes. Moore? Yes. Broussard? Yes. Maynor? Yes.

Pass the 7-0. Next, we move to item number 18. I need a motion to approve and authorize the mayor to sign a resolution supporting the application of Pree's Enterprises to the Iowa Economic Development Authority Big Program. First, I need a motion. Second?

So moved.

Second. Okay, this is similar to what... Lisa was able to get accomplished in the past when we had the... This is the new High Quality Jobs Act. Right, which is what we approved for... IPF.

Except the High Quality Jobs Act required a local match. Big now does not require a local match.

Okay, but what it does is... Are you saying no, agreeing with me?

It does not require a local match.

Okay.

When somebody's shaking their head no, I don't know if that means yes or bad. Watch yourself, Lisa. All right, so this creates 43 new full-time jobs or career positions. It also has the comprehensive health benefits to employees. Capital investment, $34,400,000. And the city balance, we expect it to be only what we would be handling through TIF.

Which will have to come forth for all of the different processes related to TIF. This resolution does not outright, it protects your interest that a future body can or cannot authorize TIF. We'll have to cross that bridge when we get there.

We're just approving the support of the law.

This is just a resolution supporting.

It doesn't say a financial amount to the support.

There isn't one right now. There is none. Right now there's none. The resolution tonight is not putting any dollars towards anything. All it's saying is that if we do that, we will use tax increment financing to do it. And that has its own process that will have to come through the body, through the council.

And then we'd have a more firm number of what we're doing? Correct, yes, exactly. Would that count?

Sorry?

The road that they wanted done?

That would not be part of this.

That wouldn't count? So we're vowing that we're gonna help them, but not for a certain amount of money. Later you'll discuss this, but we're gonna re-promise this.

We're approving their application that they're submitting.

I'll read you what section two says. It says the independent city council agrees to use its best efforts to complete the statutory requirements of chapter 403 of the code of Iowa to provide funding through tax increment financing. Both the City and Pre's Enterprises acknowledge that the City's commitment in this section is a present statement of intent and that the City Council must exercise its ordinary legislative discretion in the completion of the statutory processes referenced herein. The City will not be held liable in the event that the City Council, through the exercise of its ordinary legislative discretion, elects not to approve any of the actions outlined herein. So that verbiage protects the city's right to say, as of today, we're saying that's our intent is to use TIF. However, if that changes over the next three months or however long it takes for us to do that, we cannot be and will not be held liable for that. You still have the ability to say no.

I just would rather have a value that we, that do they have a rough idea on what this big program expects the city to do?

The big program doesn't require any match from a local government. Which is huge because we had to come up with $300,000. With IPF, it was $300,000. We had to match 20% of their grant amount, which was $1.5 million, or $300,000. We chose to do that through a stormwater project so that we were giving something to the citizens around the area rather than a cash outlay.

This seems unusual that they would give them all this. We're... putting forth that we're saying yes, we're gonna vow to do something, but then there's no any kind of percentage or vow.

It's TIF, tax increment financing.

But there's a limit on how much money.

It's not cash money.

That's a promise.

Right.

And then if the project moves forward, how much would that be that we're supporting?

We don't have all the numbers for that yet. So could we get those numbers before we... No, we have to do the resolution because the big program requires that a local government put a resolution of support together.

So once we put that resolution, though, and we vow to take on that responsibility, then we should follow through on it is what I'm trying to say.

He just read what the code...

I know that they're saying that you can pull the rug out if you want to, but... At the same token, the idea of it is that we're supposed to say we support it because we're going to support it. Understand that there's no idea of what it would look like in the future for this?

The motion here is only to grant, is to give our approval so that they can file their application. They're just applying.

They're just going to apply. So then we'll get the numbers later.

Yes. We'll know a lot more. Which will then come back before the council for discussion and approval at that point.

So we're not really approving it. We're just approving them to write that they would like the intent.

We're approving that we say we'd like for them to apply for this. Okay.

To apply. Okay. All right.

Further discussion? No. Roll call vote.

Appleby. Yes. Weber. Yes. Hanna. Yes. Moore.

Yes.

Broussard. Yes. Maynor. Yes. O'Loughlin.

Yes. Passes 7-0. Next we move to other business. I need a motion to approve and authorize the city manager to sign the 2026-2027 supplemental agreement with the Iowa Department of Transportation. So moved. Second. Okay, every year we have a contract with Iowa DOT. It's for us to maintain, the city maintains the Iowa 150 between 8th Street Southeast and 16th Street Northeast. It's 3.46 miles. They pay us $8,321.30 and it's been the same for the last five fiscal years. But this is something that we have to approve every year. So further discussion with regard to this. Hearing none, this will be a roll call vote.

Weber?

Yes.

Hanna? Yes. Moore?

Yes.

Pritchard? Yes. Maynard? Yes. O'Loughlin? Yes. Appleby? Yes.

Passes 7-0. Next, we move to item number 20, which is the Sanity Class C liquor license, the five-day license. I need a motion to approve the five-day class license. see liquor license to sanity room as presented, which explicitly excludes the front sidewalk service area extension and the approval of the temporary unlicensing of their primary license. So moved. Second. Okay, so they currently have a liquor license, but you can't have both a liquor license and a five-day license for the RAGBRAI. So they have to give up their existing license during those five days, and in its place we put in a five-day Class C liquor license. And we have restrictions on there that deal with them being able to sell out front, so they'll be selling inside and presumably in the back. That's my understanding anyway. Further discussion with regard to this.

I only had one question. I know that in our memo it said that, whether it was the memo or where I read it, that there was an updated map that was provided. But that wasn't provided to us, right? I don't have that in mind.

It was provided to ABD.

And we saw that and approved it. I know that in paragraph four it says that the sanity room agreed that they would not sell out front. I just want to make sure that we have that We have a copy of the map, or that's what we're approving.

Susie, have you seen a copy of that?

Or do we have somewhere from them Susie's saying they're not going to sell out from?

If they've uploaded it to the alcohol portal, I would be able to see it. I did not go in and look to see if it was there, but I can do that later and then let everybody know.

I don't know that we can... vote on this without their commitment that they're not going to something from them.

They sent me a copy. I'm pulling it up. They sent me a copy of the revised sketch. And yes, it does not show anything on the front. It just shows the main entrance. It shows the entrance to Main Street and then everything's inside the building and then the area behind the building. That's it. Do you want to see it?

Nope. If you got it and you're okay. I just want to make sure we had something from them.

I thought I had seen it, but I didn't want to say that without verifying.

Yeah, I knew we didn't.

Okay, further discussion on this? I do want to point out, they were very good to work with. We talked, myself and the fire chief went out there and met with Matt and JR and talked through, sorry, not JR, Matt and Adam. And talked through everything with them and explained our concerns and stuff. And even after we met with them, then we conveyed some information to the RAGBRAI committee and the RAGBRAI committee. provided their input, their concern was if they allow one to do it, they've got to allow them all to do it. Obviously that's a concern for the whole item. Just wanted to point out that they've been very good to work with and it was a pleasurable experience working with them. So we appreciate that.

What about the other businesses downtown? Like where we have to come and do this?

I'm sorry, I didn't understand the question.

If they want to do something special for RightBright, they need, basically they should have started the process with ABD. for council to get it approved because ABD is a very slow process.

We're quickly running out of time if there's anybody else who would like to do anything like that. The one big advantage, as I understand it, of the five-day license is anything that they buy for that five-day license, if it's unopened, they can return it to their distributor and get refunded that cost back. I think that's the big reason that they want to do this because that way any inventory they buy, they can return it. It mediates their risk that way for the event.

That's part of the number one big concern as far as I'm concerned because that way you don't overstock and end up with a lot more second stock that you can't get rid of.

Well it does go deeper than that too and that was a great thing that the RAGBRAI committee has done working with the local businesses that do serve alcohol because the size that they're going to be selling in the event center as it's related to price for the RAGBRAI event they tried to work with local businesses to make a commonality and it just so happens that the commonality isn't necessarily something that each of those businesses stocks. So now they can become that common size and price and still be able to return it too. So that helped out local businesses I think a lot. And I give kudos to Nikki and Izzy, Fred that were at that meeting that night to make sure that the local business owners knew that about those commonalities. Lisa was there as well. I'm sorry Lisa, I didn't see you there.

You didn't want to take a chance of her nodding her head the wrong way.

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. Well, thank you, Lisa. Lisa was there.

So like the ones that didn't do it, we'll just be able to sell inside and won't be able to take anything, return anything?

Correct. Further discussion? If there is none, roll call about that.

Hannah? Yes. Moore? Yes. Prasadar? Yes. Maynor? Yes. O'Loughlin? Yes. Appleby? Yes. Weber?

Yes. That's a 7-0. Next we move to item number 21. This is the lease agreement or they're calling it a lease agreement, but it's also they're providing the mechanic services, right?

Right. It's a lease agreement for a mechanic to locate at the municipal airport.

So I need a motion to approve the use and lease agreement with Clint Spearman, subject to final administrative modifications regarding the formal business structure DVA LLC or sole proprietorship and to authorize the city manager to execute the final contract. So move. I have a motion and a second. Further discussion regarding this? Where is he from? So right now I believe he's located in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

And he'd be relocating here to open this. I can't tell you that it's been a little challenging from time to time to get a hold of him. We do have a little bit of concern about that, especially because we've tried to get a hold of him in the last week and have been unable to get him to return a phone call. But that's why I worded the motion as I did, that I'm asking you guys to authorize me to move forward with it. Obviously, if he just stops responding, we're not going to move forward with it. If that happens, we'll have to have more discussion with the airport board. But yeah, that's kind of where we are with it.

Further discussion? Hearing none, this is a roll call vote then.

Moore?

Yes.

Persauder?

Yes.

Maynor?

Yes.

O'Loughlin? Yes. Appleby? Yes. Weber?

Yes.

Hanna?

Yes. Passes 7-0. Next we move to item number 22, which is under reports. Start with the police department monthly report. Anybody have any questions regarding that? Maybe Officer Boos can answer them or we can have that taken back to the captain. Okay, if there's nothing further on that, we'll move to item number 23. This is the fire department monthly report. Again, does anybody have any questions with regard to that report? Hearing none, we'll move to the next item, which is number 24, which is a building department monthly report. Anybody have any questions with regard to that? Okay, hearing none, we'll move to item number 25, which is the ILPT report. Anybody have any questions with regard to that? Hearing none, we move to item number 26, council members' reports. Brett, we'll start with you. I have nothing. Deb?

The JC Park, I've already talked, I think, with you about it, and Bob Beatty, getting that road done with this last rain, it's really gotten worse out, and we need to do something that's maybe more permanent than that. A bike's going to get in there. We've got RAGBRAI coming. The few minutes we were out there for the Memorial Day service, a kid wiped out on a bike. And it's even, of course, a lot worse now. So putting something in there that's going to last more than the rock.

I said that 10 years ago.

I wondered if we should seal coat that. Put millings on it. That's what we did along the... The road that we talked about earlier, sorry, Prees, on the west side of Prees there, we added millings to that to try to help solidify that. We can do the same type of thing there. I'll reach out to Brad Esch with the streets department and Bob as well.

And we definitely want it done before the rag briars get here.

Thanks, that's it. On top of Deb's comment, I spoke, I believe it was Brad and Bob both on that street like over a year ago. On the street itself, on the east side of that entrance, If you could create a diversion there a little bit, and with some concrete, and the water could flow on the east side, because the way it funnels all right now into heavy rain, it all goes to the west side of that road, and that's what's creating that big trench. If you could somehow divert that to the east side a little bit through digging down and lowering a little bit.

The thing you would want to be careful of is if you go to the east side, you could end up inadvertently pushing it onto the homeowners that are there.

Yeah, but there's that big culvert that runs right underneath, and that water could be diverted right to that culvert and shot underneath.

I'd have to look at it. I don't remember there being a culvert there.

I showed it to them, but nothing ever happened to it. It's an ongoing problem. And other than piggybacking off that, that's all I have. We'll reach out and get a handle. Thank you.

Mike?

Citizens beware. There's more water coming from the north, and...

Unfortunately, yes. Melissa, did you have anything? No. I will not be here for the June 22nd meeting. I'll be out of town from the 22nd, well, actually the 21st of June through at least the 1st of July, but I'm taking off until July 6th. So I won't be here for those two weeks. I just want to let everybody know that. In the interim, we'll keep working on stuff related to the treatment plant and get numbers for everybody and get better information.

You get off for the 4th of July?

I do. I mean, I don't know that it's necessarily off. I still answer the phone if anybody calls, but I do.

Out of town.

You answer phone calls late at night, too? I believe 9.30 Friday night, somewhere around there. So, yes. That's all I've got.

Thank you, Mayor. Okay. Some of you may already know this, but Ashley Henson was able to get a grant for Buchanan County, which will purchase one of the ambulances that they've been trying to get secure money for. So the grant is for $497,465. So that's a... Wonderful thing. Awesome. Actually... Ashley Henson was able to get a total of $6.5 million for community funding projects within her district itself, so she's done a pretty good job here at the end. But I just want to make sure everybody knew about the funding for the ambulance because that's one less thing that the county has to worry about on that. And that's all I have. Other department heads, anybody else have anything? Okay. Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to dismiss. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? So moved. Stand adjourned.