City Council - Regular Meeting

[music] Please rise 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.

I'd like to call this meeting to order. Seeing no one has signed up for the open form, we'll go on to the consent items. Move to approve. Second. Aaron Holtz. I Sloan. I trick. Hi. Wkelman. Hi. Under new business. Item A is a resolution approving employee salaries for the calendar year 2025. Just a a requirement annual requirement that we would list the total salaries gross salaries paid to all employees. And this would be for the calendar year 25. And this is published. move.

Second, Winklman. Hi, Watri. Hi, Sloan. I Aaron Holmes. Hi. Item B is a resolution approving a 28e agreement for the swimming pool use. Yeah, for the uh this is for swim team. So, um, we've just get the, uh, 280 agreement in place to to detail the responsibilities of both of the parties. Um, no significant change in operations at all. It just gets things, uh, put down in an agreement form.

Second Sloan. I, Aaron Holtz. Hi, Wkelman. Hi, Wait. Hi. Item C is res resolution conferring the appointment of Joe Foot as a city golf course clubhouse manager. This would have Joe returning to be our clubhouse manager again for for this golf season. Um same working agreement that that he had had the past couple years does include an increase in pay of 3.5%. And that 3.5 is consistent with all the other administrative at his level. It is. Yeah, it's and it's where we settled with union, too. So, we look to be consistent with that. Sure.

Were there any major projects that uh they had in mind for the upcoming year for the golf course? There is a project that'll be in the budget for a for a $10,000 improvement to the clubhouse.

And so, one of the biggest uh shortcomings that's most often cited out there deals with the kitchen. So the the kitchen space really needs uh needs some attention. Joe has talked about some making some significant process change there and and maybe look at the at the clubhouse going to the upper story and and working the golf uh out of that upper story. Um still a little bit up in the air and he's getting me the proposals on what that would would look like. Uh Matt is the golf course committee. We we met with Joe here recently and and went through some of those options. But when you look at projects really for the year, there's there's this little bit of a clubhouse project and and that's largely it.

Okay. You know, we'll [snorts] other smaller projects outside would include like tree planting. Looking at the revenues over the last and you had said this was his third year or this will be his third year or be his fourth year, Joe. third or fourth. Boy, yeah, that's right. It's only going to be third. Third. Okay. Because I looking at the revenues for the golf course since over that time frame, I I do see an increase, a closing in the gap between expenses and revenues. Uh I'm guessing the clubhouse superintendent had played a part in that.

Yeah, pretty much. You know, Joe, as far as the the manager, you know, the biggest driver that we can do to address the economics out there is to have more members and and Joe's been really good at that as far as the the recruitment. We've seen membership go up significantly. Okay. Any idea significant

60% over the past three years is the number that I want to tell you. Okay. Thank you. Move to approve. Second. Erin Holtz. Hi. Sloan. I Wkelman. Hi. Wait. Hi. Item D is resolution confirming the employment of Jacob Capasca as golf course superintendent.

So Jacob is the golf course superintendent as in the one one full-time employee that we have to do the outside work. So we have Jacob as the superintendent. There's also two part-time folks who assist outside, but they take care of everything. This would be Jacob's third year back with us. And uh really fine comments as far as the work that that Jacob's done for us out there. Really really good comments. Move to approve. Second. Sloan. I w Iron Holtz.

Hi. Item B is consider proposal from Bolton me to update a risk and resilience plan and emergency response plan for water utility. Yep. So uh these are the water uh risk and resilience assessment or emergency response plans are two plans that are mandated by the EPA that these types of facilities have to have. [snorts]

um they are required to be updated every 5 years. We originally did this for the city in 2020. Um and so now we are looking at uh getting those updated. Um the risk uh and resilience assessment is uh I believe due June, the end of June, and then the emergency response plan is due the end of uh December. Um, but we're just combining them um because they're a update to a current plan. Uh, it's not as much as what the original putting plans together was. Um, we have it broken out as uh a combined lump sum fee of 9500. Uh, that's 5,500 for the risk and resilience assessment and uh 4,000 for the emergency response plan. So, move to approve.

Second Holtz. I Wkelman. Hi, Sloan. Hi, Jackson. Or Jackson. Sorry, Watri. Sorry. Hi. I forgot to press that one off. Item F is a GCDC presentation on the commercial flex space. [snorts]

Yes, good evening. Thank you, mayor and council for the time tonight. Uh, as promised, I am back before you again to give you an update here. Uh, my conversations relating to this project actually predate the area contract with GCDC in August of last year. However, it was completed when we started our tenure. And uh, I got a very good question from a council member asking for some details on how this kind of encompasses economic development overall compared to the rest of the state. and what is the benefit to the community? And that got me thinking is this is something I'd like to do moving forward on projects in general with GCDC's involvement, but also to show you exactly what the projects entail, what the benefit is to the community, and how it's going to benefit the community moving forward, too. Because after all, this is helping the community at large, your community, and also decades to come. So, before you presentation and a report on the East Business Park, uh, or otherwise known as the Wendle project. Uh first is the mapping off beacon on the on this roughly situation on the location of it. Uh the parcels in specifically we're talking about is parcel 007 and 008. Those little parcels together are kind of uh combined in this current building structure. But that is the target of the the conversation tonight. What is flex commercial space? Flex commercial space is basically something that's been around for over a hundred years. And what I mean by that is is if you look at your historic downtown on main street side of it, it's a split use commercial building to generate multiple revenue sources. So at the time you had multiple revenue sources at ground level, second story, backwards, and then also the front. So no different than in today's commercial flex space, it's basically splitting up and creating multiple revenue sources to create revenue despite what might happen in the economy. If one sector goes down, they got generated revenue on the other side that's more stable. If the revenue goes up, then the other one compensates as well. So that way the landowner is risk is shrunk significantly, but it also makes it available resource to use in the community for a long time to

come. First thing on the first page on the back side is a description of what we're talking about here in the East Business Park. Flex Base is a type of commercial real estate designed to be highly adaptable. It blends different types of space, most commonly small offices, warehouse, light industrial, built into single units. Businesses can flex the space to fit their operational needs. Hence the term flex commercial space. It is basically uh heated or cool air conditioned, electrical, plumbing, uh open space, uh ability to put in office space if needed, but also warehouse space. It's basically a one-stop shop to create a startup nextep business or what you could call an incubator system. And the best thing about this is it's usually easy access and it's a lower cost to the building and or I'm sorry the business owner long term for the fact being that it's all one in one location instead of multiple locations. Instead of having an office space at one office building in a traditional setting, then their storage at another one, and then their manufacturing at another location, they can have everything in this one single location to lower cost and increase their ability to generate that next level for a business. That is something that is very nice to have as a business owner because you're giving them the flexibility to meet their current economy needs without forcing them to take on additional debt. And I'll stop there for any questions right now. All right. Uh here in the Jefferson Park, we have basically your typical spaces. I've listed all the unit and the customizations on it. And then also on the next two pages in front of you is examples of Jefferson Boone and then Tiff in Iowa and Adel. You'll notice the first page is Jefferson because we're more important than everyone else. That's what I'm telling you. Brett telling you right now.

Uh but the key point I want to point out is that you'll notice the standardization of these facilities. These are actual photos taken off the real estate holdings and the rental abilities of each of these locations across the state. So you have Jefferson, Boone Start, and then you have Tiffen and Adele. All of them are encompassing space. All of them have electrical outlets along the borders. All of them have uh a plumbing or bathroom facility. The only thing I did not show you, and that's because it's very rare, but it is possible, is that a lot of them put what they call a loft system. It's basically a halfstory shelf that you would see. It's usually 2x4s or beams and post lumber-wise. They put upstairs above the bathroom a second story loft and they put their office space up there. So that way it's off the floor but it's not taking up additional additional space for the floor itself. So that is another option as well for office space in these buildings. These are not designed to be walk-in retail facilities. Absolutely not. These are designed to be flexible spaces from everything for e-commerce to your next concrete company that's looking to get out of the garage and start the next job. These are flexible spaces. They're flexible to be used. They're flexible to have heat and cooling. So they're good year round. And also too, it provides an actual business address for these buildings. That in today's world in e-commerce is absolutely essential. If you put your home address for a business startup, you're not probably going to reach that next level on online that you need to. If you have an actual business address outside of a PO box, it gives you that next level of credibility as well. So it's one of those levels that we we're we're looking for in the business community and also the ability to provide, if you will, for Jefferson and Green County. Can you talk about Greg about the name of the facility out there?

Yeah. So the operating land owner or renter if you will is called Storage Solutions out of Carroll, Iowa. So it is a name that matches part of the facility but not the entire facility. So, Storage Solutions of Iowa out of Carol is the company that owns it, that operates the rental program, cleans it, maintains it, and make sure it's compliant with city codes, but they operate a facility in Carol. And if you, these locations I showed you are all mixed commercial spaces and also land owners under different LLC's. What you have in your location here in Jefferson along the corridor there in the frontage road is basically four units of cold storage, which is traditional RV boat storage. You can put anything in there from your RV to your boat to your trailer to your hitch to anything. And then you have the other eight units which is mixed use or flex commercial space. And remember what I said to begin with, it generates competing lines of revenue. So if the rental units are generating revenue, it puts less pressure on the rental units on the incubators to be fully occupied. If the incubators are fully occupied and it needs more space, the cold unit stoages are compatible to be adapted to turn into additional incubator spaces. So that way they can adjust the business plan that's needed. We have 12 units total. Eight of them are the flex commercial spaces with heat and cooling and plumbing and then the other four are cold storage units that are typical of most Americans with extra stuff they need to store.

Any um thing about future phases of a project?

Um future phases I have taken a tour of the project with with the owner. Uh I have a standing offer to take anyone for a tour of the facility. If they wish to take a tour of it, just let me know. And then also too, he has additional property straight to the west opposite the current building up. And then he also has his back seven acres as well. He is open to all options on the remaining acreage. If we can fill all the incubators on the one side, that would provide incentive to talk about the west side. If it's the south side that needs additional revenue, then we can talk about developing the seven acres to the south. The best part of this is is that road access the GCDC help put in with the last project in 25 accesses all the acreage in the east business park up until the railroad line straight to the south. So everything that he currently has is touchable with the road access that was already been put in. There's no additional infrastructure unless we want to pave it or or do things like that. And hopefully my job is to provide incentives for you to do that and we have more buildings and more commercial development going on. So just as you look at this, just talking about infrastructure and you look at the windy road through the picture, okay, that road is in place out there and there's water and sanitary sewer under that entire length of that platted road. So when it gets down to where the road stops, that's where the the water and sewer installation stop there, too. See, it's got a uh gravel surface on that road, but it everything was put in um to the the proper specification that that was needed, you know, and and Jim and Bolton Mink actually did all the design on it. So, it's it will be to the point there where we could uh hard surface that road at some time and as easily as as feasible if we would if we would go that way. But uh yeah, like I say, it's it's just laying the groundwork there for for continued success on that that inst [snorts] that infrastructure installation was paid uh entirely by GCDC.

So a key point I want to point out as well is the question I've received so far is would you ever be incentivizing storage units as standalone units? My recommendation as an economic de development professional would be no. If if someone has private property they wish to do it. It's not a project GCDC I see as straight economic development. Having straight line cold storage units, if you will. These are flex commercial space. They're adaptable. The walls are movable. There's ability to use them for many different things. That's different than the traditional roll top storage units that we know that myself I also know growing up. If they want to put up those units, great. But it's not something I would recommend participation on from GCTC. is an economic developer. This type of commercial space is highly sought of and is at a premium anywhere from Ankeny to Iowa City to Jefferson. So, it's going up everywhere and it's it's a very viable resource to have in your community, too.

Uh, how much of the flex space and the cold storage space in the existing building there now has been committed to or or or rented at this point? Can you answer that? Uh the four first units are already full closest to the frontage road to the north. And those would be the flex the flex units. The first four units of the flex space are already spoken for. Four of them are done. Okay. There's one cold storage on the back four still available. And I believe the other ones are available too. Those are the smaller units in the middle of the description page that I gave you. Those are coming up. But obviously those are marketing and everything else. And that's my role as GCDC is to help with that process. So you basically have both bookends filling up. of the middle is soil.

Okay. How many [snorts] jobs have been created from this big storage unit going up out there? How, you know, you got Green County Development Corporation Storage Solutions. How many jobs is isn't your goal to create jobs and now we got storage units?

Mhm. So, when you're talking economic development, you're talking jobs. So you're talking everywhere from the concrete to the excavation work, the plumbing work, the sewer work, the infrastructure work, the construction work, the electrical work, and now you have the maintenance work included with that. All those are jobs that are temporary jobs, but they're not not full-time jobs. The thing about economic development in 2026 is it's part of the package. Having jobs is a part of it, but if a company comes to Jefferson and says, "I want to build a$1 billion dollar facility, but I'm only going to offer 10 jobs." That's one billion in property tax to the city coffers offset by only 10 local jobs. Is that a conversation we got to have? Yes, absolutely. But they're not part and parcel with it. It's I counted this as local construction jobs, local incubator jobs for the businesses starting up and using them, whether they're plumbers, electricians, e-commerce, whatever have you. But the key point is is that it's putting money on the property tax rules for you. And yes, there are some storage units, but the business side of it alone is going to be beneficial to Jefferson for years to come.

In my opinion, of course. Scott, [clears throat] this is in a tiff district, that northern industrial tiff district as well. Correct. It is. [clears throat] Excuse. It's located in a temp. Okay. There's no incentives for it. No abatements involved in this particular they they would be they would be automatically uh in entitled to uh to a tax abatement for for a commercial development. And what's the current commercial? Three or% free. Cool.

Uh two questions. one, can you give us examples of the types of businesses or companies that are out there now and if those folks are completely local or do they have to come from outside the community into the community? Yeah, that would be a question I would have to get permission from the the the owner first to release. I'm not going to release private information on a contract basis until I I cleared them first. However, I did ask that when and if you wanted to take a tour of the facility, that would be information made available so that you would know and then I would be able to tell the public in general moving forward. Yes.

And if a business is going to rent something out there for a flex space, are they allowed to put some kind of signage outside so people know what kind of business they have in there or would it need to be a need to know business basis type of thing? Uh the signage should be available above the doorway and by the entryway to the left of the big overall top doors. Okay. So, is there signage existing out there now? Not yet. Not yet. Okay. But it is an option. Okay. Is is the Boone operation is that further further along? Was it built before? Uh yes, it's a long established one. It's a Boone address on the Highway 30 corridor between Boone.

Um that one's got heated geothermal floors and security cameras and and much more action things. That's why it's so weird. [snorts] I say weird, I say flexible on the flex space side. You can have people that put in what we call barnaminiums with a apartment living unit to offset the space even further. So what what what kind of what businesses are in there and maybe you're not familiar with that but uh you live in Boone. Yeah. What what what are some of the businesses in that Boon facility now then? So let me pull up here. So this one is actually something that just came on the market and what was in here was a wholesale supply company for electrical. Okay. So they were using it as a wholesale deliveries distribution node.

Yeah, go ahead.

Thought of one more here for you, Greg. So let's this is meant to be like an inbetweener, right? So for people that want to start something but not go to the extent of buying a building or building new, let's say, and since this has already been existence, let's say the businesses that rent these units but then move out and another person wants to come in and take their place. Is there like uh who's on the hook for like decommissioning or breaking apart whatever a new business doesn't want that's already in existence there or do they have to figure that out as the new renter of that space? it. Typically what happens is it's part of their lease agreement for the structure. If a new owner or business owner comes in to rent the space, if it's not to spec that they want, it's on them to do the dam the changes and additional,

you know, improvements, if you will. But it cannot damage the property or the or the general property owner themselves because they cannot be held liable for it. So my example of that half loft over the bathrooms where they put an office space, that would be lumber that could be taken down or left if an agreement could be reached with the landowner. Yeah. And again, these are transitional business incubators. These aren't meant to be full-time 30-year establishments. The goal of this is for someone to take that next step, get out in the public, and then we find them a permanent structure and a building to set up for for years to come. Are these buildings the same as the incubators they build over in Carol for the same owner? Yes.

Yes. So, it's the same structure and the same model that he's got over in Carol. Um the typical model and examples I given you are not owned by the same owner. These are owners and examples from other communities using the same format of building plans. I wanted to give you a broad spectrum and not just that one property owner cuz I always believed these were going to be buildings people could use other than glorified storage buildings and nice land where you could develop something that would maybe create some jobs or do something else other than another storage unit in this town. So again,

I'm disappointed in it because it's I thought people were would have been able to buy their part of the building or do anything. So I think it's pretty sad on how it ended up because I don't see any development with that or business ownership out of it.

So again, fair I cannot speak of what was discussed or decided before I came in in August. Um, I can tell you that if you look at the Adell photos that you see on the first page behind the Jefferson section in your packet, you'll notice that that flex space there is an open electrical company that started with the first unit and then went down the row and went unit to unit to unit to unit. And all those trucks you see there are examples of that entire company. Now, now we have additional space in this business park to expand to council member Sloan's park. And that's what would be my recommendation is the next seven acres in the backside and also to the west would be similar development if we can put a full-time business in there. But also two make sure it's constructive commercial space. I don't want it to be just standalone storage units. And again I would not recommend standalone storage units in encompassing the entire campus.

I I don't think comparing Jefferson to Adele is even in the same ball field. It's Adele's exploding with the expansion from Walke. So that's not even anything you can compare Jefferson to Adel with running a company renting all these extra storage units to fill them up.

I I I couldn't agree with you more. I mean Jefferson is a totally different example than Adele. The one main component that equalizes both communities is is that you are orbiting a major urban center. Adele doesn't have enough to supply this company with enough work just for this company. They have to commute and move around. Same goes for Jefferson. You are the hub of Green County and everything over to Boone and then everything west to Carol. You have this entire area as a hub location for commercial services. If they want to locate it better suits them to locate Jefferson for for localility and transportation and different models, different commercial uses, absolutely. But you are the hub just like Adell is on the western side. Otherwise, you got to go all the way east to Walke before you hit the metro. No one that's not a priority for everyone west of Adel. Adel has to service them.

Looking at [clears throat] these structures here, it looks very similar to the uh the rentable shop spaces that are on the east side of Carol. Mhm. I think are these essentially very similar to that? Similar. Yeah. incubators, rental spaces, uh shop spaces, release, all of them are are similar alone except for the last four. Those are all standalone cold storage units with with no ability unless they put in heat and plumbing and electrical needs.

Thank you. Thank you for your time. Um if you have any further questions, please let me know. I apologize for leaving. I have to go speak at the Green County Farm Bureau. Well, thank you for your time. Y

under report, [clears throat] Jim, uh for the Westwood sidewalk and uh doc's alley project, uh we've uh [snorts] completed the surveys, so now we'll be moving into the design phase on that. Um the east shared use path project out at the new high school. Uh just still waiting on hearing on the grant on that one. Uh DD57, we are continuing to review existing conditions. Uh tower inspection project will be later this spring once the weather decides where it's at. And uh wastewater treatment facility. Uh we still have the warranty items uh that we are going to continue to monitor, but all the punch list has been done. We should be hoping to see the final paperwork from the contractor real soon and there's potential for that final release of retainment retainage at the next meeting, but that's uh not for sure yet, but that's the plan. Okay, Roxan,

no report. David, no report. Scott, yeah, no report other than I will be on vacation next week, so I'll be out of the office. Mark, no report. Chad,

the animal shelter board met last week and during that meeting, we got an update from PAUSE on the 2025 statistics for the cats and the dogs that went through. I handed those out to you. I just thought I'd go through them here real quick. So, there's 60 cats that came through the animal shelter in 2025. Two went back to Perry um to the shelter there. Nine went to a boon shelter. One um went to a farm to be a barn cat. There were six cats that were at large were picked up and returned to owners. Um one died at the vets office. Two were euthanized and Paw adopts some cats out of PetSmart. 12 were adopted out there and 27 were adopted at the shelter. And there were 89 dogs that came through the facility last year. Um 20 of those were adopted out. 55 were returned to owners where the police had picked them up and they'd come in and paid paid to stay the night and went back to the owners. Um we had several quarantine dogs, 10 quarantine dogs last year. Eight of them were returned to the owners. Not they don't get returned. they can't come back into Jefferson. Um, and they had five dogs that they took to five that they transferred to other shelters [snorts] and u seven of these were seven dogs were euthanized. So, it's not not necessar it's not a a nokill shelter. It's a low kill shelter, but there are instances where some dogs need to be euthanized. And a couple of them went to Fairview Vet Clinic that [clears throat] were um

part of the animal neglect case and they were going to try and adopt them out. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you, Harry. No report. Matt Scott already mentioned uh golf course stuff, so no other report. Chad, no report. Luke,

uh, the Emergency Management Commission met on the 12th, uh, going over the budget. We did set the hearing for that, uh, budget on March 2nd. Now, the Emergency Management Commission budget is paid for entirely by the county. In the past, it's been 35,000 and that essentially pays for the part-time uh emergency management coordinator to submit all the necessary and statemandated reports as well as maintaining or at least managing the uh maintenance of the sirens dispersed throughout the county. So, uh that was increased to increase from 35,000 to 40,000 just from uh costs going up. That 35,000 hasn't changed over the last about 15 years. So going from 35 to 40 isn't uh it's much less than many other budgets we see. And then on the 23rd the police committee meeting met and uh [sighs] after considering the input that we heard from the public hearing regarding the public hunting on the the city ground that 17 to 20 acre stretch parcel on the southwest corner of the city. uh it was the recommendation by the police committee to the council uh not to take action on moving forward on an ordinance for that. Um and that was after listening to the the citizens of Jefferson and taking their input. And then another topic of discussion was the the waiting line for the elementary school around South Cedar. Um, there are some in-home businesses that are experiencing some congestion on their driveways for patrons coming and going. And so, uh, there was a request and by [clears throat] the landowner and some consideration by the police committee to put up a sign reminding them not to block actual driveways. So that way that people can come and go as they need to, but while still, you know, waiting for

their children. Sometimes the wait in that line is about 45 minutes. So that's that can take quite a while. And then on the 18th, the Main Street uh matters board met uh covered several community events that are in the works for the spring and the summer. Uh the jeffersonmatters.org website is being updated and all of those events rather than me listing them. Uh I would encourage anybody that is curious about those to visit that calendar because there's a lot going on this year. Um the fundraiser that the Main Street Matters is uh participating in has uh seen a significant outpouring of support from the community. Uh a lot of good uh response from that. And then on March 2nd, there's a BYOB, bring your own business, entrepreneurial networking event. And what was the location for that?

Build your own business. Yeah. At the courtyard. Perfect. And uh that's um really nice for the for the local Jefferson entrepreneurs to to network and do what we can to um work together to strengthen what we already have in our community. And then as far as uh business properties that were available, there were in the last was it the last month four business properties were purchased or leased? Really very close to a month at least. I I couldn't answer that exactly, but the the the ones that were mentioned in the meeting, there were four properties that were either purchased or leased that uh were vacant and now are on their way to not being vacant. So, that's great news. A good step forward to

um sparking that. And then, uh the fire department committee met today uh going over uh some plans for the future as well as discussions on the rotation of vehicles. Uh there's some discussions with uh neighboring townships over responsibilities. The the city of Jefferson shoulders the bulk of the responsibility for organizing, maintaining, and training this the Jefferson fire staff that ultimately provides fire coverage for all the surrounding townships that uh that are in their area. And uh I think it's I'd like to uh just give a hat tip to all the community businesses that allow their employees to to leave to cover this necessary and important service for our community. It's uh without the educated and dedicated staff for this of this fire department, uh we could have every fire truck in the world, but without anyone to drive it, it's essentially useless. And with the potential to lose your job if you left to take care of your community, uh there's a a very strong role that the businesses in our area play in providing the the opportunity for their employees to leave if uh if they're requested or called upon. Uh those businesses include AI, Sententa, Louis Drifus, Raccoon Valley Lawn Care, Cunningham Roofing, Tri County Lumber, Jefferson Monument Works, and H Heartland Bank um without their flexibility and their temporary volunteering, you know, allowing their employees to leave. It does put them in a little bit of a hardship for that period of time. But uh they're I know I for one thank them for for their willingness to do that because without

that we'd have no daytime coverage or very little to no daytime coverage for our fire fire coverage. That wraps that up. Thank you. Thank you.

Um all I've got is I attended assessor's conference board [snorts] uh yesterday evening. Uh we did saw a preliminary budget. There's going to be some adjustments to it. I would imagine the levy is going to be the same or maybe a penny more, not or maybe two cents. It's not going to go up really high, but it was a nice meeting because I got to meet the four new mayors in Green County and uh we're hoping to get the mayors together maybe the end of next month to uh see what's going on in their communities. So, we're done.

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