City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you, ma'am. Welcome to the Waterl City Council meeting, uh, April 6th, regular session. Roll call, please. Mr. Schmidt, here. Mr. Marorrow, here. Miss Greatton Smith, here. Miss Barry, here. Mr. Salamanca, here. Mr. here. Mr. Simon here. Thank you, ma'am. Okay. I would uh at at this point would like to uh take a moment of silence or silent reflection u prior to the start of the meeting.

Thank you. Tonight's pledge of allegiance will be by uh Councilman Salamanca. Ward five. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Mr. Mayor, Mr. Simon, I'd like to make a motion to approve the agenda as amended as well as the approval of the minutes of March 16th regular council session as proposed. Second. Motion to second. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carried. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Simon,

I'd like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of number six and eight for separate discussion and consideration as well as the addition of bill payments of art of of March 23rd in the amount of 6,375,37.14 March 30th 2,248,9985 and April 6 for 3,428,787.39. Second motion in a second and to approve the consent agenda with the exception of the items six and number eight. All in a roll call vote, please. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Miss Kith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. Mr. Simon? Yes.

Mr. Simon, would you like to take these separate? Uh, yeah. Number six. Um, would you like to read? I can read it. Okay, that's fine. I'll read it for you. It's a full um resolution determining necessity and setting the date of public hearing as as May 4th, 2026 to approve the amendment to the downtown riverfront river waterl riverfront urban renewal and redevelopment plan to update projects and project budgets to be included in the plan and setting date of consult consultation with tax and entities as April 17, 2026. Instruct city clerk to publish the notice. Second the motion and a second. Mr. Maro, it appears this is your question. So, please go ahead,

Mr. Mayor. Yes. Um, I have a specific question on the city hall line item in that that has it raised from 12 to 15 million and I'd like to know if we have any details to that. Okay. Sorry, I'm sorry to say that one more time. Okay. Uh, I'd like a specific question of the details behind that. Specifically on city hall, it had from 12 to 15 million a change in the value and I'd like to know if we have any details behind that. Mr. Anderson,

no Anderson, community planning development director. Um so the urbal plan um is our guide for expenditures um that are available to us for projects in the uh urban renewal districts or tip districts. um based on some of the plans that uh we'll be discussing uh as we move ahead in this project if we move ahead with the project obviously um would be uh the amount that we can expend um particularly if we have to issue bonds um this does not mean we have to spend more but this gives us the authority to spend more if we need to. So this is basically opening up from 12 to 15 to give you the room should you need it. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions from the council? A roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmid, yes.

Mr. Marorrow, yes. Miss Kraton Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. Mr. Simon? Yes. Mr. Marorrow, number eight. Would you read it in the into the record, please? You want me to read it, Mr. Mayor? Yes. Read number eight, please. Okay. Resolution approving the award of bid to Peterson Contractors Incorporated of Reinbeck, Iowa in the amount of 7,727,5120 approving the contract, bond, and certificate of insurance in conjunction with the fiscal year 2026 Kataski Drive and Huntington Road reconstruction contract number 1123 and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said document. Second motion in a second. Mr. Maro, you have a question, please.

Yes. Um my question is is there a written contract in place on what the school pays versus the uh percentage-wise or whatever and how it's put together and then who actually does the design work on these uh roads? Mr. Kudson,

Jamie Kudson, city engineer. Yes, there is an agreement that was uh passed by previous council for the for a cooperation agreement for the city to do the design and we will do the inspections and then we will or I will end up billing the school back for uh their portion of it when once we have do construction and all of that. So um there'll be ongoing payments for reimbursement uh through the project. So, does the payments go on as it goes on, not after it's at the end?

Correct. I'll get typically speaking, I'll do have two or three or four pay estimates put together and then I will submit those to the school for reimbursement. And so, you've got a document signed between them that shows what percentage they're have to reimburse us. Yes, it's right roughly right now 6040 city to schools. 60 being the school, 40 60 being the city, 40 being the schools. Okay. Did you have a question on the design? Who designed it? Well, he he answered. He said the city did the design work. Did I Did I understand? The city did the the city did the design work. We hired we hired both um infrastructure to do the design work for us. Answer. Okay. Now, okay. Thank you.

All right. Anybody else have a question about this this agenda item? Roll call vote, please. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Miss Ken Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. And Mr. Simon, yes.

With that, I would like to recom uh to um recommend not recommend, but recognize the following people. James Bulier to the position of assistant director of leader services, Bailey Moore, library board of trustees, Richard Grim, a board commission for the memorial hall and uh Jared Hutddle Hut board commission for historic preservation as well as the conclusion of the employment of Britney Perkins, Chris Baron's Waterl Fire, Caitlyn Christensen, Waterl Police Department, Brad Walters, Waterl Police Department, and Aaron Berger, Waterl Fire uh firefighter. I want to thank everyone on this on this list that I just recognized u for their new positions and I I personally want to thank everyone that dedicated their their time and effort to be a a city employee that are leaving our employment. Is anyone in the audience that I mentioned their names uh here tonight? I I see JB there. Please stand and and uh introduce yourself so we know who you are. Thank you. Thank appreciate your time.

All right. Public hearings. Who would like to take number one, please? Mr. Mayor. Yes, Mr. Smith. Item number one is a motion to receive and file proof publication of notice of public hearing and that's for the request by advanced heat treat to vacate approximately 650 square ft of public sewer and utility easement in the M1 light industrial district located at 2839 Burton Avenue. Second motion to second. All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. Motion carried. The hearing is now open. Does anyone in the audience wish to speak for or against this item on the agenda? Mr. May I make a motion to close the hearing? Second.

Close the hearing and file any written or oral comments and recommendation of approval of the planning programming and zoning commission. Thank you. And you had a second. Second. Okay. Uh all in favor? Opposed? Same sign. Motion carried. Mr. Schmidt. Mr. May I make a motion receive, file, and consider and pass for the first time an ordinance approving a request by advanced heat treat to vacate approximately 650 square ft of sewer and utilities easement in the M1 Light Industrial District located at 2839 Burton Avenue. Second. Motion in a second. Council questions on this item for anyone. Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt,

yes. Mr. Marl, yes. Mr. Kraton Smith. Yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salmona, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. Mr. Simon, yes. Mr. May, I make a motion to suspend the rules. Second. Motion a second. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Mr. Grant Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. Mr. Sman, yes. Mr. May, I make a motion to consider and pass for the second and third times and adopt set ordinance. Second. Motion to second. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Mr. Schmidt. Yes. Mr. Marl. Yes. Mr. Kraton Smith. Yes. Miss Barry. Yes. Mr. Salamonga. Yes. Mr. Martin. Yes. And Mr. Simon. Yes. Thank you, sir. Number two, please. Mr. Mayor. Mr. Marl.

Motion to receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing amendment to the city of Waterl zoning odorants number 5079 to update terms and regulations as they apply to hobby farms, farm animals, tobacco, and vape shops and other changes. Second. Motion. Second. All in favor? I oppose. The hearing is now open. Does anyone from the public wish to speak for or against this change in the zoning ordinance for Hobby Farms and Vape Shops? Please state your name and address for the council. And you have three minutes. Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. My name is Ed Olto, 1225 Downing. Um, I'm recently moved into Waterl. I kept chickens previously and I came thinking that it would be fun to do chickens again and uh so I look at various sources AI for what it's worth says spoke of a two-year pilot project six homes four chickens uh 10-ft setback 25 foot setback from the home neighbor notification no roosters and a $50 permit I this is AI for what it's worth code I'm reading the code and it says 10,000 square feet for two chickens, a 5-ft fence, uh, manure pit. Sounds kind of extreme for two chickens. Um, anyway, I uh and then I hear there's a moratorum on new permits, too. So, this is all over the place for me. I have no idea. And then I little birdie tells me that u the zoning and and planning commission is going to is having a hearing on it. I watched the hearing. They are speaking of some committee that they it's pretty fuzzy. No names, no majority minority report just said they recommended throwing everything out, scratching chicken. I know it said maybe chickens only, maybe not. Well, I know the whole thing's up for grabs right now. It's uh supposed to be xed out totally. Um then I hear about this zoning meeting and so I zoom in on it and watch it and um I hear them talking about other things as well. Um of course this minor majority report there's no information on it. It' be nice to have a little more

transparency on some things like this. Um, and then the I thought amusing part about the meeting was one of the members said something about this is a rather contentious issue and no one knows about or no one's here. Well, actually, I don't think anybody knew about it. Again, I think there's a transparency problem here. When I talked to my councilman about it later, he knew nothing about it. So, there's not a lot of information being shared about this. It seems to me like it's just getting slid under the table without much public comment. So, um, now I don't like to be critical all the time. I am being critical right now, but I am going to defer positive comments to the next speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak for or against this item? Yes. Uh, Mr. Mayor and Council, uh, Jacob Oltos, 1332 Null Avenue. Uh, I do have some packets here, uh, if you would like to look through them, uh, with some recommendations that I thought of. So, a question I want to pose is, is this how we want to regulate the city in general? So, I know there is a problem with citizens not obeying the ordinance and there being issues with too many chickens, not clean environments, a whole host of issues. Um, but it seems like the reaction now is to remove all permissions for all citizens. This seems more of a collective punishment than an individual punishment for individual action. Uh and to an extent this is it's almost as if all of the citizens are presumed to be at least potentially guilty like that everyone could violate this and so no one is given the chance to do it right. Um and I just want to point out that cities like De Moine, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and Cedar Falls all have at least chicken ordinances where it seems like they punish the individual who breaks the code rather than all citizens by not allowing it in the first place. So my second question is will this actually help? Seeing as the problem is citizens breaking the rules, not obeying the ordinances, will changing the ordinance lead to citizens suddenly obeying those same ordinances? Uh or will the punishment have to be individual anyway? Uh and that leads me on to my proposal which I included there. I apologize for not having it printed in red. Uh what is highlighted should have been all in red. Um but that addresses the concerns of the numbers of animals. Uh it's based on external uh guideline organizations such as the American Veterinary Medical Association among others for the amount of space

needed for chickens or any other small animals. Uh it addresses the problem of cleanliness from those same organizations uh as well as loose animals. And it also includes provisions for uh permitting similar to dogs and cats that the board of adjustments is not burdened by having to approve each hobby farm. Uh and there is also a mention of fines for violations which I don't think there currently are. That would help be more punishment for the individual who actually breaks the rules of the ordinance. um and also would then help to cover the cost of say animal control, the permitting, all these city processes that are involved in that. So that concludes uh my uh contributions here. Thank you.

Thank you sir. Anyone else wish to speak for or against these items? Please come to the podium. Is is uh n is is Mr. Shrader here? maybe he could approach the the the podium and and talk about the moratorum the the committees for for both the vape shops and the hobby farm that met for the last year and to iron out these issues. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh go ahead, whoever whoever is doing we'll close public comments real quick.

Okay, Mr. Mayor motion to close hearing and receive and file oral and written comments and recommendations of approval of the planning pro programming and zoning commission. Motion to second. All in favor? I oppose. Mr. Sherro, could you uh could you give us a a kind of anbyplay and overview of what's been going on for the past year because you were in every meeting. So,

Eric Schrader, city planner. Um, yes, there's kind of the two main components of this ordinance, the uh hobby farm and farm animal provisions and the tobacco vape. There's some other cleanup provisions in there, but those are all fairly minor. the um both of those two other main ones. There were subcommittees uh of uh interested parties that included um former mayor, current mayor, former council person. Um then representatives of various city departments that are involved with those uses including planning and zoning, code enforcement, uh board of adjustment members, health department, police department, um

the animal control and the um humane society was also at one and invited Um they're trying to remember if I'm missing anyone. Health department. You mentioned that. I said health department. Yeah. So Oh, and for the vape the schools

as well. So as was noted for the um hobby farm and farm animals, there was quite a bit of discussion on the options from uh keeping what we had and just uh looking at changing it to be even more restrictive. um to eliminating um most of the hobby farm provisions but creating a um urban chicken provision to just eliminating all together uh as is what majority of that subcommittee recommended what went before the planning and zoning commission for their hearing uh and their recommendation of approval and what's before you now. So, uh, no if passed, uh, as written, there would be no new hobby farms allowed. The existing ones would be grandfathered, so they'd be able to stay. There is still provisions for um, farm animals in a or farm settings. Um, and then, you know, the vape shops were kind of a a completely separate issue. So, and there weren't really any discussion on that. So I'm assuming you don't really need me to go into details on that side of it. And then regarding the moratoriums, yes, that there there were moratoriums on both issues. A moratorum on issuance of new special permits for hobby farms and a moratorum on issuance of new tobacco licenses. uh and those were extended once uh and are uh set to run through May 5th.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate Appreciate your comments. Mr. Mr. Mayor, motion to receive f we open questions after this. Gotcha. Gotcha. Please go ahead. Mr. Mayor motion to re motion to receive, file, and consider and pass for the first time an ordinance amending the city of Waterl zoning ordinance number 5079 to update terms and regulations as they apply to hobby farms, farm animals, tobacco, and vape shops and other changes. Second motion in a second. Council questions. Miss Kraton Smith.

Yes, Mr. Mayor. So, um the information that we um received from the young man uh that made the um um suggestions to consider what um De Moines is doing and I I imagine that those ideas are also outlined in this document. Would it be possible um for Eric to look at the document and see um if what we're doing aligns with what's happening um in other areas especially as it relates to this

straighter with staff certainly willing to do that. I guess I would um ask the council to consider uh passing the action on its first reading and then uh we can provide kind of that update at the next meeting and then decide where you go from there. If you table it now, it would very unlikely to be able to get through the process before the moratorum has expired. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Schmidt. So, Eric, back up. And why is Hobby Farm and Vape Shops, why are they in the same thing? Is that just the committee? I mean, it's two completely different.

Yeah, straight over staff. Um, yeah, just coincidental based on the fact that they are uh proposed amendments that are uh being proposed at the same time and to the same ordinance, the city of Waterlue zoning ordinance. So, uh, they were, yeah, two separate subcommittees that were reviewing the changes and had they moved forward on different timelines, it very well could have been that they would have been two separate actions by the city council. But since they both got done at the same time and they're both amending the city of Waterl zoning ordinance number 5079, they just get packaged under one ordinance, but they are separate regulations within the ordinance. Okay. I mean, I would be very supportive of restricting or ending or whatever with some of the vape shop and and tobacco and some of that stuff going on within legal bounds. But, you know, this and and I talked to Mr. father about this uh hobby farm thing and you know I remember talking about it previously on the council and this is back in the blue zones day and we still have blue zones uh placards hanging down in the lobby and having hobby farms and having chickens within reasonable bounds um was supposed to be real healthy and supposed to be real cool which is why they're doing it in De Moine and Iowa City and places but um I hadn't heard it mentioned at all so going back to what was mentioned by the previous uh speakers. Um I do think right or wrong, I'm not blaming anybody, but I don't think there was a whole lot of uh transparency is not the word I'm looking for, but not a whole lot of publicity on this. And I think a lot of people didn't know what's going on. And it kind of sounds like from the conversation you and I had previously that it may be one of those examples where the majority who are the not a lot but the uh the good

hobby farmers today are potentially going to be penalized or those that want to be good hobby farmers are going to be penalized because of the minority that are not following the rules and for whatever reason we're not you know having an impact on them and then it's no longer an issue. So, I was going to vote no on the first reading for that reason, but based on what you said, I will vote yes on the first reading, but then I'll vote no on waving the second, third, and then I don't know um if between the courier and KWL, we could get a little more publicity out there about this because I know there are some people that are interested in this. Um so, I think there would be some additional input purely on the hobby farm, not on the vape shop. So,

thank you, Mayor. Simon, um do we know how many hobby farms exist in Wateroo currently? Um approximately legal ones they Yeah. Yeah. ones that have been um approved through the special permit process. I I didn't look up the exact number, but it is less than 10. It's less than 10. 8 to 10. Okay. And is has there been any requests for additional hobby farms in the last year or how how often do hobby farms get requested?

Um it it can vary but probably a couple of years and yes during the moratorum period there were at least two inquiries as I think both pertain primarily to chickens. I guess I'm not sure if they were going to be for just chickens or for more than chickens, but yes, during this approximate year period that we've had this moratorum in place, there have been at least a a couple of inquiries that were not able to move forward because of the moratorum. So, we we have approximately 10 with the possibility of two if they weren't under this moratorum.

So, maybe maybe 10 to 12. Okay. We've had more because inquiries because they come before board of adjustments when they're when code enforcement catches them from complaints. Correct. I mean, or they um never come before the board of adjustment because after code enforcement issued them notice of violations, a a lot of them have just eliminated their animals. Mr. Barry, do you have a question?

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, first a comment to Jacob. You're in my ward, so I appreciate you coming and sharing your feelings and and perhaps we can incorporate this in some way. I didn't realize we had I didn't know what hobby farms were until until it came up, but it's my understanding they are all over the city. Correct. I mean, pretty much spread out. I would say they're spread out and can be a nuisance in many cases, right? They have created issues. Yes.

Yeah. Okay. So, that's on that. But the vape shops are pretty much my concern. And I'm like uh uh Councilman Schmidt with, you know, you never want to stop a business from business, but I like to know if there are ways to determine where these vape shops will will be housed. Is there a way because it seems like there's an abund.

Yes. and that's just to me not a good place to have them.

Yes, our staff did map out all of the places uh establishments that have a tobacco license. Um now we are looking at as part of this ordinance uh defining a tobacco vape shop based on a percentage uh of the retail floor space that houses that merchandise and having more than 25% would be a tobacco vape shop and less than that would not. So, it would not uh affect, you know, a lot of your establishments uh such as most um gas stations, grocery stores, you know, Walmart, uh pharmacy, any of those places that sell tobacco products, but it's a a relatively minor amount of their product would not be impacted by this ordinance. And if if passed, we would have to uh do additional work to determine which ones are above or below that okay

size threshold to to determine which ones are the tobacco vape shops. And if they were going to be in certain neighborhoods, would citizens have a a voice in this or does it not matter to citizens if they wanted a vape shop right in the heart of their neighborhoods?

Right. So if passed, this would create additional setback requirements for any new tobacco vape shop. Any existing one would be grandfathered in. But if passed and a new one was proposed and it did not meet that setback requirement, their only alternative for still being able to get approved would be to submit an application for a variance, which would go before the board of adjustment, which would be a public meeting. a sign gets posted, notice gets published. So there would be opportunity for the neighborhood to Thank you to be involved. Thanks. Mr. Marl,

um question. Um on this proposal that was handed to you, you're saying that if this was passed tonight, you would review this and come back and make suggestions uh that could potentially change the ordinance as passed. We could do that. Yes. So what timing would you do with that? any idea? I I wouldn't see a problem for us getting it reviewed yet this week and that way we could have any comments by either so early next week if something made sense or you could propose a a proposed change to what was passed tonight. Well, if you if you did that, it's already been passed by planning and zoning. You're going to go back and change the ordinance. Okay. Sorry. I understand.

I mean, if you're going to change based on what the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended. We'd have to review. There could be whether or not it would have to go back to P&Z or if the supermajority vote could move it forward. But thank you. Look at that. Thank you. Any other questions? So, just out of curiosity, what would it take to split the two items apart into two separate? Would would that simplify the process for you or would that make it worse between the hobby farms and the vape shop so one could move along while the other one percolates a little bit?

Uh if there were a motion by the council to split them and then move them forward separately. That could be done. um we would just in the draft that we have there just you know whichever one's going to be for tobacco strike out all of the references to the hobby farm and then I guess the miscellaneous changes we'd have to probably put in one or the other or they would end up being a third amendment and extend the moratorum and we'd have to discuss that. Yeah, if you so to split sort of to split the two of those with

we're just every every two weeks we're delaying it. So what I'm saying is is it would require probably amending or adjusting the moratorum because we couldn't get this done in that time frame especially if you got to go back before planning and zoning. Okay. But so to to make a motion to split the two of them, would that be something we could do tonight just to move that along or do we have to wait two weeks? I defer to Kelly. So, I'd be happy to make that motion,

Mr. Mayor. Well, okay. Go ahead. Why you're Well, we're looking up. Go ahead. Um, so I I'm in favor of this amendment as is just not I feel sorry for the gentlemen and the two gentlemen that that are asking and I don't know if they currently have chickens or if they're inquiring to have them. Um, I get I get that I get that people want to have this availability, but I think the city has weighed these options and we've had these discussions now, I think, for a year or so. I think this came before in a work session if I recall. Mhm.

So I I feel bad that they didn't know about it, but it's not something that's new and it's something that's discussed in the city and there's obviously hasn't been brought forward unless there has been some code enforcement issues related to this. Otherwise, I don't think this ever would have been brought up. Am I assuming that correctly that there has been a n number of code enforcement issues regarding hobby farms? Regarding hobby farms. Okay. Code enforcement, animal control.

Yes. And then the other reason why I'm in favor of this too is I know that the the hot the vape vape shops like you said I think you said there's multiple ones all over their they're borderline in neighborhoods uh where kids are I I'm not an expert on vaping if it's good for you bad for you. I'm not going to say that but there are some people that say it is bad for you. So I think there's been some there's been some uh work done already on that as well. So, I personally believe that we should we should pass this uh you know as as proposed, but I'm willing to listen to obviously the other the council people's decisions as well, but that's just my personal opinion. I think there's been some work done there. So, I wanted to thank you for doing that and bringing this forward.

Anyone else?

I I will I will say that I sat on both committees for a year. Uh Mr. Salamanca sat in on the last the last one for for Hobby Farms. Uh it's it's been an issue for long for longer than a year and it's and code enforcement, animal control, uh police department, the health department. Um it it's been dis we had people from the board of adjustments there and the board of adjustments are the people that ought that it ends up coming before them for for a variance and the board of adjustments recommendation at that time the people that were there was to strike it to remove hoppy farms altogether and and uh they're the ones that hear those requests for a variance each and every time. uh you know there was complaints about uh how how dead animals are disposed of. There was complaints about about uh uh manure and and on frozen ground and then all of a sudden you get a thaw and it's melting into your neighbor's yard. There was a number of issues, complaints that when when uh uh code enforcement comes out to deal with a complaint and the chickens and whatever are running loose and the animal control has to come out there and they're spending hours at times, sometimes two hours, just trying to corral all these animals up. We had a a hobby farm complaint that that didn't even come a fourth of of the square footage that it needed, the 10,000 square feet, and it had over 60 birds in that small area. Uh and then we we dealt with that for quite a bit long period of time until uh the animals had to be removed. They came before the board of adjustments and said that the 60 birds were emotional support birds, all 60 of them. And that's that's how it was addressed. And uh this is this has been

an an issue that's that's been debated for over a year. uh and uh we're we're backed up against the uh the moratorum. So I will defer to uh Mr. Peterson and Miss Felley here in a minute about this. But I will tell you that there was an there was a ton of work and information brought into these task force meetings on both vape shops and the hobby farms. And uh this is accumulation of all of that work for a year. Mr. Mayor, I'm wondering if if we could at least consider this um so we would approve it for the first reading so that you can do what you need to do because I would hate for those who would who follow the rules and would follow the rules uh to be denied um access. And I know that they can have hobby farms if they apply for the um what is it license or

a variance variance um and so that they wouldn't be penalized but for some reason our constituent believes that as it is written uh those that are well-meaning and that take care of their property they're being penalized for those who have the 80 support birds uh running around in in the neighborhood. So, um I'm just concerned about that issue.

And and then for those that said there wasn't prior notice, at least for our council, I I believe everyone gets the uh planning and zoning and and board of adjustments uh agendas is sent to all council people. And I also know that we had meetings with the council people in the in the uh uh downstairs conference room, small groups to discuss any of these issues that we had and it was laid out at that time. Uh all of the problems, everything that we've that we've been dealing with and why we came to these conclusions and this recommendation. So, at least on the council standpoint, we made an incredible effort to make sure everyone was had adequate information that of the information that we're dealing with today. Plus, it was all it's all on your agenda packet. But planning and zoning when they met and it was unanimous. I believe it was unanimous, wasn't it? Yes. uh everyone on this on this dis had prior notice of that planning and zoning meeting and some of us sitting up here are on the planning and zoning commission as liaison. Uh as far as the vape shops, that's something that that we I'm glad we're dealing with and it also sets setbacks and it's going to be really difficult to find a place to put a vape shop with this with these setbacks from churches, from schools, from

uh daycarees, from things like that. So, what did you come up with, ma'am? Um, essentially, if council wants to move forward, I'm not Eric, you may want to stay up at the podium. Um, you're not

because I'm not wellversed on the planning and zoning rules from a just procedural standpoint up here. If we want to move forward with approving the tobacco portions of the ordinance, then I would want to have us make a motion to strike out to simplify it to strike out any reference to hobby farms from the ordinance. And that'll just be a clear directive that we need to go back and just strike that when we move forward with approving the tobacco version of it. But since those two ordinances both went to planning and zoning in this format of the ordinance, if council makes any kind of change like that, does it then have to go back to planning and zoning to approve them being separated? Because that's essentially what we're talking about here is like separating them apart into two different ordinance approvals.

As I understand it, um the council would have the purview to strike. I think if you're going to start to amend or add, that's where it would um potentially require the going back to P&Z unless you have the super major because there's the provision for the supermajority vote that would um override it regardless, but I think striking would be fine. This would require going back to planning and zoning likely. Yeah, make that motion. Okay, Mr. Mayor question. Is there a motion? I made a motion, but second I don't know what your motion is. Oh, I'm sorry. It was to strike the reference to the vape and tobacco

to strike any reference to Hobby Farms. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yes. So, we have a motion on the floor to strike the the verbiage about Hobby Farms. Do we have a second? Second. No, sir. Public comments are over. Second. So, we have a second. Okay. We have a motion in a second to to to strike the uh the verbiage of Hobby Farms. Roll call vote, please. I have a motion in a second. Oh, you have a question. I'm sorry. I had a question.

Go ahead. If uh we were to proceed and pass still together, pass tonight and don't suspend the rules which mean it comes back in red in two weeks, does that mean that we have we will still be have a problem with the moratorum or we would meet it? We we would be still be under the moratorum. If if if we pass this tonight and and don't suspend the rules and that gives us the very next meeting, we would more than likely have to pass both of them at the same second and third reading to to meet the moratorum. I got to check and see when the the meeting in in uh uh May is because May 50 is the moratorium deadline.

Okay. What I'm trying to understand is is it does would that give or Steve's trying to have some idea for people to see does that give them a chance to see it and that's still be within our moratorium window? Not if we make any changes and maybe Eric can clarify that if you strike out the hobby farm reference in this ordinance that has to go back to planning and zoning

trader with staff. Um, I I would think that you could strike it and then table it or whatever word you use. Um, but if you don't and it's just struck and nothing else, then yes, we would look at putting it back on the agenda of the planning and zoning commission for further review and recommendation. Uh and then it would be up to the council if you want to extend the moratorum or let the moratorum lapse on May 5th.

Mr. Mayor, but if we strike it just to move the one part forward and then after the time reintroduce the information that was eliminated for us to review, then it would it still have to go back to P planning and zoning if we're putting it back into it um as it were. Not if it came back substantially the same.

If it comes back the same, there's we could vote on it. But if you just if you think that anything in this needs to be changed in what what we're striking and and putting in, in my opinion, this would have to go back before PNZ and they would have to decide on this. So, any other questions before we vote on striking the uh the uh hobby farm portion of this and then uh move forward. You guys are talking amongst yourselves. You have a question? Okay. No other questions? I'll wait till these guys are done. I gota look at the

Go ahead, Eric. Do you know off hand rather than me looking at the zoning ordinance real fast for each motion or for each reading for one if this strike passes? If this amendment to strike, hobby farms out passes and we go back to approve the first reading of the amended ordinance. Does that require a higher threshold of voting for council or is that still a majority? I'm not sure on since they're changing what was adopted by planning zoning.

It it I'm not an attorney, but it would be my opinion that would still be a simple majority because you're not I mean you're choosing um You're you're not changing your striking. I think you can strike and say we're just going to focus on this part now and deal with this later. Okay. I I think you would be fine. Okay. So, what we have on the floor right now is a motion to amend the ordinance to strike any reference to Hobby Farms. So, we'll vote on that first and then we'll go back to vote on the first reading of this ordinance as it's amended. Does that kind of make sense? Strictly strictly vape shops. Strictly vape shops. Yep. Can I ask a question?

Okay. If we do this and we strike everything with Hobby Farms, what happens to hobby farms? What does it come back? Do we talk about it separately tonight or is it totally uh back? We won't be able to talk about it tonight because we've removed that from the ordinance. Okay. So, will it come back next time as an ordinance on its own just like this? I have no idea. This is a question. Not sure. It'll be its own separate and I'm again fuzzy if that has to go back through all the planning and zoning steps if null or Eric could answer that question.

So so splitting them is going to put it back and then how is that going to work with the moratorum? Hobby Farms would progress forward at this or excuse me, vape shops would progress forward and then next step with hobby farms. I if the vote is to strike and there's no other action like to table that part um then we would uh look at reviewing the additional material and putting that on the agenda of well not the next planning and zoning commission because that agenda is already set but probably the the May planning and zoning commission agenda. Yeah, but there there are the other miscellaneous amendments, but it I as I understand it right now, the wording was to strike the hobby farms. So those would stay within

come up come up come up to the mic. No, just the motion on the table is to strike references to hobby farms. So any other any what I'm n anything else any correct me if I'm wrong but anything else that's in here that any minor changes to to 5079 are still going to make those changes as long as we vote on the vape shop. Y at this point what we would be going through the three readings of is everything except for hobby farms. Perfect question. Then if if do we need a

we have to vote on if it's even going to be strike strike. So if that doesn't pass 43 then this is all moot point. Then we're just going to continue forward. Right. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Question. If if it doesn't pass to strike then we come back and vote the whole thing. It either goes yes or no. Yes. Correct. Okay. Mr. Mayor. Yes ma'am. Can we just table this till next meeting? We could We have to deal with the motion on the table first. We've got a motion to strike, right? So, that has to be taken care of first, which is basically Wait, Nol's got a No's got a question or an answer for us.

He raised his hand. Thank you, N. Just a note. Um, so this is just the first reading. So, if you just approve this flat out as it's suggested right now, in two weeks, we you can give us some time to talk to them, come back with anything. You can always then strike the hobby portions then if you want and give everyone more time to to see the options that are out there. Um, actually, or you can strike the hobby ones tonight if you want. You would have to continue to pass the ordinance in its form. Yeah. So, you wouldn't be able to you can't amend you can't amend it after the first reading. No. Okay. That's why we're trying to Okay. Yeah. So, what we have, unless there's any more questions, we have a motion on the on the floor to strike the hobby farm language

from this zoning ordinance number 5079, hobby farm only. Everything else changes that were in this ordinance uh would stay the same. Roll call vote on striking hobby farms. Okay. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Miss Kraton Smith, no. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca, no. Mr. Martin, no. No. Mr. Simon.

So, a motion to strike fails. So, now what what we need now is right here, a motion to receive and file and pass for the first time. Okay. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Marorrow, motion to suspend the to suspend. We we have to vote on the passing it for the first time. We have not done that yet. Okay. Do we need to reread that or can we just vote? Okay. Close the close the hearing. No, we don't need any other motions. Uh the one on the table right now is to adopt the first reading of the ordinance as it was presented to council. So, if there's anything else you want to do, nope. Now is the time to do it. So, you have something you want to add?

Yeah. Well, I just want to ask. So, Mr. Mayor, we if we approve the first reading and not suspend the rules, does that give us the opportunity to consider this stuff? I don't believe so. Consider it, but you wouldn't be able to amend it. So then you would be having to um kick it back and restart it and discuss the moratoriums. Okay. Yeah. It creates time to look at it, but once we adopt this, we have to keep going through the motions with it. Um, we have a motion on the floor to to pass for the first time

uh the ordinance amending zoning uh 5079. Second, we have the roll call vote. Okay, Mr. Schmidt. No, no, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Call your names and then we'll we'll get to it. Okay. I appreciate the enthusiasm. That's Yeah, I like your enthusiasm. Okay, Mr. Marorrow, no. Miss Smith, no. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. And Mr. Simon, yes. So, that passed. Okay. And then who who actually read this to begin with? I'm lost.

Mr. Motion to suspend the rules. Second. Motion is second. I'll uh roll call vote, please. Uh Mr. Schmidt, no. Mr. Marl, no. Miss Katrton Smith, no. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salanka, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. Mr. Simon, yes. So, that failed. That failed because that would have taken five votes. All right. We'll look at the second reading in two weeks. Who wants to take the next uh oral number three, please? Great, Mr. Mayor.

It's great Smith. Um, let's see. I move that we I move that we receive and file proof of public hearing publication of notice of public hearing for the sale and conveyance of city-owned property located west of 1425 Horththornne Avenue in the amount of $5,000 to ENC Investments LLC including approval of a development agreement for the construction of a single family home with a $5,000 and refund of the purchase price and a grant of $5,000 in infill housing incentive. Second motion second. All in favor?

I oppose. The hearing is now open. Does anybody in the audience wish to speak for or against this item? Hearing none. Mr. I move that we close the hearing and we uh have no public comments but foul written comments. A motion to close the hearing. All uh do I have a second? Second. All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. Miss Kraton Smith.

Okay. Mr. Mayor, I move that we adopt a resolution approving the sale and conveyance of city-owned property located west of 1425 Hawthorne Avenue Investments in the amount of $5,000 and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said documents. Motion second council. Does anyone on the council have any questions regarding this item on the agenda? Mr. Mayor, uh Mr. Salamaka, can we get an explanation on the $5,000 refund of the purchase price? Is the individual or entity purchasing and are we repaying them or what's the what's the follow through? What's going on here? Mr. Anderson,

no Anderson, community planning development director. So, this was a 67A house. We demolished it in 2014. So, we're good to see uh or glad to see that there's um some good infill housing going on the site. Uh the uh housing elevate housing policy 2.0 notes that uh we sell land for $5,000 um minimum on a successful bid. Um then they will get the reimbursement of the 5,000 plus a $5,000 infill for hookup to uh utilities and all that. So he is in fact purchasing it for 5,000 and then once the project once the house is receives a certificate of occupancy then he will get the 5,000 reimbursement and the $5,000 infill and that's specifically stated in the development agreement as well. Correct. That is correct.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt? Yes. Mr. Marorrow? Yes. Miss Katrton Smith? Yes. Miss Barry? Yes. Mr. Salanka? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. And Mr. Simon? Yes. Miss Smith. Mr. Mayor, I move that we adopt a resolution approving a development agreement with ENC Investments LLC for the construction of a single family home with a $5,000 refund of the purchase price and a grant of $5,000 for infield housing incentive. Second. There's a motion and a second. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Smith, yes. Mr. Marl, yes. Miss Craton Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. And Mr. Simon,

yes. Number four, please. Who would like to take that? Don't want everybody jump up at once. I guess Mr. Mayor, Miss Graden Smith. I move to receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing for the 2026 through 2028. Is it complaint mowing with complaints no removal? Is that correct? Yep. Okay. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? I I

oppose. The hearing is now open. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against this uh complaint mowing and snow removal ordinance? Seeing none, go ahead, ma'am. Um Mr. Mayor, I move that we close the hearing and receive written comments about um the complaint mowing with complaints. Second. Got a motion to second. All in favor? I oppose. Motion carried. Mr. Kraton Smith.

Okay. Mr. Mayor, um I move that we adopt a resolution confirming approval of specifications, bid documents, form of contract, etc., and authorizing to proceed. Second. A motion in a second. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt. Yes. Mr. Mr. Marl, sorry. Uh Miss Ken Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca, yes. Mr. Martin. Yes. And Mr. Simon. Yes. Crane Smith. Mr. Mayor. Yes, ma'am. I move that we adopt the resolution approving. And we have to uh have the city clerk read the bids. Yes. Mr. Mayor, I move that we receive foul and instruct the city clerk to receive the bids. Roll call. Just place.

All in favor? Oh, we need a second though. I need a second. Second. We had a motion, a second. All in favor? I opposed. Okay. Felley,

our first bidder is Adams Outdoor Contracting Incorporated of Water, Iowa. They provided 5% security. Uh, alternate A was $1,549.99. Alternate B was $1,549.99. Alternate C was $5849. Alternate D was $103.40 and alternate E was $2,125. and alternate F was $1,750. Second bidder was P and J Longare of Water, Iowa. Alternate A, they provided a bid of $1,750. Alternate B, $1,750. Alternate C, $70. Alternate D, $110, alternate E, $2,100, and alternate F was $2,100. Our third and final bidder was Ethan's Home Maintenance LLC of Waterl, Iowa. They 5% security. Their bid amount for alternate A was $4,250. Alternate B $3,500. Alternate C $75. Alternate D $75. Alternate E $2,550. And alternate F is $2,100.

Thank you, ma'am. Does council have any questions on this? Mr. Mayor, I'm not sure if this is the one. I had a a few constituents call me um concerned about uh snow removal and grass removal, but I'm not sure if this is the one. And since no one came up, maybe it isn't. So, I'll just leave it be. Thank you very much. Thank you, ma'am. Anybody else have any questions? Miss Katon Smith. Mr. Mayor.

Yes, ma'am. I move that we adopt the resolution approving the award of the bid to Adams Outdoor Contracting Inc. Waterlue, Iowa. Option A, $1,54949. Option B, $1,54949 per occurrence. Option C, $5849 per manh hour. And option D, $13 per manh hour. Option F, $1,750, awarding the bid to P&J Lawn Care of Waterl, Iowa. Option E, $2,100 per occurrence approving the contracts, bonds, and certificates of insurance in conjunction with fiscal year 2026 through 2028 complaint mowing and with complaints knowing removal contracts and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said documents.

Second motion is second. Thank you, ma'am. Uh, roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Miss Kraton Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca. Yes. Mr. Martin. Yes. And Mr. Simon. Yes. Thank you. Number five. Who wants to take that? Mr. Mayor. Mr. Marl. Yes. I make a motion to receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing for fiscal year 2026 asphalt overlay program contract number 1143. Second. Motion. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. The hearing is now open. Does anyone in the audience wish to speak about the asphalt overlay program? Seeing none, sir.

Mr. Mayor, a motion to close the hearing and receive file or oral and written comments. Second. Motion in a second. All in favor? I. Mr. Mayor, resolution confirming approval of specifications, bid documents, form of contract, etc., and authorizing to proceed. Second. Motion second. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Mr. Kraton Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca. Yes. Mr. Martin. Yes. And Mr. Simon. Yes. M. Mr. Mayor, a motion to receive, file, and instruct the city clerk to read the bids. Motion is second. All in favor? I. I. Oppose. Same sign.

Um, our engineers estimate was $1,900,000. We received one bid. That was from Aspro, Inc. of Water, Iowa. They provided 5% security. Their bid amount was 1,626,52723. Thank you, ma'am. Council, any questions on this? All right. Seeing none, Mr. Marl. Mr. Mayor, resolution approving award of bid to Aspro Inc., Inc. of Waterl, Iowa in the amount of $1,629. Well, $62,96. I think there's an extra six. We got a typo in here.

Yeah. Uh $52,723. approving the contract, bonds, and certificate of insurance in conjunction with the fiscal year 2026 asphalt overlay program contract number 1143 and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said documents. We got a motion, a second, but we're going to get the correct amount in here. The correct amount should be1,626,52723. There's an extra nine in there. Yeah. Okay.

All right. Okay. Do we have a we have a second? Second. All right. We have a motion to second. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt? Yes. Uh, Mr. Marl? Yes. Miss Grant Smith? Yes. Miss Barry? Yes. Mr. Salamanca? Yes. Mr. Martin. Yes. And Mr. Simon. Yes. Thank you. Would someone take number six public hearings? Mr. Mayor, make a motion to receive and file proof of publication and notice of public hearing and that's for the fiscal year 2026 800 block upton Avenue Sanitary and Water Man extension is contract number 1147. Second. Motion to second. All in favor? I

opposed. Hearing is now open. Does anybody in the audience wish to speak to this item on the uh reconstruction of sanitary sewer water main extension on Upton Avenue? Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to close the hearing and receive and file or written comments. Second. Motion to second. All in favor? I I opposed. Mr. Schmidt. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to adopt a resolution confirming approval of specifications, bid documents, form of contract, etc., and authorizing to proceed. Second. Motion to second. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Miss Kraton Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. And Mr. Simon? Yes. Mr. Schmidt.

Make a motion to receive file. Instruct the city clerk to read the bids. Second, please. Got a motion and a second. All in favor? I oppose. All right. Miss Felley. All right. The engineers estimate was $540,000. Our first bidder was Aspro Inc. of Water, Iowa. They provided 5% security. Their bid amount was $359,97555. Second bidder was Peterson Contractors, Inc. of Reinbeck, Iowa. They provided 5% security. Their bid amount was $37,5.15. And the final bidder was Shift General Contracting of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They provided 5% security. Their bid amount was $434,9020.

Thank you, council. Any questions on this item? I know there was there was a number of emails that went back and forth. Did you get all your answers? Yes.

Okay. And I want to thank Mr. Kudson for responding and and getting all the answers to as the council was u uh sending a number of emails to him. Um very good. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to then adopt a resolution approving award of bid to Astro Inc. of Waterl Iowa in the amount of $359,9755 approving the contract bonds and certificate of insurance in conjunction with the fiscal year 2026 800 block Upton Avenue sanitary and water main extensions contract number 1147 and authorizing mayor and city clerk to execute said document. Second motion to second. Roll call vote please. Mr. Schmidt. Yes. Mr. Marl. Yes. Misston Smith.

Yes. Miss Barry. Yes. Mr. Mr. Salamanca. Yes. Mr. Martin. Yes. Mr. Simon. Yes. Who can take number seven? Mr. Mayor. Great. Smith. I move that we receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing for fiscal year 2026 Park View Manor and the West Third Street detention basin contract number 1137. Second. Motion to second. All in favor? I. Opposed. The hearing is now open. Does anyone wish to speak about the detention basins at Park View Manor, which is actually the uh Park View Gardens area as well as the Third Street Detention Basin, West Third Street? Seeing none, Miss Graden Smith. Mr. Mayor. Yes, ma'am.

I move that we close the hearing and receive and file or written comments. Second. Motion to second. All in favor? I opposed. Miss Kraton Smith. Mr. Mayor, I move that we adopt a resolution confirming approval of specifications, bid documents, formal contract, etc. and authorizing them authorizing to proceed. Second. Got a motion second. Council, any questions on this that they want to talk about here? Seeing none, uh, roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Miss Kraton Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. Mr. Simon, yes. Miss Kraton Smith.

Mr. Mayor, I move that we receive, file, and instruct the city clerk to read the biz and refer to city engineer for further review. Second. Motion second. All in favor? I oppose. Miss Felley.

All right. Our engineers's estimate was $1,850,000. Our first bidder was Lodge Construction of Clarksville, Iowa. They provided 5% security. Their bid amount was $1,580,4208. Our second bidder was Peterson Contractors, Inc. of Rhybeck, Iowa. They provided 5% security. Their bid amount was $1,67,197.68. Our third bidder was Perk Tobin of Albernet, Iowa. They provided 5% security. Their bid amount was $1,832,7715. And then our final bidder was Shift General Contracting of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They provided 5% security. Their bid amount was 1,879,698.61.

Thank you, ma'am. And these will be referred to Mr. Mr. Kudson, who would like to take number eight? Mr. Mayor. Uh, Mr. Marl. Yeah, Mr. Mayor. Motion to receive and file proof of publication of notice of public hearing for the levy rip wrap spraying contract number 1150. Second. Motion second. All in favor? I opposed. The hearing is now open. Does anybody wish to speak for or against the levy rip wrap spraying contract? Seeing none. Okay, Mr. Mayor motion to close hearing and receive and file oral and written comments. Second motion to second. All in favor? I opposed. Mr. Marorrow.

Mr. Mayor, resolution confirming approval of plans, specifications, form of contract, etc., and authorizing to proceed. Second. Motion second. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmid, yes. Mr. Marl, yes. Miss Cranton Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. Mr. Simon, yes. Mr. Mr. Mayor, motion to receive, file, and instruct city clerk to read bids. Second motion in a second. Council, any questions on this? Oh, I'm sorry. Please read the bids and what questions. I just I jumped the gun. It's okay. I apologize. Uh, all in favor? I oppose. Thank you, Miss Fel.

We had one bid or excuse me, our engineers estimate, we'll start there, was $59,598. We had one bid. It was from Landmark Turf Services LLC of Dunkerington, Iowa. They provided 5% security. Their bid amount was $57,78. Council, any questions? This this is uh important that we do this every year uh to stay in compliance with the Army Corps of Engineers and uh uh as I said, there were some emails about this too, but it's something we do every year. Mr. Marl.

Okay, Mr. Mayor. Resolution approving award of bid to Landmark Turfist Services LLC of Duncan and Iowa in the amount of $57,078 approving the contract bond and certificate of insurance in conjunction with the levy rip wrap spraying contract number 1150 and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said document. Second motion is second. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Miss Kraton Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salama, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. And Mr. Mr. Simon. Yes. Who would be so kind to take resolutions one, two, and three, please? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Simon,

like to make a motion to pass the following resolutions. Number one is a resolution approving an agreement with Waterlue Waterworks for water main replacements in conjunction with fiscal year 2026 Upton Avenue sanitary and water main extensions contract number 1147 and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said documents. Number two is a resolution approving an agreement with Pro West and Associates in the amount not to exceed $9489 to provide custom programming of the sidewalk inspection software and authorizing the mayor to execute said document. Number three, a resolution approving construction plans for private sanitary sewer serving the Hawkeye Community College Sustainability Center as submitted by Robinson Engineering Company sewage treatment agreement DNR form 29 uh November Z or NOV0000 uh with the Department of Natural Resources and final accept acceptance of construction plans subject to the review and acceptance of the Department of Natural Resources. and authorizing mayor and to execute said documents.

Second. Got a motion in a second. Is there anyone from the public that would like to address items one, two, and three? Seeing none. Council, does anyone here have any questions about one, two, and three? Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt? Yes. Mr. Marorrow? Yes. Miss Kraton Smith? Yes. Miss Barry? Yes. Mr. Salamanca? Yes. Mr. Mr. Martin. Yes. And Mr. Simmon. Yes. Thank you. Would someone please take four, five, and six on resolutions? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Marl.

Number four. Resolution approving a professional service agreement with AECOM of Waterlue, Iowa in the amount of $680,000 in conjunction with the US Highway 63 list station force main and sanitary sewer improvements phase 2 project and authorizing the mayor to execute said document. Number five, resolution approving a professional service agreements with interest of Loyal, Illinois in the amount of $1,810 in conjunction with the fiber backbone project and authorizing the mayor to execute said document. Number six, resolution approving a development and minimum assessment agreement with Advanced Heat Treat Company for the construction of a 18,000 square foot edition with a minimum assessed value of $3,653,260 at 2851 Burton Avenue in the East Water Waterlue Unified TIFF District, including a rebate schedule of year 1 at 65%, year two at 60%, year three through 7 at 50%, and authorized izing the mayor and city clerk to execute said document.

Second. Got a motion to second. Does anyone from the audience wish to speak to items number four, five, and six? Seeing none. Councel quiet council tonight. Roll call vote please. Mr. Schmidt? Yes. Mr. Maro? Yes. Miss Katron Smith? Yes. Miss Barry? Yes. Mr. Salamanca? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. Mr. Simon? Yes. Who on this side of the council would like to take 789? Mr. Mayor, Miss Barry, I'd like

to make adopt a resolution approving a permanent sanitary sewer easement agreement in the amount of $11,846 with Donaldson Company, Inc. successor by merger to EPCI Acquisition Corp. located at 2940 Airport Boulevard in conjunction with the Waterlue Air and Rail Park utility improvements project and authorizing the mayor to execute said documents. um a resolution approving two permanent sanitary sewer easement agreements in the total amount of $19,65 with no steps LLC located at two 2834 West Airline Highway in conjunction with the Waterlue Air and Rail Park utility improvements project and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said documents and a resolution accepting and approving an acquisition contract and a deed to convey con convey I guess real property to the city of Waterlue for a partial rightofway acquisition contract in the amount of $6,723 and a temporary easement agreement in the amount of $1,450 for a total compensation amount of $8,173 with Leman Brothers Prop. Property Management Company LLC for the property located at 1801 through 1807 Leaport Road in conjunction with the Leaport Road phase three reconstruction project and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said documents.

Motion second. Thank you ma'am. Does anyone from the audience wishes wish to address 7 8 and 9? Seeing none council, any questions on seven, eight, and n even better. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Miss Kraton Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca, yes. Mr. Martin, yes. And Mr. Simon, yes. Can I get someone to take 10, 11, and 12, please?

Mr. Martin, please. resolution authorizing sponsorship of a business incentive for growth application with the Iowa Economic Development Authority for advanced heat treat for the sale tax exemption of their new business expansion located at 2851 Burton Avenue and authorizing community planning and development director to execute sale application. Number 11, resolution approving a temporary easement agreement in the amount of $246 with the Elizabeth A. Kurin located at 143532 Ingresaw Road in conjunction with the Kataski Drive Huntington Road reconstruction project and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said document. And number 12, resolution approving an amendment to a temporary easement assessment, excuse me, easement agreement with McDonald's USA LLC located at the adjacent to 222 Logan Avenue and authorizing mayor and city clerk to execute said document.

Second. Miss Wait, Miss Martin, could I get you to read 13 for me, too? I I didn't, but I I'm going to lump them together because I want to do 14 and 15 separate. Okay. Resolution approving an appro accepting and approving an acquisition contract and a deed to convey real property to the city of Wateroo for a partial rightaway acquisition contract in the amount of $4,558 and a temporary easement agreement in the amount of $2597,000 for a total compensation amount of $7,152 with prior enterprise LC for the property located at 1955 Leaport Road in conjunction with the Leaport Road phase 3 reconstruction project and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said documents.

Second. Second. And that was 2594. Okay. Thank you. So, does anybody from the audience wish to speak to 10, 11, 12 or 13? Please come to the podium. State your name and address and you have three minutes.

David Dryer, 3145 West Fourth Street. This would be on uh number 10. Uh on number six, we're already giving them rebate or giving them uh an advantage with the rebates we're going to give them. And then now we're going to give them uh authorizing them to get a sales tax rebate exemption, I'm assuming, on the materials they buy to build the thing. That's like hitting us twice, Mr. Anderson. I don't understand that. Please explain. Well, that's what Mr. Anderson's going to do for us here.

Nel Anderson, community planning development director. Number 10 is actually our support of them for a state incentive. So, this comes out of the state uh incentive programs and the the incentives that were given to them before on the tax rebates is just based on the new valuation for that time period. They they still continue to pay on their old valuation. So, it's just the difference in the new. Is that correct, sir? That is correct. Thank you. Did that answer your question, sir? That's that's state that's a state grant. I don't agree with Yeah. Well, it's also it's still your taxes. Okay. Uh, anyone else wish to speak to that from the audience? Council, any questions on 10 through 13. Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmid, yes.

Mr. Maro, yes. Misston Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca? Yes. Mr. Mr. Martin. Yes. And Mr. Simon. Yes. Thank you. Uh, who would like to take number 14 separately, please? Mr. Schmidt. Item number 14. And I'd like to adopt a resolution approving a development agreement with 5Bs LLC for the construction of a 10,000qt building at 179 West 18th Street and 2014 Blackhawk Street, including a $310,000 acquisition grant and up to $40,000 demolition grant and authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute said documents. Second.

The motion is second. Anyone from the audience wish to speak for or against item number 14, Mr. Delivu, Mayor Bosen, members of the council, Forest Dillu, 1725 Huntington Road on number 14. It appears like we are buying two properties. When we buy properties and we're going to tear them down as well, we are taking away from the general fund because this is in a tiff district. The county will not get their share anymore because it'll all go to the tiff. The schools will not get their share anymore because it goes to the tiff. The general fund will lose any taxes these folks were paying. So, it's another ripoff of people like me that pay taxes on their homes and we are the least able to afford it. I think some reconsideration needs to be done with this. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else from the audience wish to speak for or against this? Mr. Brundret.

My name is John Brundret, 121 Gold Crest Court, Water, Iowa. Uh I represent 5Bs LLC. This is our development agreement. We've done multiple development agreements with the city in the past 10 years. To Mr. Davoo's point real quick, uh within this development agreement, we are doing things differently. This development agreement, our property will pay taxes 100% from day one. Uh the incentives that the city is offering up is in return for no tax abatements whatsoever. So, the property will pay taxes on the day that we acquire this property. We will plan on tearing both uh both properties down. As everybody knows, uh one of the properties had a murder about uh 2014. There was a fire bombing in the other building in 2019. Uh we've invested a lot of money to this neighborhood over the last 10 years and we would like to continue with the city's help. Um but uh I met with Mr. Salomi today, uh Mr. Royal and Mr. Schmidt as well for a few moments. Um my math was off. Uh, this property will pay six times the property val the property taxes that the current properties do and it will pay that within less than one year. Um, it'll pay more than the current property tax rate before the end of this calendar year. Um, as what it currently is assessed and what they're paying. Um, so because we are we do development work, I'm not a landlord. Um, I build and sell. I don't build and hold. So instead of trying to capitalize on the tax abatements that we will never get privy to because we're not going to hold the property, we're trying to capitalize on those the acquisition grant uh throughout the tiff district, which the tiff money is already sitting in the tiff that has to be spent in that district and that's what has to be spent for. So we're just trying to do business a little bit differently um to uh try to help clean up that neighborhood a little bit.

Thank you. Anyone else from the audience wish to speak for against Mr. Dryer? David Dryer, 3145 West Fourth Street. I understand they're paying taxes, but where does that tax go? Is it going into the THA or is it going into the general fund? Mr. Anderson. I appreciate them paying taxes. Don't we all?

N Anderson, community planning and development director. So there is an existing assessed value of about 214,000 on these sites of the two sites together. So again when we establish a tiff district um there is a base value that is set even though these buildings will be acquired and demolished the base value will not change. So there's no impact to what the general fund receives before the tiff was there, what the county receives before the tiff was there, that that number will stay the same. Um the new taxes um that will be paid um for this new project as always um the majority of them will go in the tiff and some of them will go to debt service levy. And can you explain to the audience what the new valuation is going to be on this building estimated valuation.

So this new value this new building will have a new uh minimum assessed value. So it could be higher than this but it is at 850,000. Thank you. Okay. So, if I understand correctly on the base that he said, we still get that as far as the city. That's correct, sir. That's correct. It doesn't go in the tip. That's correct. Thank you. Anybody Anyone else from the audience have any questions? Council, do you have any questions for Noel or Mr. Brett? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Marl,

um, I had a couple of phone calls ahead of tonight's meeting and basically for to represent for these phone calls. Null, could you give a little bit more explanation on the basically the detail on the benefit to the city short and long term? Could I help out please?

Yes. I mean um you know obviously the one of the things I think that's important to note is uh the city of Wateroo has worked hard in the area from about six to uh a little ways past 18th Street um for infill development. With this area being close to Highway 218, we've turned a lot of the dilapidated houses that we've torn down to into small business sites. So, this is kind of an urban industrial park. Obviously, um as noted, um this uh this development agreement would take out two older buildings. A lot of times when you see buildings turning over, a lot of times for businesses, it's because they don't have the correct ceiling heights. They don't have the correct span inside for commercial and industrial buildings. So, we'll be getting a new uh building in there. Um, this will eliminate one of them is looking a little bit on the deteriorating side. Um, the new construction is high visibility. Um, there is over 18,000 cars per day on 18th Street. So, we're looking at the marketing side of it as well. By getting a new business site here, hopefully it'll help for continued infill development in the area. Um, going back to uh the 6 to 18 site, we've actually seen about 5.8 million um dollars worth of infill projects um since about 2007. Um, about 1.7 million of that since 2022. So, we're starting to see an increase in these infill sites. We do believe that there is the potential for probably five to seven new uh smaller industrial uh building sites in the immediate vicinity.

Mr. Salamaka. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Anderson, just for clarification purposes, what is the zoning for that area? It is zoned industrial. Industrial. So, it you couldn't build a house even if you wanted to on that. you could not build a new house um you know for any existing homes down there back when the interest rates first dropped um you know 15 20 years ago we did put in some wording in industrial district that if an existing house were there and it were to burn down they could build it back to help people with their mortgage rates refinancing but they had to do so within I think it was a one or two-year time period um but you can you cannot put new housing into an empty site

and just for clarification purposes again is this development residing within W 5 or is it residing in a separate ward I think it's four. That's a good question. Uh because uh when I look at the ward five map, it appears it's in my ward. So I was having this conversation earlier as to whether or not it is ward five, but I just wanted to receive that clarification for the folks at home. I can uh yeah, I can check in a few minutes here.

And another follow-up question for you, Mr. Anderson. This will be the last one for this one. When it comes to development agreements, how do you decide or how does your team decide what incentives developers get at the front, at the end, in the middle? Um, do you have a metric? Do you have a system? Is there a matrix that if you had a developer from, let's say, another part of the community reach out and was trying to understand how they could get this exact same development agreement. How would you answer that question? We do run a lot of spreadsheets on the the the return on investment to the city of waterlue and what the project means to them. Obviously taxable value is a large one because that's a direct cost paid back to us. There's a lot of indirect costs that we'll see as well with new employees, new business development in the area and you know general just reinvestment back into specifically these older um older neighborhoods. A lot of times you'll see this reinvestment will help others to reinvest in other properties or see overall values go up. So, you know, we're putting together development agreements. We're really looking at what is the increase in uh taxable value, what are the other, you know, objectives out there, and then what is the direct cost to the city. Um then we also work with the finance department to look at, you know, different ways to structure the the payments or, you know, they say grants on there, but it's really a reimbursement um of their cost. They have to go buy it before they can get the funds. They have to demo it before they can get the funds to make sure the the project is moving ahead.

It's my understanding they have 60 days, correct? That is correct. Thank you. And then just just for clarification, it's in W four. Okay. You have a question, sir?

Yes, I did. Mr. Mayor, um I I want to thank both the developer and yourself. And tagging on along with what he said, I think I think this council likes to see uh innovative development agreements with people coming into the city willing to develop um and spend their money as well as the cities to make Waterlue a better place. I don't like the cookie cutter situation where everybody falls under the same thing. I think every every developer that comes in comes in with a different idea and in tackling a different situation within the city. So I appreciate everybody, you know, working together to try to come up with innovative ideas to get developers to come in. So thank you for that.

And John John has been one of our better developers for those innovative infill sites. Uh we did a multi-phased project with him not too long ago. He did all the phases of that. Um I think we brought in like nine different businesses into those different spaces um over the time. So again, it's helping to bring small business to area too. That's Craig Smith. Yes, Mr. Mayor. This area is a very blighted area and it's one that's visible especially to new companies coming in that we hope to come in. So I really appreciate this being taken care of. Thank you so much. Mr. tomorrow. Uh just a clarification column following up on Hector, your development agreements, you don't have cookie cutter. You formulate each one per each situation. Correct. That is correct.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions from council? I will admit that Mr. Bundred has a proven track record in this area and uh correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Anderson, but with the property taxes and the new assessment that this property is going to be paying for, it'll be a 10 or 11 year payback, which is which is in line with what we're looking at to to get this online so we get 100% of the taxes back. That is exactly correct, Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Brundret, for your involvement in that entire area.

Mr. Mayor, I did have one additional question that popped into my mind. When it comes to a city employee, from my understanding, um when it comes to a city employee making a contract or a deal, how does that work? What what do we ensure policies exist to make sure that there isn't any incidences or municipal codes that are violated? There there is different ways that they have to set up the LLC. Um and so we've done past projects knowing he he knew he had to do this. I don't know if they want to comment a little bit different on that, but they had to set up the LLC a different way um to meet state code provisions. Okay. I believe it's 3% ownership. Okay. And no more questions. Roll call vote on number 14, please. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Miss Grayton Smith. Yes. Miss Barry?

Yes. Mr. Salamanca? Yes. Mr. Martin? Yes. Mr. Simon? Yes. Excellent. Thank you. Who would like to take number 50? Mr. Mayor. Mr. Salamanca. Number 15. Resolution approving amendment number three to a professional service agreement with Envision Architecture for an increase of 380,000 for the renovation of 100 East 4th Street for the new Waterl City Hall and authorizing the mayor to execute set document. Second motion a second. Anyone from the audience wish to speak to number 15, please?

The Tanya Graves 607 East Donald Street. So I have several questions. In previous meetings, I heard 18 million thrown out, 30 million thrown out, 4.5 million thrown out. Secondly, some of you are new to the council. Some of you have previously served. So, have you did your due diligence and researching a proposed new build versus a remodel? Since your last discussion on this subject, have you had the opportunity to speak with the architects, the engineers, the designers to get a better understanding of what a new build would cost versus upgrades or a remodel? If you have met with them, were they informed of the specifics the police department would need? If you put a cap on the project cost, will you get everything you need or will you have to come back to the drawing table because you decided to cut cost instead of investing in a sure thing versus a possibility? If you are saving taxpayers money by remodeling, then make a decision to do that. If you are saving taxpayers money by building new, make a decision to do that. I get texts and calls about how the city council just goes over everything and it's like why are they doing that? Anyways, I'm not even going to go there. But again, move forward. If it's going to cost us money to build new versus remodeling, in my head, I would do the thing to save us money. Thank you.

Thank Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else from the audience wish to speak for or against item number 15? Mr. Dryer, you can keep working your way up here.

Um, Beverly Beverly Cosby 315 Window Court. I come to say uh as as um to back up uh what our my sister just said in regards to the different discussions that you all have had. But I want you to know that 620 Malberry Street is a fire hazard waiting to happen. And I reason I say that because I worked over there for 15 years. And I know I'm not talking about something that I'm just speculating on. I'm talking about something that I I sat there and had to deal with day after day after day. The building is that it's in is must be close to 120 years old. Okay. And when they moved people in there, there was only limitations as to how they could upgrade it as far as electrical is was uh designed and the um heating and air conditioning. What makes you think that it's it's a safe building if you can't even regulate your own heat?

I sat in the office on the left hand if you walk in that building on the left hand side towards the back. Everybody in that office has one outlet. All those offices have one outlet with a uh connection with four or five um whatever you call those extra things that you power strips. power strips that you have to plug into that. That is a fire hazard. You can't be warm in the winter because the heat doesn't work over there.

I'm just saying I've sat and listened to the different discussions that you had. Everybody in this room has done have done renovations to a project. You know that you will go in and you'll get an estimate and the estimate will come back to one thing. the the contractor will go in and do something and he'll come back and say, "Miss Cosby, I'm sorry. This is something that I hadn't anticipated running into, we're gonna have to make an adjustment. If I want that that uh renovation done, I'm going to make those adjustment adjustments." But basically, what I'm saying to you is you need to move those people out of that building because the building is really not safe. And I'm not the only one that has sat there in that building. There are other people in this room, in this city that have sat there and know that that building is not a safe place to be.

Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else from the audience? Mr. Dryer, as you're making your way up,

David Dryer, 3145 West 4 Street. Uh how much to date have we had in engineering fees and uh we aren't even starting any construction. Uh I'd like to know the total cost up to date. Uh and how much is this whole thing going to cost us? I get the impression from previous council meetings that we're stuck with this to go into that new building. How many years from now? It just seems like it's just dragging on and dragging on and dragging on. More engineering fees fe fees. It looks like there's no end in sight. Uh I would think that and there's a property just north of this building on the other side of the street that I see activity there and then I see nothing for a long time. nice activity and nothing that we could possibly have purchased, built a new building and already been in it. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else from the audience wish to speak for or against this item? Mr. Anderson. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Wondering uh just a quick one. Name and address, please. Aaron Stacy Roberts 411 almond. With the new building, you had said before that the owner, well, who you purchased it from, who the city purchased it from, is it September we'll start paying $25,000 a month to be here? No, sir. When when will that start?

September 1st. We we have a lease agreement with Mr. Rodney Blackwell up to a specific amount and we are working with going to be working with Mr. Blackwell to set that number considerably lower. So, was it ever said that that you were going to pay the 25,000 a month to be not 25,000? No, not there was a number not to exceed $20,000. Oh, so that's where the 20 came in. Not to not to exceed. Okay. What would be the lowest you would expect us? I have no idea until we talked to Mr. Blackwell. Mr. Anderson, can you address Miss Graves questions or Mr. Delvoo? Do you have questions? Yes, sir. Or statements or both?

I don't know what it is. I'll just spit it out and you can chew it up. Okay.

Forest Dillu, 1725 Huntington Road. My problem, we hired Envision Architects to look at this building, see if we could make it work for our city hall. Don't know what we pay them. It doesn't make any difference. They obviously said we could. And now we're finding out that without major reconstruction, we cannot do that. So, we are going to reward them with additional money to do what I think they should have done the first time they were there. They knew a police department was going in there and they knew should know if they're architects what it takes for a police department. So, it's a big hangup. It's a waste of tax dollars. I realize that you folks are stuck with a decision made by the previous mayor and some of the previous council. I I don't know what we're going to do, but it seems like we need a new or someone different other than the architect that did it before.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anyone else from the audience wish to speak for or against this item? Seeing Mr. Anderson, we'll go through uh Miss Graves questions here. She asked you about building uh the difference between building new and remodeling. Correct, ma'am?

Thank you. N Anderson, community planning development director. And the the architects are here, so they can definitely get into a little bit more details on some of that. Uh some of this starts with the 2019 building audit that the city of Waterlue um hired ISG architects to look at. Um they uh audited all the city buildings. Uh city hall um had construction estimates for repairs at 8.133 million. These are 2019 numbers. and the Carnegie annex library and annex building had estimated repairs at 1.36 million. Uh so the total for both buildings at 9.49 million. Um for comparison that's probably about 13.7 to 14.7 million in 2026 costs. So uh looking at that um you know we did look at new construction on this site. It would have been in the parking lot to the rear, then demolishing this building in the end for the parking lot um to be replaced there. Of course, there would have been a lot of logisticals about where we're operating during some of that um construction time periods. Um so that was the first part of I I think the architects would probably tell you that new construction's probably about double as the rehab uh numbers that we're estimating at at about $3 a square foot. New construction is probably at about $6 a square foot. U they gave me a lot larger number than that but go ahead.

Um like moving ahead um so you know we started to look at our options for uh uh replacement of uh the spaces um that building became available. Um there was an occupant in there uh Mercy one was occupying some spaces in there mainly for some uh storage and and a couple of employees. Um, so it was very usable space. So we moved ahead to to look at uh seeing if that space would work. That total square footage over there I think is about 52,000. I think the total square footage between the two buildings with this and the Carnegie Library are about 54,000. So very comparable. Um, and obviously looking at uh programming the space specific two departments, there might be a lot of uh space savings from current layouts. Second one was did the council have the ample opportunity to speak with they with Envision?

And again the architects are here if they want to touch upon this. I can go through the timeline for um Envision was basically uh asked to do a test foot test fit um basically to see if these city departments would would would fit in there. But I think the question sir was did this council have ample opportunity to address? All the council members have met with Envision um in the time frame now. Yes. Okay. Does it meet the needs of the police department? I believe it does. Yes. He's not, you know, not saying no. It meets most of the needs.

It meets the needs of the police department. We will also be looking at uh uh the uh East 7th Street uh building for the lab space um to to relocate them over there. Has there been a cap on the project cost? Correct, ma'am? Okay. I think the original uh costs um came in um at about 6.5 to 8 million um and before and now we are looking at um depending upon what numbers you are looking at in there um between 14 and 15 million.

There's there's probably well there's probably some there's some value engineering exercises doing being done in there for some different layouts and all that. So, the construction is probably between 11.1 to 14.1. 14. Okay. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Dryer had a question on engineering fees to date. I believe the first um, correct me if I'm wrong. I believe the first contract was about 430,000 um, for design work. Then there was some structural engineering in there for close to 18,000 where we had a structural engineer come in and look at it. So, um, and then there's work going on that or needs to go on. We have our project manager here. Please state your name and and and address.

My name is Kate Payne. I'm with Envision Architecture. I don't live in Waterl. You can give Envision's address. Okay. Tech Works. Tech Works. I don't even know the address. Third floor. Westfield. Whatever. Third or fourth. Go ahead.

Um to address the fees question. When we originally built our fee, we were at a certain percentage that was based on the scope of work that was originally defined. When the scope of work changed as we worked with the representatives of the city, um we revised the fee, which is the amendment that you have in front of you, and that percentage actually went down. What commonly happens with our fee that includes engineering services um our fee typically is less as a percentage as the project costs go up. So that's what happened here.

Very good. Council, did you have any questions? Please, Mr. I had an opportunity to meet with Envision. I had an opportunity to walk through the new courier building and I'm satisfied. I'll let you all know that upfront because this building the police got an OSHA violation because we need they can't fit through their doors. Like Miss Beverly said, the Carnegie building over there is bad. I worked there for three years, so I know things need to change. I I apologize. I I I we had one more public comment. So, but thank you for your comments, Mr. Nathan.

Wayne Nathan 548 Cloverdale Water. Um, you got to remember an architect does not make any money unless he makes strong recommendations that you do this and you do that. That's how he makes his money. I see no reason this building is not adequate. We have not had an influx of a lot of people hiring of people and stuff like this. Uh, again, uh, our detect will tell you that you need this and you need that just so he can make some money. Right. Thank you, sir. Before we go to any more to the council, is there anyone else out in the audience that wants to speak for or against this? Sena, do you have another comment, sir?

I would also like to make the comment that if we move two buildings into one building, that saves us on utilities and saves us on maintenance and upkeep and everything else. But we're moving to one building, one building with a building that we already we already have. We own that building. We own that building. So, we're moving into one new building. All right. So, we're we're it's council comments now, but thank you.

So, it's a it's feasible under the understanding that we have to move because we've already signed an agreement with Mr. Blackwell or whoever he owns the building. So, we have to make this agreement work. Thank you. Other council members, Mr. Salamanca, I'll let you go first, Mr. Craden Smith.

Okay. Thank you so much. Um, most definitely we have to move forward so that we can continue to work on this. Um, a lot of this we've we've kind of looked at, dug it up, kept kept looking at it over and over again. I think expecting different results. We know that it's something that we have to do. the uh envision has been very diligent and um um succinct in sharing with us the information that we need to make an informed decision. I really appreciate uh that they were given an an assignment initial assignment and they did it. as others came in from the city and made some uh requests because they needed office space and walls built in areas for confidentiality. The price went up which is to be expected. So we we have to move forward with this now and not continue to drag our feet on it. Um and it is my understanding now that the lab will be shared by who?

The lab by by the county water police and county

water police and county. So, we have to have that. That's a that's a wonderful partnership um that helps us with this project of talking with Greg and all of the other folks. We're making the best decision to move forward and and start uh building Waterloo, flying the W and building a city hall that we're not ashamed of, of others seeing uh with the not to mention the astas and I don't want to talk about that, but anyway, and all of the other issues that um exist in this building. We just have to move forward and we don't have a choice. And I'm okay with the choice because I agree with moving forward and with the plan that was put before us and I understand the adaptations that have been made as a result of the additional requirements that were needed for the building.

Thank you ma'am. Mr. Salamanca.

Mr. Mayor, I want to start off by reading our municipal code 1-81-1 deeds and contracts. Paragraph B, execution of contracts. All contracts entered into by the city, except such as may be entered into by ordinance, shall be in writing, delivered to the city clerk, approved by the city council and executed by the mayor in his official capacity as directed by the city council. City council approval of a contract or agreement shall be endorsed on the contract or agreement by the city clerk and attested by the city clerk's signature. Contracts or agreements entered into by the city may be executed with an electronic signature in accordance with section 1-8-6 of this code in Iowa code chapter 554 uh D. Section two, the city shall not be bound by or be liable upon any contract or agreement except such as shall be entered into and executed in accordance with the provisions of subsection B1 of the section revision order 1127 comp 1941 PED-3 AMD order 55576-16 6-1-2020 and in addition I want to read Iowa code 364.2 two paragraph parenthesis one explicitly states that the power of a city is vested in the city council except as provided by state law. Now some of you might be wondering why I'm reading city code and state code. It's my understanding that envision started work prior to council approval and I've been trying to understand how that occurs when my understanding is that work cannot start prior to council's approval. So whether or not Envision started is what's on my mind because it's a governance issue. Now, if I could have somebody take to the mic and explain to me, can staff confirm whether any written authorization exists directing invision to proceed with work prior to council approval of amendment number three? May I have city staff or Envision themselves present themselves forward? because this is something that I've had

questions about. The timeline's been real wonky and I've been trying to do my due diligence as a city councilman to understand how we got to this point where there is no written authorization from a governance standpoint in regards to this because we're being asked, if I'm correct me if I'm wrong, we were asked at the beginning of March to vote on this prior to having conversations. If it weren't for two councilmen who were advocating to table the motion, this would have passed. So I'm asking again, can we have someone speak to this question so we can understand as a city and as a population how we got to this point? Mr. Alhelm is in the audience and he's one of the project managers on this. Can you speak to this?

Mr. Alham represents the city on part of this project manager. You're one of the names of I guess I'm not aware of the fact that they had done work prior to having approval. I don't know if Kate has a timeline, but

we sub we had an original agreement with the city which we write a proposal we send it to Greg and to null it gets there's conversation that happens and somebody tells us yes proceed whether we we don't watch whether or not it goes through city council um I don't we don't we just wait for somebody to tell us it's time to proceed. So with our original agreement, that's what happened. That's what we did. We submitted this current amendment that's in front of you back in I want to say November,

November 18th. Um, and we based it on the revised budget that was put in front of everyone and we put that amendment or out in front of you and we've been asking for it to be signed and returned for us, but we've also been asking should we continue to do work. So if those things conflict, um, yes, they could, but we were given the authority to continue to do work, which is what we did.

And Mr. Mayor, I have additional question. So based off of that statement, if no written authorization exists, can staff clarify under what authority work would have proceeded? Now, both of you mentioned in our meetings where Mr. Councilman Martin and Councilman Schmidt were in attendance that verbal approval was given by a mayor. Can you speak to that? If if the ultimate approval is council, how can a mayor give approval? I don't I can't answer that. I can you clarify which mayor spoke to that and gave verbal approval? But the stop

um well since we issued the amendment in November, it would have been Mayor Hart. And yes, Mayor Hart continued to give us direction to go forward. But we also had a similar conversation with Mayor Boosezen in December. the December we had a we had an an introductory to the project. We had a conversation on alternates in January. We talked about the scope of work. We brought you up to speed. We told you what the budget was. But you were authorized to do this prior to me being sworn in. Yes. By the previous mayor. Correct. We were told to proceed.

Okay. Now, my final question is, given the lack of documentation, how does staff recommend council to proceed in making a fully informed decision on this amendment tonight? Because it sounds like there's been a lot of miscommunication. There's been a lot of things falling through the cracks. It sounds like there's been potential unsurity, uncertainty of can a mayor give authorization, can he act outside of that? From my understanding, it does not sound like it. Iowa code's pretty clear. Municipal code's pretty clear. So from a staff perspective, from city of Wateroo staff, how can you and what do you recommend us to do? Because the recommendation that I see in our uh packet is to approve this and to move it forward. But in light of the research that has gone into this, I'm curious to know what city staff recommends council do.

That's not me. That's you. Nol Anderson, community planning development director. So I think one of the principles um when we were talking about the earlier project about being innovative and moving things ahead um one of the things that's always the goal is to move the project ahead. Um you know in this case where you know they may have started to continue to uh do additional design work prior to council approval. if they would not have started to do that design work, we'd still be here in the same spot needing them to do more design work to finish the project. So, you know, presentation to the mayor, both either one, whichever would have been on the goal of continuing the project forward for the good of the city of Wateroo since we have already done the land uh swaps and all that and continuing the project forward.

So, we're recommending approval knowing that we need more design work to get to the end goal of the project.

Now, Mr. Anderson, I had a question for one last question. Sorry, Councilwoman Crane Smith. One last question for you. Is do you understand the governance dilemma that I'm referencing by citing this? Certainly. Can I I I want to build on something Null said, which is that when we issued that amendment, we had already started design work because you we were responding to what the city asked us to do. At that point where we issued the amendment, we had already been directed through various conversations to a project that cost what made us change the amendment, right? Which was telling us that this project is going to cost more and our fees are based on construction costs. So, it was work that already happened, right? The design grew and um expanded to a larger budget. So I don't think that it's the logic path is quite what you're describing in that the design work was set before that amendment was written to increase our fee.

Thank you. I believe the design work was addressed in your October minutes when you had that could be I can't item 2B in the October minutes. Sure. I don't I don't have them committed to memory but so mayor. Are you done sir? Yes. Mr. Kraton Smith. Mr. Mayor, so what we're talking and Mr. Anderson, if you could help me out, Mr. If he could help. So, Mr. Mayor, it sounds like what we're talking about are designs, right? So, we're talking about designs. Um, we're not talking about anything that a contract that uh makes it difficult for us to get out of anything. We're talking about designs. Is that correct?

Yeah. Yeah, the the the action that you're being asked to approve is to basically finish the design so that we can put together bid documents and go out to bid for the project. Um then the uh the council would then have to approve uh funding for the project. Thank you, sir. Mr. Simon, are you done, ma'am? Yes, sir. Okay. I didn't I didn't mean to cut you off, Mr. Simon. Okay.

Okay. So to put to put this into perspective for me, we are only we're not voting today on whether or not we are moving into the new city hall. I think that's already been established. So we can put that to sleep for everybody that's wondering. That's going to happen. I think from way I understand it. And I could be wrong. The the thing that I'm struggling with in this whole situation is like Mr. Salamanca referred to was the architecture firm going forward without getting council approval. And if that's the case, then I just think that that that needs to be at least acknowledged. If not, you know, I don't know how you address it, but it has to be at least acknowledged. And so I I just want to be clear that I think we're going forward with the with the city hall. The problem I have is how we got to this point of obviously a step being missed somewhere along the line. And I've said from day one when I've I've talked to several council people up here, I'm in favor of this if we all agree. If it's 70, I want to move forward as a council with all of us being in agreement because I think this is a big step like like Mr. Martin said, you know, we need to get into a better building than what we are. I get that. So, I would like to find a way to consolidate all of us so we have an agreement going forward that we all are unified going forward. So, my only question I had on this resolution that we are approving is how we got to this point without it getting um city council approval. And I haven't and I've asked this for two weeks. I've I've talked to different people. Nobody can tell me how we got to this point

without, you know, how did we get to this point where this was work that's if I may ask, is this work already been done? The bulk of it has been well to be fair the fee amendment is cons is includes work from schematic design all the way through construction. So we have not done our portion of that fee includes construction. And then when you presented this to null on November 18th

was that work already started completed or just getting started or has it been finished already? We were probably 50% through the construction drawings through art the design side. So if that's the case, you had already started work without prior approval. We had prior appro. We had an original contract on on what was supposed to go into that building, not what was changed. Correct. The different requests that were made after that. We had an agreement based on the the original test fit cost assumptions

and then you got some more information from department heads and so on and different things and then the scope grew then the scope grew and at that point is it not the envisions architectures company firm to get the proper approval to go forward after they've got we asked at every meeting that we had with the city should we continue to work and here's the amendment okay and and so am I to believe that I know I mean you're asking me to I'm asking you as the architect, do you are you familiar with the code that Mr. Salomando read? No, I don't read the city ordinance and it's never been my response. I've never gotten a letter from the city council saying it's been approved.

But you do, your company does a lot of work within municipalities. Correct. That's true. And we usually get a letter from the project representative with whom we're working. And that is that always include council approval or is it just sometimes department head approval? Is it I mean it varies from organization to organization. Usually like when we work with waterless schools we get an approval usually from either the superintendent or from the facilities director. We don't get it directly from the board. And so do you so you've worked with water in the past correct? The city of water. Yes. Yes. Have you ever done anything without city council approval? I I don't know. We work with a project manager who gives us an email or a letter that says you're authorized to proceed.

Okay. So, you don't you don't know. Like I said, you're clarifying that you do not you're not familiar with the city council meeting. You're not familiar with that code. You're not familiar with that code. We wait for a letter. Okay. That's it. That's all I'm asking because I like I said, I I understand what you did. You went ahead and did what you thought you were supposed to do and I I totally respect that and I think that's fine. But I'm still looking for where did this get screwed up so it doesn't happen again. That's the only thing I'm looking to do. And somebody needs to say, "Okay, we missed this and admit that we missed it and move forward." That's all I'm looking for. And I have not heard that yet. So that's all I have. Thank you.

I'm going to ask uh Mr. Peterson to come up and just uh kind of give us he's he's researched this quite a bit. Give us his thoughts on this. Martin Peterson Legal Department. The main agreement was signed January 20th thereabouts 2025 at estimated construction costs at $5.5 million with the June 2025 construction commencement date. Section 1.2 two of the contract states in pertinent pertinent part. Both parties however recognize that the initial information may material change and in that event the owner and the architect shall appropriately adjust the architect services schedule for the architect services and the architect's compensation. Miss Payne is absolutely right that um paragraph 5.3 states the owner shall identify a representative authorized to act on the owner's behalf with respect to the project. The owner shall render decisions and approve the architect submittals in a timely manner in order to avoid unreasonable delay in orderly and sequential progress of the architect services. So the agreement contemplates representative from the city is going to make communication about changes and how things move forward. Section 4.2 indicates that the architect may provide additional services after execution of the agreement without invalidating the agreement. Section 4.2.1 says, "Upon recognizing the need to perform the following additional services, the arch architect shall notify the owner with reasonable promptness and explain the facts and circumstances giving rise to the need. The architect the architect shall not proceed to provide the following additional services until the architect receives a written authorization. The pertinent one is 4.2.1 2.1.1 and that is services necessitated by a change in the initial information previous instructions or approvals given by the owner or a material change in the project including size, quality, complexity, the owner's schedule or budget for the cost of the work or

procurement or delivery method. Um and then paragraph 11.3 talks about if additional services are um required that the owner shall compensate the architect as follows to be negotiated when service is requested fee will be hourly not to exceed or lump sum amount depending on the scope of the added work. That is what the contact says. I cannot comment about how things were negotiated or how they transpired factually because I wasn't involved with that. We clearly have a problem in that an issue exists with regard to the timing of all of this. The architectural firm presented the amendment in November of last year. So that really comments

complicates um the facts and um that's what I can report. So while you're there, if I may. So what you just read there, you said that there's supposed to be written whatever paragraph it was, and I apologize a lot of what you said. I want you to kind of dumb that down for me if you may. In the way you read that, does it say anywhere in there that it needs to be written?

Yes, in 4.2.1 it says written, but you know, there's all manner of legal theories regarding waiver of notice and a court and satisfaction. There are numerous theories in contract law that would directly address this issue. Clearly, the firm was directed to move forward. Um and so so in that and when you read that you said that who who's who's the decision making person or people in that when you read that you said somebody can the owner shall when you say the owner is that are you speaking the city of water is the owner? Yes sir. Okay. Thank you.

Paragraph 5.3 in and this indicates the owner shall identify a representative authorized to act on the owner's behalf with respect to the project. Now as it relates to this this this owner the owner happens to be an Iowa municipality which is bound by procedures and laws as outlined by u Mr. Salamanga um and so that complicates things further but clearly the contact um is the decision maker u for the city is known as the representative authorized representative authorized representative and that that was in the contract named to be Mr. for all helm. He is the city's representative.

So would it be fair to say that that that person that makes the decision would fall back to the municipal code and the municipal code the person that makes the decision is the council. The the ultimate decider of amending the contract is the city council. Thank you. Any other questions? Mr. Right. I just want to mention quickly and I don't want to change the subject whatsoever, but then let's not

a month well but I just to you know I guess go along with Councilman Roya. Um a month six weeks ago we discovered Waterl Fiber had work done before it had ever been approved. We're getting build for it and work's already been done and this council voted to approve that even though that was not following the rules. And so I want to give the chairman of the Waterl Fiber a pat on the back because he went to those providers pointed out to them they had not followed the rules and they reciprocated. I I want to say it was either 10 or 20% of what the bill was. So um still weren't following the rules but at least ways there was a consideration there. And I think this is similar to that. And I'm sorry that Envision is being drugged into this, but it just it seems to me from a distance and half the council here wasn't around when this whole process started. It just seems like this thing was not thought out big picture long-term. We just continue, as some of the audience has mentioned, we continue to have more surprises that somebody should have recognized ahead of time. And I don't know if it was envisioned. I don't know if it was our staff. I don't know who it was, but it should have been done. And I feel like again back in my previous tenure, there was a councilman that said, "Well, a bad deal is better than no deal at all." I don't tend to agree with that. And I think this is a deal that was not thought out big picture long term. And I think it's just going to get worse. The building right next to the courier is a 50 or 60 year old uh parking ramp that's going to have to come down. I don't know how we're going to deal with that. And I'm not saying that we completely bail on the courier, which I know I'm told we can't, but I'm pretty sure you can do whatever you want to do depending on who your negotiator is. But I'm not saying that's the answer. I'm just saying, "Yeah, but now

the police department's moving over on Seventh Street, and there's some other people moving someplace else." And some of us have gotten emails from current or previous city employees with the suggestions they had two or three years ago about looking at some other alternatives that apparently nobody ever talked about because as I brought those up to current staff, they're telling me they've never heard them. I just I don't think this has been well thought out at all. Thank you. Anyone else,

Mr. mayor. Um it was well thought out. The tests fit said that see what how we could fit in this building. That is what they did. Then after other issues were brought out as far as offices and etc. We were asked to get more information to find out how that would fit how that what that would cost. we were given information and it was thought out. I think um uh there's some other underlying things happening here um that um is tested, you know, and and um u covert in its in its in its manifestation. But the reality is we have what we need. We had what we need to make the decision. Uh Greg has done what he needs to do. I'm sorry that Envision has been um badgered even. I apologize for you being badgered even to have to answer questions that hadn't that should not have been directed to you to begin with. Um so now we just need to move forward. The police is only thing going in the other building is the lab where the police and the sheriff the county is sharing which was something we're going to have to do anyway. So we just need to move forward and stop digging and digging for crap that's holding up the process for the city of Wateroo to move forward. I'm concerned that if we do this with every innovation and every I a wonderful plan that comes forward that will attract people to this city and present the city in a positive light will never move forward until the next you know time that we can re-evaluate some things with different people.

All right. So what I what I'm most disappointed in this what's going on today is that on the October meeting the previous mayor gave permission to move forward in good faith in vision sent the document over dated November 18th with those changes. There were three council meetings between November 18th and January 1st to put that on the agenda and deal with it. why it wasn't put on the agenda, whether it was there was a runoff election going on or whatever else was going on that kept that from being put on the agenda. It's not Envision's fault that it wasn't put on the agenda. Shame on us because this would have been decided last year. Okay. So, uh I I personally think we owe Envision the money. Uh but it's up to this council to decide the direction they want to go.

Roll call vote, please, on item number 15. Mr. Schmidt. No. Mr. Marorrow, no. Miss Kraton Smith, yes. Miss Barry, yes. Yes. Mr. Salamanca, no. Mr. Martin, yes. And Mr. Simon, no. Motion fails. We'll go back to the drawing board, ma'am, and figure this out. I apologize. Ordinance number one. Who wants to take that, please?

Mr. Mayor, I move to receive file and consider and pass for the second time an ordinance amending ordinance number 5079 as amended city of Waterlue zoning ordinance by amending the official zoning map referred to in section 10-4-4 by approving a request by CNS properties to reszone approximately 0.49 49 acres from R4 Multiple Residence District to C2 Commercial District located at 911 South Street and 519 West 7th Street.

Second motion and a second on the floor. Anyone from the audience wish to talk about this uh resoning for CNS properties? Seeing none council, anybody want to talk about that? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Schmidt. No, I assume we've done all the notification of all the neighbors with all the residents around this area. No Anderson, community planning development director. Yes, we have a required notifications by state code for the planning commission meeting and those are all sent and the property is bare ground today. That is correct. Thank you. So, there's a a motion and a second on the on the table here. Uh roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Maro, yes.

Miss Smith, no. Miss Barry, yes. Mr. Salamanca, no. Mr. Martin, yes. And Mr. Simon, yes. That pass. Okay, the motion passed. Mr. Smith, Mr. Mayor, move to a motion to suspend the rules. Second. Motion a second to suspend the rules. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Schmidt, yes. Mr. Marl, yes. Miss Kraton Smith, no. Miss Barry, yes.

Mr. Salamanca, no. Mr. Martin, yes. And Mr. Simon, yes. That fails, we will be back in two weeks for the third reading. Now, it's time for public comments. Anybody wish to um address the council on non-aggenda items? Please approach the podium, state your name and your address and you have three minutes. Thank you.

Good evening, council and mayor. Um I am here my name is Lori Eberhard and I have the privilege of serving as a promotions council chairperson for Main Street Waterlue at 512 Malbury Street. April is National Volunteer Appreciation Month, which makes this perfect time to recognize and celebrate the incredible people who give their time, energy, and passion to downtown Waterlue. Main Street Waterlue is a volunteer-driven organization. Everything we do, every event, every improvement, and every moment that brings people downtown is made possible because of these volunteers. They are not just supporters of the work. They are the reason the work happens. Our volunteers show up in so many ways. They help plan events, greet attendees, sell tickets, hang signage, share ideas, and serve on committees that guide the direction of our organization. They bring creativity, energy, and a sense of ownership that simply cannot be replicated. And while the impact of volunteers can certainly be measured in hours and dollars, the real value goes to goes far beyond that. Volunteers help create the experiences people remember. They build a downtown that feels welcoming, vibrant, and full of life. Most importantly, volunteering is not just about giving back. It is about connection. It is where strangers become familiar faces and familiar faces become friends. It is where relationships are built, both personal and professional, and where people find a sense of belonging within their community. Volunteering is also an opportunity for growth. It has a chance to develop new skills, step into leadership roles, and gain hands-on experience in event planning. marketing and community development. It gives people an a voice and a seat at the table, allowing them to directly influence the future of downtown Waterlue in meaningful ways. There is something powerful about being part of something bigger than yourself. When you volunteer, you are not just helping with a single event or task. You are helping shape the story of our downtown. You're contributing to the momentum, the pride,

and the progress we are building together. To every person who has volunteered in Main Street Waterlue, thank you. Your time matters, your energy matters, and your impact seen and felt throughout the entire community. If you are interested in getting in volunteer getting involved, we would love to have you join us. You can find volunteer opportunities on our website, through our social media channels, and by reaching out to our office. No matter what your schedule or interest, there is a place for you here. As we celebrate National Volunteer Appreciation Month, we are reminded that our success is built on the generosity and dedication of people who care deeply about this community. Volunteers are not just important to our work. They are essential to it. Thank you for all that you do to make downtown Waterlue a place where to for people to call their own.

Thank you. Anyone else like to address the council on non-aggenda related items? Renee Carson, 11:08 Vine Street. And my comment is I want to see this city move forward. This supposed to be one city. Let's act like it's one city. Let's cut this fingerpointing out and move this city forward. Things were already put in place. You seem like you're trying to tear everything down that was formal. Cut this mess out. Let's get on with the city business. Push this city forward. It's time out for all this mess. We've got to move this city forward to stay up with whatever going on around here. Everybody want people to come to Wateroo. How can you get them coming? Every time you we you know you want to do something, it's always nitpicking. Stop all this nitpicking. Get the city business. This is one city. We may be divided up into wars, but it's one city.

It ain't one ward that's going to make the city go. It's all of us. We need all of us. Everybody stop the finger pointing and get on about city business. move this city forward. Thank you, ma'am.

Out of respect for the speakers, let's let's let's kind of hold it down in the audience and let the so everyone can hear the speaker. Who's next? We free my people. Um, good evening. My name is Odell Salis and today I'm here as a managing member of Delaton Asset Acquisition 1542 Fleming Drive, Water. At your March 2nd um meeting, this council set a May 4th public hearing on uh the amendment of the downtown Waterlue uh riverfront urban renewal and development plan. Is that correct? Well, we can get that answer at another moment. Um, but I'm here tonight uh in advance of of that hearing to formally put Delaton Asset Acquisition LLC on record. Delaton is a blackowned women partner development company based here in Waterloo. We have active development proposals for the downtown riverfront quarter with fully drafted development agreement ready for this council's consideration. I am formally requesting that our projects be included in the amended urban renewal in in in the urban renewal plan. Uh that uh and that Delatan have access to the same tiff financing and development incentives and opportunities that have been extended to other developers in this quarter. Uh I am also asking the council when it considers the amended plans project budget to ensure the minority and womenowned development

companies receive equal document access to those benefits. Waterloo's 2030 vision is built on equity. The urban renewal plan amendment is where and the commitment either shows up in that budget or doesn't. Um, I will be present at the May 4th uh hearing with full written comment and uh documentation and uh beforehand I'm asking the council for their support because I feel um as a business owner we also should have the ability to be uh considered for those millions of funds that come in here federally. So, uh, please make that available to us and, uh, when that does come, my information is on record and, uh, thank you very much for your time and thank you for your support.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else in the audience wish to speak to any non-aggenda related items?

My name is Cassander Kraton. I live on the east side in Water, Iowa. Do you have an address?

I don't want to give my address because of my safety and I think that's just something that needs to be addressed by the city council also. We live in a very dangerous world right now. So I live in Waterl, Iowa on the east side and that's all I can give you at this moment. My name is Katana Kraton. On March 2nd, 2026, following the correction of an improper motion, a council person made remarks directed at a longstanding community activist that is also a professional, a pastor about accountability and the oath council member swore to keep. This was while the council person still had the right to speak. Robert's rule of order. The parliamentary authority governing this council explicitly states personal remarks are always always out of order. All remarks must be addressed to the chair, not to a named colleague. The council member has served since 2023 and was elected with 74% of the vote in a special election. Again, the council person that was disrespected is a lifelong Waterlue residence, a pastor, a University of Northern Iowa professor and activist who resides on the northeast side of our town. I am on record today stating that what happened in the city council chamber that I watched was a violation of the rules that govern this chamber. A disrespect toward a colleague with a deeper mandate than one's own and an act

that I will not forget. nor will the community that stands behind Ward 4. With 61 days in office, uncontested and less than one in eight turned out to vote using the floor to publicly target a co-consil person is truly truly disrespectful and I will not forget it and I don't think War will either. Thank you. Thank you ma'am. Anyone else wish to speak on non-aggenda related items? Mr. Roberts,

Stacy Roberts, 411 Almond Street. And I see that just from listening to the meeting, the whole meeting, and I'm glad that it really changed to the end because then I can see what is on the council members hurts, what's on the agenda. And the problem I have is that I've been coming here for years with my concerns. and you have put more time in the last two years on farmraised chickens than you have my concerns. And one said that your vote was a shame. What's a shame is that this is going on and it targeted African-Americans even though they were able to brainwash, manipulate, conspire with, pay black folks to gaslight me and my children for one of the most corrupt organizations that is going on and that's right here in War Iowa and where it affected our schools. I didn't know the difference until I was watching when you were talking about as central and how the city is paying 60% for the road and the school 40%. I wasn't understanding that. I was thinking that was all one uh collusion.

So sir, that's an agenda item. We can't discuss that.

I'm not I'm taking it to this right here. I learned from that that when I was thinking it was one form of money coming after me and my children, it wasn't. It was the Waterlue schools who has their own money that comes in as well as the city of Waterlue. I was thinking water school and city employees was the same. So, as I've named off people with the city of Waterlue, it's the same thing with our school system and what took place. Not only was my children affected, they were in De Moine schools, and I'll be back down there to speak on that with this uh Hoover High School in North, but what happened in Waterlue High School was the same thing. You had children living under Stockholm syndrome because of rumors, threats, and intimidation. And part of what happened to my daughter in case 9914612, the black community knew about it as much as they ignored it then. and with their ignorant selves ignoring it now when in fact their very own children have been affected in and out of drugs in and out the penitentiary and all of it was behind at one time in the school system they was encouraging children to do wrong. So when they got in the dope game and then when you get there the same one that's in there some police officers was bringing them the dope then busting them and then busting their friends just to build a bigger machine. And what I'm saying is not a speculation. It's a truth. Those were boys and little girls. Now they're men and women with children and they're seeing how their lives was adversely affected in the Waterlue school system. And now that's a shame.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else wish to speak to the council on non-aggenda related related items?

Good evening, everyone. I'm coming in concern for me and my community. I'm Marlon Fagan, 1146 Hackerman. Uh, I would like to get some uh resolution about the cleanliness we talk about bringing in and doing with the city. I've been fighting with issues and stuff and I have contacted you council person, but I really like to say is there any way that there can be a working of seeing code enforcement be valuable to equalize over the city? and I work in the community of different wards and I know a various of people but I am just a little bit frustrated about how I always have to go and fuss about I've been a taxpayer since I've been 25 years old with ownership of home and I'm frustrated with all time I get picked on with little things I do but now I find my community is going down and I'm sick of it. I'm just sick of it. I don't feel like code enforcement is doing their job getting around. I have a number of things that I won't bring up here. I've already had the councilman bear. I talked to her, but I wanted to come and address it myself. It's late for me. I work long time, but I sit here to go through all this to just bring it to you. I will see. But maybe this way all of you now are hearing me for myself. They can check in the records, check my taxes. They paid. They did. But I need some help. We're cleaning up. If we want to advance everything, like we're saying, I want one city. I've been here. I'm staying here. I'm not getting tax debate. I've been a property owner. I've been a salon owner. I've did many things entrepreneur. And I paid my taxes. I did. I just want to see us do fair. And like I said, let's be one city and make it equal. And let's get on some stuff that if we get across the board of everything, we can be the one city. So, thank you for allowing me to address it. and I look forward to you f following up with Thank you.

Thank you for your comments, ma'am. Anyone else in the audience?

You're right. My name is Beverly Cosby and I live at 315 Window Court. I am a lifelong resident of Waterlue. I want to say something about the history of this city that gets lost in in political debate debate. Water has never been easy. It's never been an easy place to live here. Black and white residents have always had real tensions, real disagreements going back over a hundred years. We know that and some of us carry that history in our families. But this city has has had something that outsiders miss. We work our p we work our problems out here.

Not perfectly, not without conflict, but together. Black and white in this city across from will sit across from each other and build things, businesses, schools, neighborhoods, institutions because we understand that this place belongs to all of us, not to to a certain group of people. That kind of civic commitment is not built in three years or in a short term. It is built over generations. It cannot be it cannot be claimed by someone that just maybe arrived in Waterl and doesn't know the history. It's something that you've got to go and research and try to understand. You can't just come out and say, "Well, Waterlue is this or is that if you don't know the history of of what water really is." You don't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been. And so some people that have come here have taken that attitude. The civic commitment that I'm talking about has been built over generations and it cannot be understood from a newspaper letter, a a letter written to the newspaper in regards to certain ideas or certain circumstances that are going on in Wateroo. The history of this city belongs to the people who live here. We are the people. And I say we, that's all of us. We are though. That's all of us here in this room today. And we expect that the people that represent us to be that open-minded and to to fairly govern the way that this city needs to be done needs to be governed. Again, like I said, we're not going to always agree, but we need to come to a consensus and

know that what all of us are working for the betterment of Waterloo. Like the like the lady said before, it's time to stop nitpicking. It's time to stop trying to put the blame on other people and put the blame where it belongs. And that blame is on all of us. We've all made mistakes and come short of the glory. So, we need to back up, look at some of the things that we've said and done, and go forward with Waterlue. I would hate to see a a a company try to come here knowing that we are so conflicted that we can't even do things the way that they're supposed to be done. Mistake Mistakes are going to happen. I have my Everybody has made a mistake.

Thank you, ma'am. Latana Graves, 607 East Donald Street. So, I've lived in Waterlue almost my entire life. My family is still here. But what I want to say today is the families that are in this city, both black and white, have built this city together. Our parents are still here. We've buried relatives here. We've raised our children here. So when people come and take a seat at the table and publish stuff in the courier about Waterlue and the infrastructure and the city has failed us. I take offense to that because I live here. I choose to live here. I could have moved. Well, I did move at one time, but I came back. So, there must have been something good going on in Waterlue. So, the people that stayed here have coached little league football, softball, track and field, and they're proud of it, just as I am. So, when we sit here, when we come to these meetings, we're not coming to nitpick. We're not coming to badger you. We're coming because we want to see our city grow. We want to see our city improve. So when we come and you keep going over the same thing every single week or every other week or you know how often you meet first and third Mondays so you know what I meant. And then and then you know people say I'm angry. I'm not angry. I'm never angry when I come

up here. I'm passionate. So when my tone raises, it's because I'm passionate about what I do. I'm passionate about what I say. I'm passionate about who I represent. I'm passionate about Waterlue. But we keep going backwards. And I'm so sick and tired of that. There's people texting right now that are watching the city council meeting. I'm serious. So, when are we going to get it together? Yes, you have past members. You have new members. Work together. It doesn't take much. Hello. How are you? Be respectful. I'm just Anyways, if you know me, you know who I am. You know what I stand for. And if you don't know me, get to know me. How about that?

Thank you, ma'am. Does anybody else wish to speak to non-aggenda related items before this council? Seeing none, council comments. Miss Barry. Um,

Mr. Mayor, first of all, I I I do appreciate what everybody said tonight. Um, I think I'm leaving here a little disappointed. I'm a little confused on what where are we leaving this with Envision? Did somebody explain that to me? So did I understand that by not voting by that bill do that not bill um by that vote was voted down are we not going to pay these people? Is that am I right in seeing that this is how we're summing this up that they won't get paid? Marty maybe can answer. I mean, is it legally can we?

Ma'am, this is for non-aggenda items. So Oh, okay. Okay. It's It's for you can you can address null in the morning. Okay. I I will I'll talk to null. I you Well, that's the thing that's kind of on my mind and I I think all has been said. It's it's just a little disappointing that we you know if this is put to bed now I I'm confused. I don't know where we go from here. Well, we'll find out. Yeah, because we got Will we move into our a different building or we are we just going to remain homeless? I don't know what what's going to happen, but I can talk about what's on the agenda. So,

all right. Any anyone else wish to address something? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Martin,

I want to have everyone that is up here right now look at the community vision plan. There's a couple things on here that I got pointed out to just by sitting up here. Fly the W to develop a sense of pride and relationship between residents and the city of Wateroo and then leverage that pride to communicate the city's attribute and external audience. That's one of them. Power up downtown. Keep Waterloo's core downtown evolving to meet the needs of future generations, supporting and showcasing art and culture opportunities, creating an expensive experience like no other. Community of opportunity. Eliminate barriers to keep the water resident and this community as a whole from reaching its true potential. creating equitable, thriving and sustainable community for future generations. Waterlue is a community of opportunity where everyone can prosper. And then Miss Lori said something that I heard. I don't know if everybody else heard it. Being a part of something is bigger than yourself.

That's all. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak to Mr. Mayor? Great. My concern is when other companies, corporations, people who want to build and expand in Waterlue see this kind of stuff, what will they do? Um, I think we have to be very conscientious about that kind of impression if we really want Waterlue to thrive. Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Diamond.

Um, I've said this several times up here and I I'll continue to say it. Um, I respect everybody that sits up here. I've I don't think I've ever treated anybody up at this ice disrespectfully in any way, and I I never will. I think I think what the people up here before you are trying to do, whether they have differing opinions or not, is what they think is best. Now, we can have different opinions and like you said and like I said on this on previous topics is I would like to see us move forward with a 70 vote most times whenever possible. I think we I think we will we will continue to strive to do that. I will continue to strive to work with everybody up here. I I want the public to know that, you know, the commitment that these folks have given you is not is not just because it's we have nothing else to do. It's because we care about Waterlue. Everybody up here cares about Waterlue. I've lived here my whole life. I wouldn't, you know, I'm not up here. It's not for the money. I'm here because I care about Waterlue and people elected me to do what I think is best and what the people of Wateroo want. So whether I'm incorrect or not, we have to work together. So I'm not going to I'm not going to stop doing that and I'm hoping that we can move forward. As far as the comments from the people in the in the crowd, I get that. I I agree with the nitpicking and stuff like that. I I think that goes both ways. So we all have to work together like like some people said in the audience, let's move forward. So, I'm hoping as we continue to grow as a council that we will continue to grow together and come together more often than not. So, that's that's all I wanted to say. Thank you, sir.

Do you have anything? You look like you got something pondering on your mind. Yes, Mr. Mayor. I do.

Which means for those of you who don't speak Spanish, it doesn't add up. I was elected to represent W 5. And in representing Ward 5, I can tell you that folks stop me at Menard's, at Home Depot, at Hometown Foods. They stop me at the library, they stop me at the gym, and they tell me, "Councilman Salamanca Royo, you're asking the right questions and you're doing the right job." So when I come before you, and I wish to exercise the full power of city council, I do so researching the issues that I'm coming forward. I do so spending time and time and considerable time trying to understand all sides. And I say this again and if you can you can reach out to the folks that reach out to me and they'll tell you that I respond every single person I respond to. Not only that, I invite them to sit down with me, grab coffee, get to know me. At the end of the day, the immigrant community is the future of the city of Wateroo. And in doing so, I go out of my way to engage with folks that I may not agree with because it is their right, as is mine, to express myself within these council chambers and outside of the council chambers. I highly, highly advocate that if you do not agree with me, please email me, shoot me a text, more than happy to sit down with you. We'll go get tacos at Patron, we'll go get tacos at Makraana, wherever you want, we'll go do it. But reach out to me. That's the first step you have to do. In the same time, I will say that I believe that as a city councilman, it is my duty to ensure that I am accountable to the taxpayers and individuals that voted for me and may not have voted for me. And with that being said, I highly encourage anyone from Ward 5, if they want to run in four years, do so. I'm more than happy I'm more than happy to help you out and you and I can figure out how to get this and how to understand this process. So, with that being said, I do want to invite everyone to my upcoming W 5 coffee hour on Saturday, April 11th from 10 to 11 at Scooters on Ridgeway and my

April W 5 meeting on April 23rd from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Location to be decided. Most likely, it will be at the United Methodist Church on Kimble. I'm still trying to find some final uh trying to figure out some final details, but I will be there. And as always, you can follow me on Facebook, you can shoot me a text, you can call me, give me some time to respond, but I'm more than happy to sit down with you. What I truly believe in as a citizen of War, as a immigrant, and as a new citizen, is that council is supposed to be here for you as the person and I ask questions that Ward 5 wants me to ask, constituents wants me to ask. So if you disagree with me or agree with me, okay, but at the end of the day, I will do my sworn duty, which is to ensure that city council and myself follow through with proper procedures, municipal code, and hold people accountable. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else have anything to say? Mr. Marl, as the youngest count member on the council, I just want to say I do my research. I I'm I kind of dig into details way too much as I've been told many times. And like uh my fellow uh Councilman Hector has said, we both, you know, we want to hear from people and I do hear from people and I try to be sure to communicate what I've heard, I communicate it to my fellow councilman. So when we talk about things and making decisions, we're making them not only looking at what's going to be happen here, but input from our wards. So, you know, I encourage, you know, reach out to me also. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. I'd like to take the opportunity to uh thank Chief Duncan and the men and women of our police department. They faced a very difficult weekend Saturday and Sunday. They handled it with professionalism. They did their job. Uh Sundays was extremely tense and I I can't thank them enough for the work and the due diligence that his department does each and every day. Thank you, Chief. That I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. I would like to make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Moved and second. All in favor? I opposed. We are adjourned.