Story City City Council news from Oct. 16, 2023

By Marty I.

The City Council for Story City meets twice a month at six o’clock in City Hall. At these meetings, regular business includes updating ordinances to keep the public safe and happy, or reviewing budgeting and planning for the future of the town. During the Oct. 16, 2023, meeting, the council covered a variety of business.

Once Mayor Mike Jensen opened the meeting, role was taken. Council members Connie Philips, Rhonda Ostrem, Mary Kay Solberg, Dave Sporleder, and Jim O’Connor were all present. Next, the minutes from October 2 were approved. In the meeting previous, the council discussed the budgets for the police and fire department, along with parking ordinances and a liquor license for Swanee’s Pub.

As Bertha Bartlett Public Library is undergoing planning for expansion, they are required to communicate with the city council. Chris Feil, director of the library board, proposed the new bid for the expansion and answered questions asked by the council. He also introduced the new full-time librarian. Next, the council approved another ordinance and liquor license request. 

A big topic for the night was re-zoning Bethel Church. It is currently zoned as residential, limiting what can be done there. However, the new buyers would like to re-zone the church to commercial so that it can be more versatile. The church's neighbors were unhappy with the proposed re-zoning because it could cause parking issues. It passed with a vote of 3 out of 5 to be re-zoned, but the issue must be voted on two more times to be complete.

Randy Martindale, City Water Superintendent, covered what had been accomplished by the water department in the past year. Martindale also proposed a budget for the next year. In the past year, they have been busy fixing five water main breaks, replacing 800 feet of water main, exchanging water meters, training staff, diving the water tower, and much more. The water department has a decent-sized budget this year, but some of the top-ranking items are a hydro-excavating trailer, a new truck, new computers for the water plant, and new epoxy floors for the water plant. 

Then Mike Wright gave an overview of what the Street Department has done and put in a request for some new equipment. In this last year, the Street Department has been repairing many potholes and resurfacing streets. Wright explained that an issue came up when the tar truck caught fire, which put them a month behind on repairing streets. This year, money was saved by only spraying for mosquitoes once. They checked numerous times, but it was unnecessary. The department requested new equipment including a tandem truck, a new backhoe, and a dump truck. 

Next was some clean-up business to deal with, such as a tax abatement and a request for chickens. A grant of $5,000 was given to the building owners of the former True Value store to help with a new roof. Some small non-agenda items were brought up, but not discussed, such as fire ordinances, traffic stops, a dog waste ordinance, and Mediacom servicing internet lines.

Lastly, City Administrator Mark Jackson opened the floor to any council members to ask questions that were not answered during the meeting. Council member Mary Kay Solberg had some questions about Mediacom digging holes throughout town, which were answered by other council members. To complete the night, Mike Jensen adjourned the meeting. 

Location: Story City, IA 50248, USA

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