The Mason City Council held a regular meeting on February 20, 2024, at 7:00 PM in the Mason City Public Library. Mayor Pro Tem presided in Mayor Shickle's absence. The council adopted the agenda, received the City Administrator's monthly report, and acted on 23 agenda items including consent agenda items, public hearings, and resolutions. All items were approved.
City Administrator’s Monthly Report (Item 1): Administrator A. provided updates on:
Item 9 – 28E Agreement with NIACOG for Health Insurance: Council discussed risks and benefits of covering NIACOG employees under the city’s self-insured health plan. Staff explained that adding 20 employees to the existing pool of ~240 is a manageable risk with a stop-loss reinsurance cap of $100,000 per member per year. NIACOG will pay a prorated share of network fees, administration, stop-loss, plus a 3% administrative fee. Both parties can exit with notice by November 1 each year. Motion approved unanimously.
Item 10 – Iowa DOT Detour Agreement: Council clarified that the agreement covers closure of the eastbound bridge on IA 122 (from Lark Avenue to Eisenhower Avenue) for total replacement; the westbound bridge remains open. A crossover was considered but deemed too expensive (~$100,000). Motion approved unanimously.
Item 14 – Settlement Agreements with TD Young Properties, LLC: Two properties (424 South Carolina Avenue and 32 Sixth Street Northwest) were under nuisance abatement proceedings. The settlement requires the owner to complete renovations by November 1, 2024, or the city may pursue court-ordered title. Council expressed concerns about prior non-compliance, but staff noted work has begun on one property. Motion approved unanimously.
Item 16 – Willow Creek Riverwalk Project: Staff presented details of the project, funded by multiple grants (Great Places, T-Mobile Hometown, Wellmark Foundation, Jacobi Trust, Destination Iowa). The design includes an upper plaza with a gateway sculpture, middle plaza with play area, lower plaza near water, and a connection under Highway 65. The sculpture (by Group Creative Services) is a series of illuminated cylinders evoking music and water waves. The project is expected to be bid in February with construction starting spring 2024 and completion in early summer 2025. Estimated cost is $3.3 million. Motion approved unanimously.
Public Hearing Item 17 – Bike Park Building Bid Package 3: The engineer's estimate was ~$2.3 million; the low bid from Henkel Construction was $2.8 million (base) and $3.2 million with alternates. A second bid was significantly higher (~$1.5 million above Henkel’s). Staff attributed the difference to a competitive construction environment and Henkel’s efficiency. Motion to approve plans, specifications, and award contract to Henkel Construction passed unanimously.
Public Hearing Item 18 – Real Estate Agreement with Nicholsons: Resolution for sale of interest in real property within the Mason City Unified Urban Renewal Area. No public comment. Motion approved unanimously.
Public Hearing Item 19 – 2025-2029 Capital Improvements Plan (CIP): Adoption of the five-year CIP. Motion approved unanimously.
All council members were present except Mayor Shickle. Meetings adjourned after completion of all items.
Lee. Present. Adams. Present Latham. Yeshevsky. Here. Simmons. Present. Mayor Shickle is absent. All right. Let the record reflect Mayor Pro Tem is in the chair. There is a quorum. Uh we have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. So move. Motion by Councilman Yeshewski, second by Councilman Latham discussion. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries. The agenda is adopted. Anyone seeking to be recognized via Zoom, please use the raise hand feature. No public comment in the room. Thank you. Just a few things to update the the council on here. Um obviously we're continuing to be in the middle of the legislative session uh with the uh uh General Assembly. This year we've not seen quite as many bills uh uh directed at cities. Uh I will just mention a few things of note that have been uh put out there. We just got through funnel week uh down with the General Assembly, and so we've got a good idea of kind of what bills are still floating around, obviously ways and means and other bills are not subject to the funnel week, but um one of those that came through was a library bill. Um the library bill that was proposed would have really kind of got the library board uh role and management of the library. And um fortunately that bill was able to get modified to be um less impactful and and less uh detrimental to libraries. However, it is still uh uh that bill is still out there. Um I've voiced my opposition to it with the Iowa League of Cities. So we continue to track that. Is if that does continue to move, I'll continue to update the the council on that. Additionally, there has been some talk about the property tax legislation. If you remember um 718 that was passed last year has affected our budget and affected a lot of uh the city's positioning as far as finances go, and then also it has a continuing ratcheting mechanism that will continue to constrain cities to be able to provide the services that they need to. Some of those bills do seek to re uh reinstate levies. Uh there's been some conversation about it. I don't believe that there'll be much action on that this year. Um, but there has been some conversation about potential modifications to the property tax legislation from last year. However, not a lot of appetite to really do anything with it. So we'll continue to advocate for changes to make that bill less detrimental to cities, but um right now it's it's mainly just a lot of talk and and no real action on that front. Um the economic development side, this is actually one point uh bright spot that we've seen is that the um quote mega bill. It is a piece of legislation that will allow the Iowa Economic Development Authority to better uh seek out very large projects, one billion dollar plus projects uh that are uh seeking to locate within the state of Iowa and negotiate better and provide similar incentives that other cities or other states provide for those economic development projects. That is moving, there is support for it. I think we will see that passed. And the reason that I bring that up is that these are the kind of projects that we could see out at the industrial park, very large, especially biofuels projects. And um, you know, with the renewable fuels sector that we have in Mason City and North Iowa, this could be a uh a good piece of legislation for uh for the city should it move forward. On the federal level, I just want to mention uh if you remember the City of Mason City was a recipient of uh request for a community project funding for um uh water main looping project to help uh uh continue development out at the industrial park. That process has been stalled by uh the appropriations process at the federal level essentially not functioning.