I'm a slow learner.

Well, Bill, at least at your last meeting.

Correct?

Yes.

What makes you think that?

I I maybe I'm wrong.

Well, last year.

And good evening again, everyone.

Welcome to the regular meeting of the Mason City City Council.

This is the meeting for December 16th of twenty twenty five.

I'm Mayor Bill Schickle.

Thank you for joining us tonight.

The first order of business is the roll call.

Diana, would you call the roll?

Lee.

Present.

Latham.

Here.

Simmons.

Present.

Here.

Adams.

Present.

Let the record reflect that all members are present.

Next item is the adoption of the agenda.

Is there a motion?

So moved.

We have a motion by Councilman Yeshewski, a second by Councilman Latham.

All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, the same sign.

The agenda is adopted.

Next we have the public forum.

This is your chance to comment on any agenda item.

If there's an item that you would like to comment on, you can step forward and use the podium now.

Seeing no public comment at this time, I'll close the public forum.

Thank you, Mayor.

Just a few things to highlight for the council.

Many times while everyone's tucked away in their bed.

So um a huge thank you to the O and M crew.

And the the team with some new faces on it has really uh, you know, picked up and done a great job.

We've signed quite a few leases already uh for individuals who are interested in getting an indoor spot in the downtown.

Uh they can reach out to City Hall to get more information on that, but uh that's been well received.

Obviously, we just came out of a goal setting session earlier uh this afternoon or this evening.

And then uh with that, I just continue to mention the legislative uncertainty that we continue to operate in, uh, continuing to meet with legislators uh in the House and Senate, uh talking about the priorities of the city, uh the services that are provided, and the importance of revenues to helping to continue to provide those services uh such as property tax, local option sales tax, road use tax, etc.

But obviously the most important of those being the property taxes and the ability to continue to fund public safety and public spaces uh that are vital to our community.

One of the uh grants that we applied for for the upcoming year or for the last year was the build grant.

I had mentioned this actually in a previous uh update.

We were able to have a debrief with the US DOT as part of that, and just wanted to mention that um highly competitive grants, you know, 800 plus applications.

Uh I think they only awarded 30 grants nationwide.

Uh but the Mason City grant was one of the top grants that was submitted.

Unfortunately, did not make it into them to the um awarded grants, but it was one of the top ones submitted.

And so uh really optimistic for the upcoming years on continuing to submit that.

The DOT said it was uh or uh you know a good container, and it just uh a lot of times you just have to submit it one, two, three times before you get funded.

So continue to stay optimistic on that.

And then lastly, uh the city elf buddy is traveling around and visiting all the departments and doing a great job of highlighting uh all of the services provided by the great men and women within the the city that are daily you know seeking to provide public safety or recreation or all sorts of different services.

So if you get a chance, uh look on social media, there's a lot of great posts about the services provided.

So with that, happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Erin, and thank you, buddy.

Any uh comments or questions for our city administrator tonight hearing none, thank you, Aaron, for that uh report.