City, Hy-Vee negotiating Shopko lot
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In its regular meeting Monday, June 1, the Mount Ayr city council voted to keep the Judge Lewis Park swimming pool closed for the remainder of the summer and held a public hearing on the potential purchase of the municipal parking lot in front of the old Shopko store by agents representing Hy-Vee.
Pool closed
Citing costs associated with opening the pool, ongoing maintenance, and personnel with no guarantee the pool could open for full use any time this summer, on a 4-1 vote the council made its decision to cancel the 2020 swimming season at the Judge Lewis Park pool.
Councilman Brad Elliott voted against the closure.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds had extended the state’s ban against fully opening pools through June 17. A pool may open for lap swimming and swimming lessons only.
Parking lot
The council held a public hearing on a proposal to sell the municipal parking located in front of the old Shopko location to “Sakata JV Holdings LLC c/o of Raider Hill Advisors, LLC, or it Assignees (Hy-Vee).”
The proposed purchase price is $35,000 with up to $3,500 in related costs.
The proposal states Hy-Vee intends to purchase the fee simple interest in the former Shopko Hometown building on or before June 11.
However, if Hy-Vee is unable to purchase the building by that time, the parking lot proposal may be extended or canceled by mutual agreement.
After city legal counsel made changes to some conditions in the original proposal, the city will send the revised sale proposal back to Raider Hill Advisors for their review.
Once an agreement is reached, the city will hold a second public hearing prior to the final sale.
Other business
In other business the council:
• approved the hiring of Kraig Pennington and Lynn Rinehart as part-time summer employees at a maximum of 20 hours each per week.
Their primary duty will be to handle mowing at city-owned properties with other duties to be assigned if time allows.
The positions will be paid $13 per hour.
• approved a bid of $5,830 from Swartzentruber Construction of Lamoni for trimming and/or removal of trees on city property in six locations.
• briefly discussed sale procedures for the sale of a city-owned house at the corner of Monroe and Webster streets.
It was noted substantial work is yet to be completed to bring the property into salable condition.
Once work is complete, an open house will be held for potential buyers, and a minimum sale price will be set.
The sale itself will be held via a closed bid process.
• briefly discussed a potential city ordinance that would allow golf carts to be operated on city streets.
Without such an ordinance, the operation of the vehicles is technically illegal.
Mayor Steve Fetty had gathered samples of similar ordinances from other towns. Some, he said, were quite restrictive while others were more liberal.
City manager Brent Wise will meet with county sheriff Rob Haley to discuss the matter further.
• approved a $47,500 sewer revenue loan agreement to partially cover costs for repairs to the waste water treatment plant and sewer main breaks.
• approved an amendment to an agreement with Garden and Associates for overseeing work on the water distribution improvement project. Because completion of the project is taking longer than anticipated, Garden is seeking an additional $79,100 for its services.
• approved a request from the Princess Theater board to close the south side of the square to allow the showing of an outdoor movie.
The event will take place Saturday, June 13, weather permitting. A rain date has been set for Saturday, June 27.
