City still seeks rec director
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The Mount Ayr city council learned they are still without a summer recreation director at their regular meeting Monday, March 5.
Public forum
Bobby Kibbe attended the meeting to inquire about what was being done to follow up on nuisance complaints.
“I’d like to know what’s going on,” said Kibbe, “A couple years ago, you got onto me.”
Kibbe made note of other properties that he feels are a public nuisance including, Dennis Pyland, Mark Triggs Feed Store, and the old Hy-Vee, along with a house Lynda Triggs owns that’s been standing 4-5 years since it burnt.
“You dealt with me personally,” stated Kibbe, “There’s messes all over town. They were all on that list 5 years ago.”
“The house where Lynda Triggs’ renter was busted for meth,” noted Kibbe,
“She’s taking advantage of the HUD program. I think she needs stopped.”
Kibbe referenced a “meth house” that was acquired and torn down by the city of Tingley.
“Todd, the inspector that works for SIRHA, told me a lot of her properties would not pass, but he feels sorry for the people who live there, and approved them because he doesn’t want them to lose their housing,” said Kibbe.
“We are trying to do something,” said Mack Greene, “we can only do so much at a time, we only have so much money.”
Recreation Director
After Mayor Steve Fetty tabled the approval of a tax abatement, city administrator Brent Wise reported they do not have anybody for the Judge Lewis recreation director position, as they didn’t get a single applicant.
While some communities have their park board run summer programs, the Mount Ayr park board has never played that role.
Wise proposed sharing the duties between Amanda Cannon, Dennis Dugan, and himself to get through this year.
The city crew could take a day to go out to the park and get the ball fields ready, and Amanda is already doing some of the behind the scenes items.
The one complication, is the Murry organization Mount Ayr programs are affiliated with. In the past, the recreation director has gone to that meeting and then implements what comes out of that meeting.
Although they don’t have what comes out of Murry’s meeting for rules and guidelines yet, Renae Stewart already had things organized pretty well.
Last year, the stipend was $5,600 for Renae Stewart. It’s going to take more time for city staff if they go that direction, so Wise suggested determining pay/overtime and adjusting time off if necessary.
Additionally, Amanda is concerned that she has a child in the program, and may not always be here, so some of the games could be a challenge.
Council member Jessica Bishop suggested they look into the workplace learning program/ business program at the school with Gail Thatcher. Student gets high school credit for work through the program.
Wise noted they haven’t re-advertised, as they were waiting on two individuals to get back to the city, but they haven’t heard back from one of them.
The possibility of re-advertising the position when the city advertises for coaches was discussed.
“Even if we could get someone to help with the paperwork side of things, that would help take something off your plate,” stated council member Jessica Murphy.
Ultimately, the council took no further action on the agenda item.
“You guys need to start recruiting people,” stated Fetty.
Other regular business
In other regular business, the council:
• Set a public hearing on April 1 at 5:30 p.m. to review the proposed tax levy for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025.
While the city plans to hold both the public hearing and their regular council meeting on the same night, this will be it’s own special meeting. A notice will be mailed out to all residents.
• Approved a wage increase for public works employee, Corbin Swank, as he has completed his probation period, and passed his CDL class. He is interested in taking more classes for water and wastewater certifications.
Mack Greene motioned to approve the increase as proposed by Wise, the motion was seconded by Mike Wik, and unanimously approved.
Administrator Discussion
Administrator Wise asked the council to continue that partnership with Ringgold County Development again this year.
“Jodie and I are working on a different kind of partnership,” stated Wise, “This summer we will have some kind of plan put together.”
You guys can change or cancel the amount budgeted if you want to. Currently, the city has a 3-yr agreement, and this is year 2.
Wise noted Jodie Geist has been working with institute of Northern IA and sometime in May they will have the initial project done and start focusing on their plan.
“I would like us to piggyback on that and do something similar,” said Wise.
He shared he was contacted by Scott Timm, a Community Development Specialist with ISU Extension and Outreach, about serving on a panel related to housing challenges. He would have the opportunity to hear how other communities are approaching housing challenges.
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Community and Economic Development and the Iowa Economic Development Authority will be hosting a Rural Housing Readiness Assessment Conference on April 10, in Ames.
The conference will complement and enhance the Rural Housing Readiness Assessment (RHRA) process, and is designed to encourage attendees to share ideas for improving affordable, quality housing access in their communities.
The RHRA Conference is a free event, and is being held the day before the IRDC Summit scheduled for April 11–12 this year, with many attendees participating in both events.
“We’ve got some traction, some good things coming in strategic planning that she showed me today,” said Wise.
The council was in agreement to continue their current arrangement.
Wise also plans to have something regarding garbage RFPs in front of you in 2 weeks.
Additionally, Wise shared that March 7 was supposed to be the day they made their final CAT grant request.
“It’s been advised that we wait, since we will have bids back by their next meeting on April 4,” Wise noted, “and final fundraising dollars will be in.”
They will have a more exact figure to request from the CAT grant committee, and now plan to make their request on April 4.
Construction bids will be reviewed at the April 1 city council meeting.
Three companies have requested information to submit a bid as of Monday, March 4, and the city has submitted our local contractor names to all three companies for consideration.
The next Mount Ayr city council meeting will be Monday, March 18.
Ringgold County was subjected to very windy weather last week. The wind was strong enough to cause some tree damage across the area, such as this large tree on the Joe Routh property on Shellway and West Madison Streets in Mount Ayr.
