Personnel change at City Hall
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By Jennifer Kellner
The Mount Ayr City Council approved the removal of
Niccole Swank as Deputy City Clerk, a rental housing progression plan and a downtown work session at their regular meeting Monday, August 25.
Personnel change
A special meeting was held on Thursday, August 21 to evaluate the professional competency of an individual and consider conditions of employment in closed session. At the conclusion of the closed session, council members voted to terminate Swank once a written order was filed.
At their regular meeting Monday, August 25, council members approved a written order of removal pursuant to Iowa Code Section 372.15.
The order stated “The Council has been informed regarding your conversation with a Ringgold County Sheriff’s Deputy on August 8, 2025, which was recorded on his body camera. The Council does not tolerate this behavior from a City officer.”
The letter, sent by certified mail, served as written order giving the reasons for removal.
Swank may request a public hearing before the City Council on all issues connected with the removal by filing a request with the City Clerk within 30 days of the date of the order.
Rental housing plan
Dennis Dugan was present at the meeting to request a timeline for initiating outreach to private rental housing owners as outlined in the new ordinance established by council vote on December 18, 2024.
The ordinance was then published in the January 9, 2025 issue of the Mount Ayr Record News to provide public notice of the new city code.
Dugan had prepared a letter for rental property owners requesting completed registration forms and presented his plan to begin inspection of properties one area at a time, splitting the City of Mount Ayr into northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast quadrants.
Council members discussed sending letters out on September 2, with a deadline to register rental properties by Tuesday, December 2 of this year.
Once all rental properties are registered, the city will then determine which of the four quadrants they will begin conducting rental property inspections in, and reach out to property owners to schedule inspections.
As noted in the Rental Housing Fee Schedule, all rental housing registration, inspection, and other related fees are to be paid to the City of Mount Ayr.
The registration fee for each rental unit on a property is $10, while the registration fee for an apartment complex is $20.
A late fee for non-registration of $50 per day can be charged, up to a maximum of $500.
The inspection fee for each rental unit/building on property: is $25. If the unit passes inspection on first initial visit, the fee is reduced to $10.
The charge for re-inspection if necessary is $50.00.
A no-show of $50 can also be charged by the city.
Downtown work session
City Administrator Brent Wise discussed the next steps the city will need to undertake to begin the downtown revitalization project around the square.
The council set a work session for 6 p.m. on Monday, September 15 to meet with Greg Roth, P.E. from Veenstra & Kimm, Inc. (V&K) to discuss the project timeline.
Two grants have been secured which provided the city roughly $1.3 MILLION in funding, although the IDALS funding has a December 2026 grant deadline. Wise estimated the city may still be $750K to $800K short in fully funding the project.
Wise also noted he is close to having all the data that HUD needed ready to submit. He is working with Brenda Carrico at U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) out of the Omaha/Council Bluffs office.
Other business
In other regular business, the council approved:
A bid from Swartzentruber Construction in the amount of $13,692 to install a water main extension along P46, just over two miles south. The extension would provide city water supply to four residences, including one new house.
An invoice from Wright Tree Service in the amount of $16,800 for the removal of 15 dead ash trees and 13 stumps on a lot rented by Ted Smith, removal of six dead ash trees and stumps on a lot rented by Brent Ricker, and one dead ash tree from a lot rented by Tanner Rinehart at Loch Ayr Lake.
A request to allow food trucks for the 3rd Annual Halsie and Maddie Memorial Softball Tournament October 1-3.
Administrator Update
Administrator Wise reported the city will be receiving just over $50K from FEMA to assist with April 26, 2024 hail storm damage.
Most of the street improvement projects have been completed by Grimes Asphalt and Paving, although Wise noted there is still some work to be done, including the alley behind McDonnell Appliance and a long stretch of chip seal pavement.
Wise reported that the pool more than doubled their best yearly attendance, which had only reached over 5,000 users twice in past years.
This year, the total pool admission count was 10,832 after the regular summer season ended. Gross pool sales totaled $63,547.65 for the 2025 season, while net sales according the Square Payment report totaled $62,193.53.
Wise noted September 13 will be the last day the swimming pool will be open.
They are holding special water aerobics and adult swimming hours Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to noon through September 12.
The pool will also be open for public swimming from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, August 30, Sunday, August 31, and September 6, 7 and 13.
Adult only swim hours will be from noon to 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., however there will not be adult swim hours on Saturday, September 13.
