Council hears update on Second Street project

“The city is now eligible for Community Development Block Grants based on our low- to moderate-income statistics,” Sheridan said. “We met with the administrators of some of those funds and the engineer to look at the possibility of applying for funding for the sewer and water portions of the Second Street project.”

Sheridan said that while the city might find funding for the 2020 Second Street project from the CDBGs, it is also possible the city might find a different project that is a “better fit” for the funding.

The house at the corner of Beach Street and Second Street will officially be owned by the city of Webster City on Dec. 13, said Public Works Director Ken Wetzler. The house was purchased because under the plans for the 2020 Second Street project, the road will be widened at that spot and the house will need to be demolished or moved.

“My plan is to put that house up for sale and try to sell it to an individual that will place it on a lot within Webster City,” Wetzler told the city council. The specifications of the sale would include giving higher priority to buyers who will keep the house within the city limits.

Sheridan added that he would suggest identifying vacant lots near the property that might be appropriate to move the house to, possibly as part of the sale of the house.

In other business, the city council held a public hearing on a proposal to authorize a building at 102 MacKinlay Kantor Dr. to be used partially as an office. The property is located in an M-2 Heavy Industrial zone district and the owner must request approval from the council to allow a C-3 Highway Business district use.

Dave Perin, owner of the property, made the request from the city council because he would like to lease approximately two-thirds of the building to the United States Department of Agriculture for use as an office space.

There were no written objections to the request received before the hearing and there were no oral objections to the request during the hearing.

The council noted that the property has previously been authorized for similar use before it approved the request.

City Planner Karla Wetzler added that this request is site-specific and does not affect any other building in the M-2 district.

Two resolutions authorizing change orders and pay requests for two city projects were passed by the city council on Monday night.

The first was for a change order of $555.06 for quantities adjustment to be added to the contract with Nels Pederson Company, which was contracted to complete the 2019 Sewer Rehabilitation and Repair Project, and a retainage payment of $7,568.10 to be paid in 30 days.

The second resolution was for an adjustment to the 2019 Water Main Repair Project, which was completed by Castor Construction LLC in November. The resolution included a change order adjusting the contract total to $213,453.99, an addition of $44,695.99 to the original contract total, due to complications that arose during the completion of the project. The resolution also included the release of retainage for $10,672.70 to be paid in 30 days.

The city council also passed the second reading of a proposed ordinance that would add Article XIII to Chapter 42, entitled “Private Encroachment of Public Right-of-Way.” The proposed ordinance would just codify an encroachment policy the city manager and city staff created in 2004 to “provide some order to the use of the right-of-way by citizens.”

According to the memorandum from Public Works Director Ken Wetzler, “the policy has minimized encroachments on the public right-of-way,” but “the Encroachment Policy has always been just a policy and as understood does not hold any legal basis.”

The proposed ordinance will return to the city council for a third and final reading before it is added to the city code of ordinances.

The next Webster City City Council meeting will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 16 at City Hall. The meetings are always open to the public.