Charles City Council approves revised Jendro rate increase

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Council approved an increase in solid waste collection rates for Charles City residents at Monday’s meeting, after City Administrator Steve Diers presented the council with two options.

The council approved an option that was based more on total usage, rather than an across-the-board increase for all customers.

“I’ve priced this out two ways, one an across-the-board 4.8% to each wheeled tote size, and another where I charged more for each of the larger containers,” Diers said.

Jendro Sanitation, which has been purchased by LJP Waste Solutions of Mankato, Minnesota, but is still operating in this area under the Jendro name, requested price increases in August that come under two clauses of its contract with the city.

Diers said the city contract allows Jendro to request an increase to cover unanticipated increases in its costs to operate. The Floyd, Mitchell, Chickasaw Landfill recently increased its tipping fee by 5%.

Jendro’s contract with the city also allows the company to request an increase once per year to cover changes in the national Consumer Price Index. The CPI increase from August 2020 to July 2021 was 2.7%.

Diers had calculated that the city was looking at a request for a 4.8% increase in the monthly wheeled cart charge for each of the three cart sizes. He presented the council with what that would look like across the board, and then presented the council with an alternative pricing plan, which is what the council ultimately agreed upon.

“This places more of the cost increase on the higher-volume containers,” Diers said. “One of our concerns was that the base charge for the small user who doesn’t even have a full container would increase too much.”

Under the pricing plan, the collection price of the 35-gallon cart would increase from $13.30 to $13.77 per month, a 47 cent increase. The 65-gallon container would increase from $17.14 to $18, an 86 cent increase, while the 95 gallon container would go from $20.97 to $22.33, an increase of $1.36 per month.

The price of the optional 33-gallon bags will go from $1.58 to $1.83 each, and 15-gallon bags will go from $1.18 each to $1.43 each, an increase of $0.25 each.

Had the council approved the across-the-board increase, the 35-gallon tote would have increased by 64 cents, the 65-gallon tote by 82 cents, and the 95-gallon tote by $1.01. All the council members liked the other plan better.

“I like the idea of a weighted increase based on usage,” said council member DeLaine Freesman.

Jendro did not request a CPI rate increase last year. The last rate increase for the company was approved by the council in 2020 to cover the increased cost of processing recyclable materials.

Jendro is in year five of a 10-year contract with the city. Rates have increased in some form three times in those five years.

The council also approved a motion on Monday to request that the Iowa Department of Transportation conduct a state speed study toward a possible speed limit reduction on South Grand Avenue. At last week’s planning session council member Keith Starr suggested that a speed limit reduction might be in order considering the growth of businesses in that part of town, as well as the potential for much more traffic if a large business is found for the Avenue of the Saints Development Park.

Starr said businesses in that area are concerned about customers safely entering and leaving their parking lots, especially with three different speed limits in that area — going from 35 mph to 45 mph near Old Highway Road, then from 45 mph to 55 mph at the Molstead Motors and Kwik Star area.

The speed limit study would consist of monitoring the current speed motorists travel in the area and looking at traffic patterns, visibility, intersections and entrances onto the road, accidents and the design of the road. There is no cost for a state speed limit survey.

Also on Monday, the council held a public hearing and approved the second reading of an ordinance to rezone property at 904 and 906 Court St, owned by Larry Milleson and Jodi Hammond Milleson. Currently the two lots are zoned as multi-family residences (R-3). The Millesons have stated that they intend to operate a motorcycle engine repair business at 904 Court Street, and had initially applied to rezone both parcels to service business districts (B-3).

The easterly half of the block was recently rezoned for Floyd County’s law enforcement center from R-3 to B-3. The southwesterly quadrant of the block is already zoned B-3 and includes the Taco John’s restaurant. The requested rezoning is an expansion of the surrounding B-3 zoning district.

At a Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing on Aug. 23, some Court Street residents voiced concerns about potential noise, traffic, and other potential business activities if both properties are rezoned.

Following discussions with the applicants and residents, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a recommendation to to rezone 904 Court Street to B-3 zoning district, while the zoning district for 906 Court Street will remain as R-3. The Millesons said the rezoning of only 904 Court Street would meet their business needs.

In other business in Monday, the council:

— Approved the second reading of a rezoning request for property at 1202 South Main St. The property, which is owned by Bethany Alliance Church, is currently zoned as a light manufacturing district. Diers explained that this is most likely a holdover from when this area had rail service provided by the Charley Western Railway. The railroad has long been abandoned and rail service no longer provided.

Diers said the use of the area is more consistent with commercial use rather than light industrial. Bethany Alliance Church has an opportunity to sell the property and has elected to seek rezoning the parcel rather than wait for the city to complete the zoning ordinance rewrite. The Planning and Zoning Commission met on Aug. 23 and held a public hearing on the matter, and forwarded a recommendation to the City Council to approve the rezoning request.

— Approved a planning and design water revenue loan for $362,000. This is in association with the Water Department Clearwell project. This is the amount quoted by SEH Architects to plan and design this project up to putting it out for bid. The loan is designed to ultimately wrap into the long-term financing of the overall construction project once construction is complete. If the council chooses not to move forward with bid and construction of the designed project, it would pay this loan back as it is and would do so solely from the revenues of the Water Fund.

— Approved a multi-lot restriction for Richard and Katherine Deist at 209 14th Ave. The Deists recently applied for and received a special use permit from the Board of Adjustment. The special use is for the construction of an accessory structure (garage) on a vacant lot.

— Approved a bill of sale for the Valero water main and approved a permanent easement for the main. The water main, which will be placed adjacent to the west side of Quarry Road, was actually constructed on Valero’s property. The permanent easement provides the right for the city to access property to operate and maintain the water main.

— Approved street closures for the Charles City High School Homecoming Parade, which will be Friday, Oct. 1. CCHS Student Council member Hannah Jones told the council that the parade would travel down Main Street and start at approximately 4:15 p.m. Jones also requested the council allow the closing of the street next to the football field from 8:20 a.m. to 11 a.m., so that the street could be painted as a part of the Homecoming festivities.

— Approved a proclamation by Mayor Dean Andrews which declared Sept. 20-26 as National Rail Safety Week.