Charles City Council approves street closures for summer events

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

Summer event street closures were the business of the evening during the regular meeting of the Charles City Council on Wednesday, June 21.

The council approved the parade route from the Charles City Area Chamber of Commerce for the upcoming Fourth of July Celebration.

The parade will begin at the staging area on 13th Ave. at 7:30 a.m. as an estimated 200 entries make their way south down Main Street to Riverside Drive before looping back around to Jackson Street and moving up to Lane Street.

The council did question whether the Mill Race Parking Lot project may conflict with the parade route, but construction is not anticipated to start until after the 4th.

Also celebrating Independence Day, Ana Prichard asked the council for permission to close Illinois Street between Blunt Street and Kelly Street for the neighborhood’s annual block party. The party will begin after the parade, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Later in the summer, the Charles City Arts Center has asked to block off Jackson Street and Kelly Street adjacent to Central Park to facilitate room for the center’s upcoming Art-a-Fest on Aug. 19. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the event, the Arts Center has slotted a total of 50 artistic demonstrations to show off for the day.

The council also approved a façade grant request from Prologue Books and Wine owner Darci Tracy to create a fenced in “pocket park” set alongside the building for outdoor lounging. Tracy is asking for $1,330, roughly half the cost of the project, as allowed under the grant guidelines.

“I’m looking forward to seeing it done and seeing how it operates,” said council member Keith Starr.

In other business, the council approved the annual one-day loan, this year in the amount of $163,925, to pay for a variety of city projects for the end of the fiscal year.

The city uses one-day borrowing to allow a variety of items to be financed with a debt service levy, because the city’s regular property levy is topped out.

The council also approved salary increases for appointed officers and non-union employees, by-and-large matching the 3% increase that union employees received with some exceptions, such as an additional increase for City Hall’s front desk staff, the housing maintenance position and the Foster Grandparent director.

Continuing from the previous workshop, the council approved the renewal contract with Circle K to provide public transportation with a 3.1% increase amounting to a total of $5,745.51 per month. The new contract will also stop service on the day after Thanksgiving as ridership has traditionally been exceptionally low on that date while NIACOG and City Hall are both closed.

Along with the renewed contract, the council also approved the agreement with NIACOG for transit service, which splits the cost of city service between the two entities.

Finally, City Administrator Steve Diers updated the council on the city’s plan to borrow money for a major tree removal project. In spite of the major undertaking of removing hundreds of trees in the city, Diers has been advised that tree removal does not qualify as a tax exempt purpose.

“It’s certainly a capital project for us, but it’s not in the eyes of the IRS,” said Diers.

Diers determined that the process it would take to argue that the project should be tax exempt would cost more than just paying the taxes, roughly $3,000 per year, and advised factoring that cost into the loan agreement.