City Council approves Fourth of July Parade route

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been edited to change the time and location for the Elks Lodge Flag Day ceremony on Friday, June 14, and the starting time of the July 4 parade.

The Charles City Council approved street closings for the tentative Independence Day parade route at its regular meeting on Monday, June 3.

Because of the ongoing construction on Main Street, determining an alternative route for this year’s parade has proven to be a complicated task, factoring in parking, seating, staging, and the Police Department’s availability to secure the route.

“We looked at a lot of different things,” said Community Development Director Mark Wicks. “I want to thank the Charles City Police Department for working with us through this process.”

This year’s parade will begin staging on Ferguson Street near the Charles City Community Center, with the parade start bumping up to 11 a.m.

The parade will travel along Ferguson Street to Main Street and turn right, going up to Richings Street and over to Jackson Street. From there the parade will travel down Jackson Street to Clark Street, where it will disperse.

While the exact turning point on Main Street may yet be adjusted depending on the Main Street construction, the parade will stick to the general route of Ferguson Street to Main Street over to Jackson Street.

“It’s safe and it keeps people downtown,” said Wicks. “It’s just going to be different for everybody.”

Along with approving the Independence Day Parade, the council also approved the annual fireworks show, which will be held at its traditional place on the Main Street bridge. The bridge will be closed at 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 4, and re-opened after the show by 11:30 p.m. at the latest.

In other business, Mayor Dean Andrews read a proclamation declaring June 14 as Flag Day and commended the Charles City Elks, who will be holding a Flag Day Observance ceremony at the Elks Lodge at 6 p.m., for keeping up the Flag Day tradition.

Moving away from Main Street, the council accepted the low bid from Minger Construction Companies for the 5th Avenue Water Main Extension, which will bore under the area railroad tracks to connect the two water mains in the eastern portion of the city.

At $164,344.20, Minger’s bid was the lowest of the three bids submitted, the other two each exceeding $200,000, but still higher than the engineer’s estimate of $135,100 due to the high demand for the specialized equipment needed to tunnel under the railroad lines. Though higher than anticipated, the project is still within the city’s budget and will be planned to take place this summer.

On the other hand, eight bidders vying for the city’s 13th Street Extension project came in well under the engineer’s estimate, with Heartland Asphalt submitting a low bid of $331,526 for the estimated $455,740 project.

Initiated to facilitate planned residential development in the area, the project will extend 13th Street from its current dead end point to connect with Corporate Drive.

The council briefly discussed the pros and cons of asphalt vs. concrete for the new street before approving Heartland’s asphalt bid for the project.

In a related matter, the council set a public hearing date of June 17 for the rezoning of the area east of Corporate Drive, changing it from General Manufacturing to Multi-Family Residential.

Continuing business from last week’s workshop, the council moved to approve a new three-year agreement with Valero Renewables for the ethanol plant’s water usage.

Valero’s use of water currently amounts to about half of the city’s total output and the company has asked for its maximum allowed usage to be expanded by about 12%.

The city contacted the Iowa DNR and was assured by State Geologist Chad Fields that the area’s watershed is more than capable of sustaining such usage.

Commenting on the action item, George Cummins spoke about his own residential water rate and brought up Valero’s association with Summit Carbon Solutions and the proposed CO2 pipeline that would necessitate even more water usage.

Valero’s Craig Schoenfeld was present to reiterate that this request for higher water usage is unrelated.

“Whatever may or may not happen with the pipeline project, this is specifically for ethanol production,” said Schoenfeld.

The council also approved the 28E agreement between the city, council, and Floyd County Medical Center to continue cost sharing for AMR Ambulance service for up to two more years. As the city and county continue working towards the development of a new service, they are splitting the cost of continuing to utilize AMR at over $400,000 per year. FCMC has agreed to help subsidize that cost, chipping in just over $100,000 a year for the next two years.

Finally, the council passed a resolution authorizing the city to begin proceedings to acquire two nuisance properties that have been deemed abandoned. The properties, 311 4th Avenue and 901 10th Avenue, have been in a state of disrepair for half a year with the city unable to resolve the matter with the property’s owners.

“This is more or less a last resort,” said city attorney Brad Sloter.

The city will be taking steps to legally acquire said properties so that they can be demolished.