City Council holds public meeting on Third Avenue NW street repair project

by Dwight Jones

The Waukon City Council met in regular session the evening of Monday, April 4 with the full council in attendance.  However, the meeting was far from regular as the focus was on the proposed assessments regarding the Third Avenue NW Street Project. It was standing room only as approximately 60 concerned citizens were in attendance to address the Council with their questions and comments.
The meeting began with a presentation by the City. Following Mayor Loren Beneke laying down some ground rules for the meeting, City Engineer Lyle TeKippe gave a relatively brief but descriptive review of the project. He explained that whereever possible, driveways, curb and gutter and sidewalks will be left as-is. The proposed upgrade would include some work to the street base, which would mainly consist of prep work to the current road, followed by a three-inch overlay of blacktop. A majority of the street is currently 31 feet wide, but there is a portion at the east end that is currently 24 feet wide but slated to be widened to 31 feet as well to avoid what TeKippe referred to as a “bottle neck” in that area.
Next, Councilman John Ellingson used a slide presentation to present the proposed funding of the project. Before starting, Ellingson told those in attendance, “I’m sure you feel like you’re being picked on”, and went on to explain that the current rate at which the City is repairing or replacing streets is at a far slower pace than is needed to keep up with the work that is needed. Ellingson talked about the Council developing a plan that could be used throughout the city and that this was expected to be the first of many projects that were handled similarly, though different underlying issues or unique situations from project to project were inevitable.
Ellingson gave a thorough recap of the two major forms of funding for streets the City has at its disposal – those being a Road Use Tax Fund received through the State of Iowa via its fuel tax, and a 1% optional sales tax the citizens of Waukon had approved for street repairs and infrastructure work.  Those funds, which currently total around $650,000 per year, are used to run the streets department, including wages, equipment, street repairs, snow removal, etc. Ellingson explained that the remaining funds available for major street repair were minimal and could never keep up with the approximately 26 miles of street that runs throughout the city.
The Council then opened the floor to citizens to pose questions or deliver comments, with each asked to speak for no more than three minutes to give everyone a chance to be heard.
Dan Buege spoke first, saying that he felt that the fact that the street is used so heavily for traffic to and from the schools, including by school buses, created a “burden of cost that is immense” for property owners within the area.
Sandy Van Horn spoke next, stating that she lives in the portion of the street scheduled to be widened, and questioned what would happen to the new sidewalk and driveway that she put in only four years ago. Also, she has some mature trees in the boulevard that she has cared for and was concerned that they would need to be removed, which would be a great loss to her property’s “curb appeal”.
Tom Kessel, who had circulated a petition asking that the vote to proceed with the assessments be unanimous in order to be passed, spoke in length (borrowing some time from others in attendance that did not speak) about the obvious need for the project, but questioning if this was an appropriate time with the economy woes, people unemployed and/or living on fixed incomes, etc.
Julie Snitker, who owns a hair salon along the street, questioned how her business would be affected, as did Jane Mahoney, who operates a similar business located on Third Avenue NW. TeKippe explained that, much the same as was done last year when they were working on the street near the hospital, every effort would be made to minimize the amount of time the street and/or the properties along it were inaccessible.
Many others shared similar concerns, but the theme was relatively consistent - “we know something needs to be done, but we do not think the proposed plan is fair due to the heavy traffic on this particular street.”
After the bulk of the public comments had ended, Ellingson and TeKippe gave a review of how the assessments were figured. The formula, much more based on the amount of property and its proximity to Third Avenue NW than the value of said property, is the same as what is used in many other communities and has been used in Waukon in the past.
It was very difficult to get a feel for where the full council stands on the issue as Councilmen Steve Wiedner, Trent Mitchell and Dave Sanderson did little to no speaking throughout the meeting's entire discussion.
The Council will be holding a special council meeting this coming Thursday night, April 7 at 6 p.m., with the assessment issue to be revisited at 7 p.m.