Waukon City Council discusses joint comprehensive plan update possibility with Allamakee County

by Bob Beach

During its regular meeting Monday, August 5, the Waukon City Council met with Allamakee County Board of Supervisors Chairman Larry Schellhammer, Allamakee County Planning and Zoning Administrator Tom Blake and Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Rachelle Howe regarding the County’s plan to update its comprehensive plan. Schellhammer said that the County intends to update its comprehensive plan and that the Board of Supervisors has determined that the most effective way to do that, both in terms of the cost of developing the plan and in terms of the effectiveness of the plan, would be to include the cities within the county in the process.
Blake said that the Board of Supervisors had directed the Planning and Zoning Commission to begin work on updating the County’s comprehensive plan and that after some deliberation, had presented the Board of Supervisors with a recommendation to include the county’s cities in the update process. Blake said that the cost to the County to update its own comprehensive plan would be approximately $15,000, but that the inclusion of other municipalities would reduce the cost to $8,000 to $9,000 for each jurisdiction involved in the process, which would take one to two years to complete. He added that the cities of Postville and Lansing would also be invited to participate.
Howe said that the City’s participation in Iowa State University Extension’s Communities to Community project would likely reduce the costs, as the data collected during that project could be used in the comprehensive plan update process.
Councilman John Ellingson said that the City’s comprehensive plan, now ten years old, is also in need of an update and that discussions had already begun about how to begin the process. Councilman Steve Wiedner said that he has been hoping for something like this for some time and Mayor Loren Beneke said that the City would definitely be interested in participating in the joint effort.
The Council also met with Veterans Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services Director Jeff Mitchell, who presented the Council with preliminary cost estimates for an expansion of the hospital’s existing ambulance bay. Mitchell said the cost of the project had been estimated at $46 to $52 per square foot and cited an increase in the number of emergency calls as the reason the expansion is necessary. Councilman Ellingson invited Mitchell to participate in budget discussions for the next fiscal year. Councilman Dave Sanderson suggested that the ambulance service might look into developing a 28E agreement similar to the agreement used by the fire board.
City Attorney Jim Garrett presented the Council with a preliminary agreement with Luana Savings Bank regarding a lawsuit dealing with connection of city sewer service to property owned by the bank. Garrett said that under the agreement, the bank would be allowed to make the requested sewer connection with no initial cost to the City once the Bresnahan property has been secured for that purpose through condemnation proceedings. Those proceedings, Garrett said, would begin with a meeting of the County Compensation Commission scheduled for August 27 and that following those proceedings, any trial on the matter would likely be postponed. Councilman Wiedner said that he would like to see the matter resolved and the Council directed Garrett to draft a formal agreement.
Garrett also presented the Council with two updates to City ordinances, one having to do with interference with police communications and the other having to do with deposits for water and sewer services. Garrett said that both changes would bring the ordinances into line with the state code. The Council approved the updates.
In other business, Councilman Ellingson presented the Council with a list of equipment needed by the police department, including tactical rifles, protective masks for meth lab investigations, bullet-proof vests, new desktop computers and holsters for recently issued tasers. The Council approved the expenditure of $11,500 from the police equipment fund to purchase the equipment.
The Council also approved an agreement with TeKippe Engineering for work to repair damage caused by flooding this spring; established a flood fund and transferred money into that fund from the Capital Improvements and Water and Sewer Funds; and approved a cost sharing agreement with John Kerndt for curb and  gutter work on the street bordering Kerndt Monument Services.