Published: December 21, 2005 11:34 am      

Welton gym may be saved

WELTON — The Central Community School Board is considering tearing down the three-story classroom part of the now-closed Welton school, while keeping the gymnasium for future athletic practices, Welton City Council members were told Monday.

Council member Tamie Simmons said a recent school board meeting she attended was “really positive.”

“They are trying to look at the best value they can get for the money they have to invest,” she said. “They’re already looking at where they’re going to have ball practice this winter.”

The school board rejected the Welton council’s offer to accept ownership of the bare ground if the district would demolish all buildings, Simmons said.

“They’re looking at this new approach. I feel pretty good about it,” she said.

Simmons then asked the council members whether they would be willing for the city to help with some of the cost of maintaining the gym, such as plowing snow, mowing grass and making a daily check inside the building.

“If they had the building, every day someone from the district would have to come and inspect it. I’m just thinking we could help them with some of the cost that they say they can’t afford.”

The council members and Mayor Francis Schmidt all expressed a willingness to discuss the specifics of such an arrangement.

City Clerk LeAnn McCallister announced the recent survey of townspeople’s income was successful in showing 56.06 percent of households having a low to medium income.

The city needed a showing of 51 percent or more having LMI to apply for a $159,000 community development block grant for the installation of a municipal water system.

The survey showed a median household income of $31,000.

Responses from 83.08 percent of the households also met the requirement for 80 percent participation. Seventy-four percent favored the water project.

A public hearing was held Monday night concerning a proposed $85,000 loan and disbursement agreement to pay early costs of the upcoming municipal water project.

The $85,000 will be an advance of money from a $468,935 Iowa Drinking Water Revolving Loan Program loan that the city has been awarded.

According to the official loan document, the money will be paid back solely out of net earnings of the water system after it is in operation. It shall not be “payable in any manner by taxation.”

The interest rate will be 3 percent.

The three citizens attending the hearing asked questions for clarification of the legal language the mayor had read, but no objections were expressed.

Council members also said they had received no objections from the public.

The council also approved a task order for MSA Professional Services, Dubuque, to conduct an evaluation of Welton’s wastewater treatment facility for a lump sum fee of $4,500.

The work was to begin immediately and be completed by March 2006.

MSA also was hired to work with the city to determine the boundaries of tax increment financing districts and prepare an urban renewal plan.

The fee for that work was estimated at $10,000. Approximate completion date is March 2006.

McCallister said the TIF district is expected to start at the north end of Welton where New Horizons is expected to do major construction and include the truck stop at the south end of Welton.

No residential areas are included at this time.

Tax income from any increased valuation in the TIF district will go into a special fund for infrastructure improvements, McCallister said.

A final order of business Monday night was the swearing in of council members Ken Mickey, Simmons, Glen Roswell and Billy Koranda for their new terms to begin Jan. 3, 2006.

Councilman Ed Novak was absent and will be sworn in later.