KALONA

A full night of business awaited the Kalona City Council Monday night, but before they got into the official stuff, City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh remarked on the high number of building permits the city has been processing recently during his Administrator’s Report.

“For the last six months, we’ve done almost $8.1 million in building permits. We’ve issued just shy of 70 permits,” he said. “We’ve been extremely busy the last six months, and we’ll probably continue to have a busy fall.”

Tabled during the city council’s last meeting, the sale of the Kalona Bakery building was approved by the council on Oct. 21. Solidum Petram, a business owned by Cooper and Courtney Tonning of Kalona, will close on the property mid-November; the purchase price is $40,000, to be divided equally between the two partners, the City of Kalona and KCTC.

The city plans to work with Solidum Petram on a Community Catalyst Building Remediation grant to help restore the building, which was damaged extensively by fire in 2016.

Grant Writing Assistance

Schlabaugh presented the council with an agreement with Eocene Professional Services for grant writing and research, which elicited some discussion.

The city has done well securing grants on its own in the past; however, with large projects looming – water, sewer, and storm water management upgrades, for example – Schlabaugh believes they could use help identifying and applying for larger state and federal grants.

The agreement is for $2,250 a month, not to exceed $27,000.

“If we’re successful in one grant, it’s going to make this very, very beneficial to the city. And I think we can be successful in numerous opportunities,” Schlabaugh said.

Council member Greg Schmidt had questions.

“What type of benchmarks are we going to have?” he asked. “[The cost] looks a little steep for just four [grant applications].”

Schlabaugh pointed out that Dubuque paid $45,000 for a single grant application, and that federal grants could be worth as much $2 million. The city could get help with more than four grants if they desired it.

“This is unique. I’m not going to lie,” Schlabaugh said. “I’m pitching it because I see the benefit that [Eocene] can bring to the table for us, and I have a trust factor.”

Eocene is the rebranding of Impact7G, Inc, a firm the city has a history with; they are currently working with Ben Curtis, Senior Project Manager, on the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

“I just don’t want to see [grant opportunities] that come back that could be just googled, and it’s fluff,” Schmidt said.

The council ultimately agreed to engage Eocene for grant writing assistance.

Other Council Action

The council approved final readings of ordinances pertaining to the publication of minutes, electronic meetings, and fiscal management.

The council approved the last large payout to CJ Moyna for the Vista Park project.

The council approved extending the lease for the city-owned Post Office building to July 2031.

The council approved applying for an SRF loan up to $400,000 for stormwater project planning and design.

The Kalona City Council will next meet on Monday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.