West Liberty’s business community got a shot in the arm Tuesday, Nov. 17, as the city council approved changes in their Urban Renewal Program including creating an Economic Development Local Business Support Program.
New city WeLead Director Joe Taylor says he can’t wait to inform businesses about the program, which is funded through tax increment financing dollars. As the new head of the economic development arm of the city, Taylor says the program will assist with downtown revitalization.
“The city has taken the proper steps and has a commitment to revitalization,” Taylor said of the program that would allow businesses up to $25,000 to improve their building, the city earmarking $100,000 annually toward the program.
According to the application, the funding can be used for façade improvements, building and land acquisition, capital improvements, job creation or training, site development, accessibility improvements, utility upgrades or other projects.
Other “favorable” projects to be considered would include new upper level restoration projects and projects that would create new jobs.
Business owners will need to provide a detailed description of the proposed project, photographs of the existing building and project area, schematic drawings illustrating the proposed work, a business plan and current financial statements as well as other documentation. Business owners committed to “improving neighborhoods, promoting the area and improving the quality of life” are encouraged to apply.
Taylor says he will begin taking applications and feeding information to businesses as soon as possible, noting the application is “pretty straight forward.”
His hope is that once one business takes the leap toward improving their building and business, others will follow in utilizing the program. “Businesses should start to realize the value of it and take on improvements themselves,” Taylor said.
He said more information is available on the city’s website, with WeLead taking the role of marketing the program. Anyone interested in finding out more about the grant should contact the WeLead office or city hall.
The program was the topic of a hearing Nov. 17 to discuss appropriating funds from TIF monies toward economic development, and when there were no objections or input from residents at the hearing, the council moved forward to pass a resolution to make the program a reality.
City interim manager Elizabeth Hansen said work on the Urban Renewal Plan can begin “immediately” for the city.
In other business, the city council and Mayor Robert Hartman heard a “budget basics” presentation from Hansen that coincided with a capital improvement plan and an equipment revolving plan. The city operates on a budget of approximately $15 million and Hansen said she worked with city clerk Lee Geertz in collecting information from department heads and city staff members.
Hansen said it will be difficult to determine the overall budget for the city until after Muscatine County provides property evaluations early in the new year. Hansen plans to present the budget to the board in a public presentation on Feb. 2.
The city is also making application with the state for COVID-19 expense reimbursement to the tune of $89,000, which included personal protection gear, sanitizing supplies, virtual meeting expenses and more.
The council also approved a resolution that was unanimously approved regarding obligating funds of $313,700 from the Urban Renewal Tax Revenue Fund for appropriation to the payment of annual appropriation tax increment financing obligations that shall come due in the next fiscal year including $20,449 and $17,355 to Giri LLC and Deepak Giri for two separate projects in two phases on Short Street as well as $53,750 to WeLead as a membership pledge, $160,000 for professional and city administration including the city manager, city clerk, street superintendent, building inspector and city engineer and $100,000 for the Urban Renewal Revitalization grant program.
City engineer Leo Foley of Veenstra and Kimm Engineers in Rock Island provided an update to the Well #2 pump tests have been done this past week. The results should be reported before Nov. 27.
The City Hall renovations project is also underway with a review by city engineers with City Hall walk through.
The city’s Columbarium project at Oak Ridge Cemetery is underway with base work getting completed, although Foley said a change order was needed for the council to approve small amount of additional concrete work.
The council also went into closed session to “discuss strategy with counsel in matters that are presently in litigation.”
In Hansen’s report to the council, she met with two separate potential residential developers in two different meetings to follow up on proposed plans and hoped to be able to unveil further information for the board at their first December meeting.
The city interim manager said an all-employee Customer Service Training and annual Employee Appreciation Banquet that had been scheduled for Dec. 11 was postponed until “sometime in 2021.” Another training event titled “Teamwork and Effective Governance Work Session” was held Nov. 23 to work on how city leadership could work better together, align and revive goals as well as setting a vision and mission statement for the city.
“We will review standard operating processes and procedures, communications, roles and responsibilities, and accomplishments,” Hansen said in her report.
Hansen is also creating some changes in human resources, creating job descriptions for all employees and setting annual evaluations including creating a “pay for performance salary matrix, with steps.” The work will take place early next year. “The goal is to have the evaluation form, organizational chart and job descriptions ready for council consideration” at the Dec. 1 meeting, according to the city manager. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. as a virtual meeting from the West Liberty Public Library.
Mayor Robert Hartman, who is encouraging citizens to wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the community, said the spread of the virus has become worse in the county, public schools reporting a positivity rate of 23.5 percent on Nov. 12, noting the 18-40 year old age group and 41-60 year old group is carrying the bulk of the load with reports of 38 and 34 percent respectively.