Kaleb Sharp swore an oath of office as the new Minburn mayor Monday night, restoring a measure of order to city business after last month’s stormy council meeting that saw the resignations of the mayor and two council members.
Minburn City Council members Don Peel, Ronnie Allen and Phyllis Moss were left to carry on proceedings at the June 12 meeting, with GayLynn Stajcar also attending Monday but as a lame-duck council member. Stajcar resigned in May but agreed to serve in office until June 30.
Sharp said he was ready and willing to serve the people of Minburn.
Regular business at the meeting included a report from the culture and recreation committee on plans for the Fourth of July parade and a report from the community and economic development committee on an ice cream stand at the depot.
Landowner Joan Hanak appeared in order to petition the council for a variance to the recently amended weight restrictions on city streets.
Hanak came to the meeting from her Texas home to argue the restrictions will effectively prevent her farmer-renter from accessing her fields.
The council noted access via the city streets was not an issue when farm machinery was smaller, but the weight of full grain trucks, which can now exceed 190,000 pounds, does significant damage the city streets.
Hanak recommended her farmlands be grandfathered into the city’s ordinance, noting that the farm existed before the city of Minburn existed. She said upgrading the driveway access off of U.S. Highway 169, a possible option, would entail costs that should be borne in large part by the city.
The council agreed to revisit the issue at a future meeting.
In other business, the council amended the city ordinances setting water and sanitary sewer rates. Modest changes in the water rates were coupled with a big hike in sewer rates, with the minimum monthly fee for sanitary sewer service jumping from $26.47 to $43.06 and the rate for usage in excess of 2,200 gallons per month increasing from $.79 per 100 gallons to $1.21 per 100 gallons.
The rate changes are summarized in the following table.
Council member Peel voted against the rate changes, but the motions carried with the support of the rest of the council.
A discussion of the depot and its financing was the meeting’s final action item. Minburn City Attorney Beverly Wild shared her interpretation of a June 2 letter from Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Steve King.
King’s letter reviewed the process of financing the relocation and renovation of the 100-year-old depot, which began in 2010 and involved a number of elements, including an Iowa DOT Transportation Enhancement grant of $546,382 and state Historic Preservation and Cultural and Entertainment District tax credits of $225,664.
The question of ownership of the depot — whether by the city of Minburn or by a partnership called Minburn Depot LLLP — had a bearing on eligibility for the tax credits, and various opinions on the question have been offered by officials with the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Historic Tax Credit Program, the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs’ State Historic Preservation Office and the tax consultancy RSM McGladrey.
In King’s view, the steps taken by the city of Minburn “to claim the (DOT) grant as part of the basis of the tax credit puts them in breach of the agreement they signed with the Iowa DOT” and “has the potential to create greater financial hardship — repayment of $546,382 — than removing it from the basis.”
The upshot of King’s letter was unwelcome to the council because it leaves the city on the hook financially. King held that “the transfer of the property from the city of Minburn to Minburn Depot LLP was not a fair market transaction.” He was in consequence “issuing certificates for 25 percent of the indicated project expenses not paid for with the Transportation Enhancement grant” and not the expected certificates for 100 percent of the expenses not covered by the DOT grant.
Wild said the council has 30 days from the date of King’s letter to appeal his decision to the director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. Wild recommended appealing King’s ruling. Opinions on the council appeared to be divided.
The council will meet again June 26 in order to decide whether to appeal the ruling and also to tie up end-of-fiscal-year business and possibly appoint replacements for council members Stajcar and Daryl Finestead.
