Sidewalk projects a priority for City Council

On a 4-1 vote the Clear Lake City Council agreed to hire Veenstra & Kimm Engineering of Mason City, at a cost of $32,500, to prepare a strategic plan to evaluate and prioritize sidewalk projects in Clear Lake.  

The one dissenting vote came from councilman Jim Boehnke who said he felt the city had enough capable people to do the plan "in house."  

Jason Petersburg, who was representing Veenstra & Kimm, said the plan would consist of four points including an inventory of existing sidewalks, prioritizing areas needing sidewalks and areas in need of sidewalk repair, and public meetings to discuss and address those findings.  Petersburg said he expects the analysis portion of the project to be completed by the end of 2014.

Also at the meeting Monday night, the council heard from North Iowa Corridor Economic Development Corporation (NICEDC) Director Brent Willett who gave a third quarter report.  Willett said that to date there had been five on site visits to the vacant Larson Mfg. building, but no formal offers have been made.  Willett went on to say that from these visits he's getting a sense that the building will more than likely house multiple operations in the future.

In other business, Public Works Director Joe Weigel reported to the council that the foundation for the city's newest water tower will be poured on Thursday.  The water tower, which will replace the existing tower in the Four Winds Drive area, will be located at 1814 Highway 18 W., which is 300 feet east of the existing tower.  The new water tower is expected to be on line in the early part of 2015.