Council rejects land swap proposal

A proposed swap of wooded city land for a privately owned building was rejected Monday evening at City Hall on a 4-3 vote by the Mitchell City Council.

The proposal involved local resident Jerry Thomsen, who did not attend the meeting. The city would have received Thomsen’s 3-acre lot and 11,360-square-foot building at the corner of Industrial and Tower roads, adjacent to the city’s new Pepsi Cola Soccer Complex in northern Mitchell. Thomsen would have received the city’s wooded, 9-acre lot across from his lakefront home, near the intersection of North Harmon Drive and National Guard Road. The swap would have included a payment of $150,000 from the city to Thomsen.

Voting against the swap were council members Travis Carpenter, Marty Barington, Mel Olson and Doug Backlund. Voting for the swap were Scott Houwman, Jeff Smith and Geri Beck. Councilman Dan Allen was absent.

Carpenter was the first member of the council to speak out against the proposal Monday evening. He said the city has no use for Thomsen’s building.

“Why spend $150,000 on a building and land that we don’t have a purpose for?” he asked.

Other council members revealed that during previous executive sessions, they discussed converting the building to house a gymnastics facility, satellite fire station or indoor pool, though nothing was apparently decided. Council President Jeff Smith said buying the building would at least give the city control over what sort of neighbor moves in next to the new, 10-field soccer complex.

“If you don’t have control, you never know what’s going to go in there,” said Smith, adding that at least one manufacturer is apparently interested in acquiring the building.

Seven audience members testified against the swap during the roughly 35-minute hearing, which was attended by a total of about 25 people. They reiterated much of what audience members said Dec. 21, when the City Council conducted its first hearing on the issue. Back in December and again Monday, the audience members said they want to preserve the natural beauty of the wooded city lot, which is covered in ponderosa pines. Members of the city’s new Lake Mitchell Advisory Board reportedly considered the issue recently and reached a consensus that the lot should be preserved and enhanced with nature trails.

Local resident Jody Smith said the decision facing the City Council was a “no-brainer,” given that the city has no apparent use for Thomsen’s building and that Thomsen — who spoke at the Dec. 21 meeting — and all of the other local residents who’ve spoken publicly about the wooded lot want to protect it. She noted that the wooded lot has remained quietly in the city’s possession since the 1920s.

“I just don’t see why you would ever want to destroy it, and why you’re bothering it now,” Smith said.

The meeting grew heated when Councilman Houwman tried to defend the swap by saying that there are many other trees around the lake, including hundreds that the city has planted at the soccer complex. He said there were virtually no trees around the lake when the city created the lake in the 1920s, and that comment drew shouts such as “Exactly!” from audience members who said they’re trying to avoid a repeat of history.

At the conclusion of Monday’s meeting, it was noted by Houwman and City Attorney Randy Stiles that the City Council voted at a previous meeting to surplus the wooded lot. That surplus designation still stands, and the council could now elect to put the wooded lot up for sale if the council members so choose.

“I think,” said Councilwoman Geri Beck, “that’s a discussion for a future meeting.”

Apartment proposal

The council voted 7-0 to endorse a letter of support for a proposed new, income-restricted apartment complex near the corner of 23rd Avenue and Ohlman Street.

A representative of the Idaho-based nonprofit corporation Community Development, which is proposing the complex, spoke to the council. He said the complex would consist of 40 units and would include amenities such as a clubhouse, playground and basketball court. The clubhouse would be the site of educational classes on topics such as home ownership and personal finance.

Local developer Chuck Mauszycki is donating the land for the complex in order to help spark development in his Westwood Tax Increment Financing District, where the complex would be located. The property taxes paid by Community Development will be captured for a period of time to help pay off debt that was incurred to improve the infrastructure in the area.

Construction could start by the end of this year if Community Development receives some government funding that it has applied for. The complex would consist of six, two-story walk-up and townhouse structures and would create an estimated $3.5 million of construction activity.

Qualifying tenants’ household incomes would range from $12,450 to $45,700.

Other business

In other business Monday evening, council members:

• Were informed by Finance Officer Marilyn Wilson during the Finance Committee meeting that the city’s 1 percent tax on lodgings, alcoholic beverages and prepared food (the so-called “entertainment tax,” which is applied on top of the regular 4 percent state sales tax and 2 percent city sales tax) produced a total of $613,011.40 worth of revenue in 2009, which was a 2.63 percent increase over 2008.

• Authorized Wilson to move forward with the planned installation of an $850 piece of equipment that would allow city workers to scan paper checks and deposit them electronically, thereby saving the time of transporting the checks to the bank and also saving about $200 to $300 per month in bank processing fees.

• Were informed by Mayor Lou Sebert, during citizens’ input, that The Daily Republic was conducting a test Webcast of the meeting in preparation for future live Webcasts on its Web site, www.mitchellrepublic.com.

• Tabled, at the request of the Planning and Zoning Commission, a hearing on the application of Kendra Zimmer for a conditional-use permit to operate a daycare center in her home at 704 S. Wisconsin St.

• Reviewed the 2009 building-permit list, which was down to 138 permits from 162 in 2008, but was up to $15.389 million in valuation of projects as compared to $12.972 million in 2008.

• Awarded a bid for a used wheel loader at the golf course, which resulted in a net payout of about $31,000 by the city after a trade-in.

• Awarded a $106,576 bid for water-meter transmitters, in preparation for a five- to seven-year project to convert all water meters in the city to a remote-read system that will eventually eliminate the need for manual meter reading.

• Noted the withdrawal of the application of Elks of Mitchell Building Association Trustees LLC for a special-event wine license and a special-event malt beverage license for the Feb. 7 ACT Dinner Theater at the Masonic Temple.

• Approved the application of Area Community Theater in Mitchell Inc. for a special-event wine license and a special-event malt beverage license for Feb. 5-7 at the Pepsi Cola Theater for “Ladies Night Out.”

• Approved the application of the Palace City Lions Club for a special-event malt beverage license for Feb. 14 at the Corn Palace and City Hall for John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party.

• Approved a resolution supporting a grant application for federal funding to help install sidewalk and curb-and-gutter along Foster Street in the area of Toshiba.

• Adopted an ordinance that will supplement the budget with $6,000 for vandalism repair at the airport, with funding from the airport cash balance.

• Conducted the first reading of an ordinance that would supplement the budget with $17,000 for a fabricator’s sales-tax rebate, with funding from sales- and/or use-tax receipts; $60,000 for emergency roof replacement at the Recreation Center, with funding from the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department’s cash balance; and $9,000 for a greens mower for the golf course, with funding from the golf course cash balance.

• Set Feb. 15 as the date for a hearing on the application to transfer an inactive on-off-sale wine license from Wade Greenwood to Kelly Hohn, for a business described as Platinum Players Club with an as-yet unknown business location.

• Set Feb. 22 as the date to receive and consider bids for hazardous sidewalk repair.

• Declared an emergency award of contract to replace the roof at the Recreation Center, which leaked profusely Jan. 21-22 and is in dire need of replacement, according to Randy Ahrendt, director of parks, recreation and forestry.

• Approved the 2010 Corn Palace decorating contracts with artist Cherie Ramsdell ($7,900, unchanged from last year) and farmer Wade Strand ($43,500, up $1,000 from last year).

• Selected SPN & Associates as the engineer for future construction projects on 23rd Avenue and Spruce Street.

• Approved taxicab driver’s license applications from Ryan John Pettit and Jessica Larson for Becky’s Vans, and from Samuel Joseph Tulio Jr. for E-Z Ride Taxi.

• Approved requests to conduct raffles from the Mitchell Community Scholarship Fund, the Mitchell Area Home Builders Association, the Mitchell Hockey Association, and the American Red Cross.

• Approved a list of proposed tax abatements.

• Approved the paying of estimates and bills.

Use the player below to see a video recording of the Finance Committee and City Council meetings.

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