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Update on progress in Mason City from Administrator Brent Trout

Brent Trout
Brent Trout

From Mason City City Administrator Brent Trout –

The Blue Zones Project staff and Power 9 members took part in a Journey to Well Being Meeting to learn and review the accomplishments of the last five years of our Blue Zones journey. The journey is described in the book that Blue Zone Projects, Healthways, and Wellmark created for us.

The Development Services CoRL loan committee approved three new CoRL loan applications and they are presented for Council approval at the October 18, 2016 Council meeting. The other CoRL loan projects continue to make significant progress on their renovations. The NHANS house will be placed on the market in October, with an open house to be conducted on October 22, 2016. The marketing of the house will begin prior to the open house. The house will be staged with the assistance of Habitat for Humanity through use of items from their ReStore warehouse. The scope of work for the 22nd Street buyout was completed in September and staff has initiated close out procedures for the project. Tricia Sandahl participated on a panel at the Preserve Iowa Summit on the subject of relocating historic homes. Building permit numbers were strong for September and included two residential permits.

New street lights installed in downtown Mason City
New street lights installed in downtown Mason City

The Cemetery conducted another successful history walk but numbers were down slightly due to weather and other events on the same day. The contractor has installed all the downtown street lights and has energized them. The removal of the old bases and poles is the last step in the process and is expected to be completed within the next week. The appearance improvement is noticeable in the downtown area and several positive comments have been made about the project.

Engineering staff has also supervised the replacement of paving at the S. Kentucky Avenue Railroad Crossing as part of a crossing improvement done by Canadian Pacific Railroad. Engineering also worked with Alliant Energy staff to coordinate the gas main installation project along Pierce Avenue and the removal of various steam tunnels in the downtown area. The water meter department installed 227 meters in the month of September and is making more appointments for installations. I had the meter in my house replaced at the end of September.

The Human Resources Department is conducting sign-ups for flu shots and blood tests this month and they will be conducted in October and November. There were three work comp cases in September and one of the injuries resulted in 6 lost work days.

Flooding in Mason City's East Park
Flooding in Mason City’s East Park

Operations and Maintenance staff dealt with many issues related to the flooding that occurred in September and have been doing clean up in East Park and a few other areas. The crews did an excellent job of minimizing damage and providing safety barricades to protect many areas. East Park had some damage to its trails and lost material around the playground equipment and on the gravel roads. The City is calculating the total costs for repairs and flood relief efforts to provide to FEMA when they visit our community.

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