MASON CITY – The 5-year long debacle known as the Mason City Renaissance project is about to take another punch to the face as the council’s chosen hotel developer is teetering on the brink of defaulting on his agreement, City documents show.
The Mason City Renaissance project began in 2013, when Mayor Eric Bookmeyer, his city council and other local media mis-led the public in October of that year, telling the community a hotel would be built in a parking lot next to City Hall. Of course that never happened, but City Hall has spent an estimated total of 1 million dollars over the ensuing 5 years on expenses like parking ramp plans for a ramp that will never be built, city employee time and expenses, payments to a prospective developer called Gatehouse, and much more. The pit would be fuller of taxpayer dollars if the City’s Finance Department didn’t balk at Mayor Bill Schickel’s demands to pay Gatehouse another $110,000 before the developer flew away forever.
In Mason City Administrator Aaron Burnett’s Monthly Activity Report due to be delivered to the City Council Tuesday night, he explains that Hotel Developer Phil Chodur of G8 is about to default on his agreement to build a hotel as part of the Renaissance Project. Mr. Chodur has been paid an unknown sum of money by the city, but a recent invoice he submitted was for nearly $24,000 (see below); he demanded Mason City taxpayers flip the bill for his flight from Honolulu to San Diego (that request was denied.)
Hotel struggles will not derail the project, Mr. Burnett promises, however. See below for more details.
Mason City Administrator Aaron Burnett’s Monthly Activity Report (for council meeting of Sept. 18, 2018):
Mayor and City Council Members, Community outreach and volunteering continue to be strong in the community. Last month the city hosted the ‘Touch a Truck’ event and had a great response from the public. This not only lets community members interact with the various vehicles and equipment in the city, but also allows citizens to get to know the employees in the departments.
Additionally, this month the Newman Catholic Schools held their Service Day with over 80 people cleaning, fixing and preserving various aspects of the cemetery. While these activities are very positive, we are losing the Volunteer Coordinator to new position outside the city. This position will be covered by Pam in the short term but will have to be filled before next spring to ensure volunteer efforts continue to be strong in Mason City.
The River City Renaissance Project developer has not provided the city with the requested documents and accordingly has been provided with a Default Notice. This notice informs G8 of the default and provides them with 45 days to cure the default. This timeframe runs out on October 22nd. Considering the prior communication and reluctance from G8 to provide the financial documents required, the city will likely have to issue a new request for proposals once this date passes. I recently spoke with Director Debi Durham and the IEDA remains committed to the project in spite of this delay.
The city departments continue to carry out their normal tasks. However, transit ridership was up this month and has been trending higher over the year. We continue to look towards reducing maintenance on operating costs while increasing ridership. Additionally, Staff continues to trim and remove trees. While the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has not been identified in town, it is only a matter of time. The efforts of staff will help mitigate the damage when the EAB is active in the community. The Operation ReLeafe Program which provides trees to Alliant Energy customers at a minimal cost is currently underway and forms are available in City Hall. These efforts have helped replace the lost trees in the community and keep the community beautiful.
The city’s Quiet Zones efforts hit a snag during the review from the Federal Rail Administration. Several new issues were identified and city staff is working to clear these hurdles so the Quiet Zones can be implemented as quickly as possible. The issues will likely require modifications to the actions already taken, but will likely not significantly delay the project.
Kevin is working with various departments on researching the city’s permitting and payment portals. Multiple departments believe that improvements can be made to our process and software. These improvements will likely create a better e government presence and a smoother interaction for citizens.
I attended the annual Iowa League of Cities Conference this week and was able to learn about new programs and policies from several other cities and agencies, including better interactions with citizens over the web, improved communication amongst staff, and addressing generation issues within the workforce just to name a few items. Council members Jaszewski and Symonds also attended this conference and can provide their insights if you are interested.
Lastly, two wonderful items of note. First, the Mason City Fire Explorers continues to be a strong program and placed 5th overall in the Governor’s Fire Explorer Competition. Second, the City staff assisted the efforts of the Kiwanis Clubs in the establishment of the Kiwanis Park and the installation of equipment. Please take time to visit the park as it is an amazing asset to the community.
Sincerely,
Aaron Burnett
City Administrator
