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1. Sesquicentennial fundraiser for city park projects

Michelle Podhajsky with Traer’s Sesquicentennial Committee, gave a committee update to members of the Traer City Council including Mayor Pete Holden during the regular council meeting on Monday, March 7. Podhajsky shared the committee would like to undertake a large fundraising project to kick off the 2023 sesquicentennial celebrations. The committee chose upkeep of Taylor Park as their focus which would include raising funds for ongoing gazebo upkeep, tree plantings, new playground equipment, driveway repair, restroom upgrades, and more. Fundraising would be routed through the Traer Community Foundation and would include online ways to donate. City clerk Haley Blaine shared in response to a question from the mayor that an individual had recently expressed an interest in donating funds to the city for a possible new playground. Podhajsky also shared in response to a council question that the idea of painting murals on downtown buildings was still being discussed by the committee but the idea was not ready to present to the council yet. Podhajsky asked for the council’s guidance as to whether the idea of fundraising for city park improvements should be pursued to which the council gave their blessing. The next meeting of the Traer Sesquicentennial Committee is set for Monday, March 21, beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Traer Historical Museum.

2. City property sale

An offer was made on one of the city’s lots – Lot No. 46 – out in Prairie West Addition which is located on the southwest edge of Traer. The buyer would like to close on the property on April 5, 2022. A motion was approved to hold a public hearing on the sale of the lot on March 28 at 7:00 p.m.

3. Sidewalk talk

During the public hearing held in regards to this year’s street improvement project along Walnut Street, Traer resident Kennan Seda addressed the council. Seda told the council he would like to see Walnut Street made “handicapped accessible.” Seda said parts of the street are ADA compliant, but near the school, the sidewalk is not, and often the North Tama School District “piles up the snow on the sidewalk” preventing access. “If we’re going to rip up Walnut Street,” Seda said, “that would be the one thing that really needs to be done. At least make one sidewalk handicap-accessible the whole way.” Council member Jon Panfil responded that there is no choice, when streets are redone, sidewalk intersections must be made ADA compliant. Resolutions approving the financing for the 2022 street improvement projects were subsequently approved by the council. Blaine then shared with the council current construction plans are to redo only those sidewalks that are already present along the planned construction route. The project’s engineers inquired as to whether the city would like to extend the sidewalk where it ends on the east side of Walnut Street at Iowana Street south to Toledo Street. The extension would add roughly $28,000 to $30,000 to the project, Blaine said. “I don’t know if it’s worth the money to put it on both sides of the road,” Panfil said. “There’s already one on the other side,” council member Matt Rausch replied. Following discussion, the council approved a motion to not replace the sidewalk on Iowana Street and to not extend the sidewalk any further on Walnut Street past Iowana Street.

4. Nuisance properties update

Blaine gave an update on the continuing work the city is undertaking to abate five nuisance properties in the Berlin Avenue area on the northeast edge of town. The properties are allegedly in violation of Chapters 50 and 51 of the City of Traer Municipal Code which includes violations of ordinances related to junk, trash, weeds, brush, overgrowth and vehicles/trailers/campers. Citations were previously issued to Mike Bradley, Carl Pearce, Rebecca Phillips, Philip Robinson, and James and Betty Harrison. All five parties were scheduled to make an initial appearance in magistrate court on Feb. 8 in regards to the citations. Only Robinson of Woodlawn Avenue appeared in court. Bradley, Pearce, and Phillips were ordered to pay a civil penalty of $750.00 plus court costs of $130.50 as well as to abate the nuisance. The Harrisons contacted the city ahead of the hearing and expressed interest in resolving the matter outside of court. City attorney Brent Lechtenberg was present during the March 7 council meeting to answer questions and advise the council. Notice to abate was drawn up by Lechtenberg for four of the five properties. Discussion ensued among the council as to how to proceed with the cleanup once the abatement notices are served. Blaine shared she has taken a series of photographs of the properties to document progress and no change has been observed on some of the properties. “I think you want to identify what you need to do [on each property to abate] and how long it would take you [to abate] if you were the one doing it,” Lechtenburg said. Mayor Holden said he believed it would take about 30 days. Lechtenberg advised the council to give the four properties until April 18, 2022, to abate the nuisance and avoid further fines. The decision as to how the properties will be cleaned up by the city if that becomes necessary will be made during the regular council meeting set for May 4.

Following the council meeting, a review hearing was held on March 9 in the civil infraction case against Philip Robinson. Per an agreement reached between the city and Robinson, the case was continued to May 24, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. The hearing will be canceled in the event the nuisance is abated prior to the hearing date. Both the city and Robinson agreed to communicate with each other in order to abate the nuisance prior to the hearing.

5. Traer Fire Dept. donation update

The Traer Fire Department’s new aerial ladder truck – a truck that was recently gifted to the city by a Cedar Falls city council member – is “mostly up and going,” council member Rausch shared. Rausch is also a member of the fire department. The donated truck is “functional now,” he said, but its pumpers need to be certified, as well as the ladder. The issue of where to store the truck continues as the truck does not fit inside the current fire station. Earlier in the meeting, council member Jamie Erhardt shared he and the mayor would be setting a date to meet with the owners of the former Traer Manufacturing building, Heartland Co-op. The building – located south of Traer on Hwy 63 – is in need of significant remediation since sustaining damage in the 2011 derecho. In 2012 the city was deeded the property by its parent company and in 2015, Heartland Co-op acquired the property from the city as well as a $200,000 remediation fund. The city of Traer has been working with Heartland to determine if the city could again acquire the property for use as a possible community building including a new fire station. “Let’s get that ball rolling. Keep rolling with it because we have a fire truck now,” Erhardt said of meeting with Heartland.