City commission discusses use of downtown improvement grant

By Jessica LeDuc
Blade staff writer
Using downtown improvement grant money for a new building was the topic of discussion during a routine Concordia City Commission meeting Wednesday night.
Concordia City Manager Larry Uri asked the Commission to interpret the downtown improvement policy so as to allow the awarding of a $5,000 grant to Josh Trimble for a stone façade on a new Quality Monuments building he plans to construct at the corner of 6th and Broadway.
The purpose of the policy, implemented in 2008, is to augment the redevelopment activities of the downtown area and ensure further economic development and revitalization of the area. Uri said the policy allows for matching grants for "the repair, replacement or other improvement of exteriors." He said his interpretation of the "other improvement" section would allow for a grant for the new building.
To participate in the program the property owner is required to contribute no less than 10-percent of the total project. Uri said Trimble's match would be building the new building. 
When asked by Commissioner Lyle Pounds whether the policy was intended for new buildings, Uri said it was hard to say what the intent was when the program was implemented. Since its inception in 2008, he said, staff has never dealt with a new downtown building.
"We probably had old buildings in mind," Uri said. "If they had wanted to exclude new buildings it would have that language in the policy."
Kirk Lowell, CloudCorp executive director, said the grant program's review committee was not sure if the language in the policy applied to new buildings, so it referred it to the Commission for clarification.
Lowell said there is a balance of $21,200 in the grant fund, and three applicants have requested approximately $13,000 for improvements, which would leave enough for Trimble's application. The mission of the policy, he said, was to revitalize the downtown area. He also said it isn't often that someone will build a new downtown building.
Commissioners Gary Fraser and Pounds said they are not in favor of using grant money for a new building.
"I don't mind fixing up the older buildings, but this doesn't seem quite right to me," Fraser said. "I don't think we should use taxpayer money to build a new building."
Each year, the Commission allocates money to the grant fund. Pounds said he also doesn't favor using tax dollars.
"It's hard for me to support a business’ using taxpayer dollars in the downtown, but not along the highway," he said.
No action was taken, and the issue will be brought back to the Commission during the next meeting's study session.
A public hearing was conducted for an unsafe and dangerous structure at 304 East 16th. The property, owned by Carrol and Patricia Sleffel, was damaged by fire last year.
City Building Inspector Bruno Rehbein determined the structure should be condemned and ordered repaired or demolished. Rehbein said Carrol Sleffel contacted him Tuesday and asked for an additional 90 days before deciding what to do with the property.
Rehbein said his recommendation was that Sleffel be given 60 days to start the process to either repair the structure or demolish it, which the Commission approved.
During new business, the Commission approved restructuring a Concordia Revolving Loan for Buy The Book.
Uri said the borrowers had requested that the monthly loan payment be lowered from $456 a month to $215 a month. That would extend the loan's repayment schedule from 37 months to 84 months.
The Commission had no objection to the restructuring, and approved the request.
During public comments, Lucille Blecha presented her January water bill, which was more than five times higher than her normal bill. She said city staff had told her that according to her water meter– which is new –there was a period of five days where she used 40,000 gallons of water.
"No one can use that much water in five days," she said.
Uri said the new meter can provide daily printouts, and it indicated Blecha had increased water usage for five days, and then it returned to normal. He said that is indicative of a toilet left running.
Blecha said she never noticed a running toilet, and had a plumber inspect the residence, who found no water leaks.
According to the recently revamped water leak policy, the city will only negotiate with a customer on their water bill if a leak is unexplainable.
"We don't feel this is an instance where it's (the leak) unexplainable," Uri said.
Later in the meeting, Commissioner Charles Johnson asked if the Commission was going to address Blecha's issue. He made a motion to allow her to pay her average bill, and the city would write off the rest of it. His motion died for lack of a second.
Fraser said the Commission needed to follow its policy, and couldn't make exceptions every time a customer was unhappy with a water bill.
"We just changed the policy, and if we do this, we'll have to change it again," he said.
No action was taken.
The Commission adjourned to a study session to discuss housing chickens in the city limits, water billing policy and a maintenance contract with Hood Heating, Air, Plumbing and Electric.

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