County to set up Keokuk urban renewal area

LEE COUNTY – As Lee County continues to rebuild the County EMS ambulance service, facilities again were on the agenda Monday.
Supervisors voted at their regular meeting to have County Auditor Denise Fraise begin to look at designating property in Keokuk as an urban renewal district to allow for additional bonding to generate funding for the project.
Supervisor Tom Schulz said preliminary estimates on the proposed building were in the neighborhood of $1.4 million, but he said work is underway to reduce that estimate substantially.
The building is scheduled to be constructed on the property where the former facility was. The county earlier this year purchased two additional lots to build the structure.
Creating the urban renewal district is a step the county also took with the property donated by the Glen Meller family for the new Lee County Health Department.
The move allows the county to bond without going to a full election. Changes in Iowa property tax laws signed by the governor this year move all bond elections to the November general election. Any bonding done for county property goes on the county’s debt service levy which is paid for out of property taxes.
“We had always planned on bonding for a portion of that. However, the law doesn’t allow us to bond for a portion and pay for a portion without a citizens' vote unless it’s in an urban renewal district,” Schulz said.
Schulz said they don’t have a firm number on the cost of the project, but the county can bond up to $950,000 under the new law without going to a vote of the county residents.
Supervisors Matt Pflug said the doesn’t like to take the voter out of the equation.
“However, this is something that’s gotta be done,” he said.
Budget Director Cindy Renstrom said starting July 1, the county has to send out a letter with the bond question to every voter in the county, which she said would likely double the cost of the election in November.
Schulz made a motion to allow Fraise to work with the county’s bond counsel to get the urban renewal project underway. The motion passed 3-0 with supervisors Chuck Holmes and chairman Garry Seyb both absent.
In a related issue, the board approved replacing two part-time EMTs and one part-time paramedic to offset rising costs of overtime in the ambulance service.
“We have part-time EMTs positions that are open right now that we’ve been putting off filling,” said Mark Long, EMS Director.
“We’re to a point where we’re paying more in OT to full-timers.”
He said it’s about $3 per hour cheaper to have a part-time paramedic fill a position than an EMT. The positions are not new positions, but replacement positions.
Supervisors also approved a second reading of the traffic enforcement ordinance to allow speed cameras to be placed on county highways. Along with that was the second reading approval of a related ordinance setting how revenue collected from the speed cameras will be allocated.
Both measures need one more vote and approval before the ordinance takes effect and the speed cameras can be mounted.