Grant City Building Commission to Tear Down Nielsen Building on West Side of Square

The Grant City Building Commission, which consists of members of the Grant City Council, will tear down the Nielsen Building on the west side of the square at city expense and assess the costs to the owners. The ownership of the building has been in limbo since the death of Ken Nielsen. The city will act as soon as they hear back from their city attorney as well as the DNR. The DNR will expedite the request. The building has not had taxes paid on it for the last 20 years. It has been purchased through tax sales, but has never had a collectors' deed issued to it. It has sat for the last 20 years falling apart.

Councilman Dennis Downing reported to the council that work crews doing the Downtown Renovation Project were helpful and were going out of their way to ensure access to buildings during the construction of the new sidewalks. A meeting was held last Tuesday with business owners.

The proposed service contract with the Worth County Sheriff's office was discussed again. A proposed contract with Sheriff Terry Sheddrick was presented but it was never signed by Sheddrick. The city used to pay $9,000 per year for a deputy's salary as well as money for patrol car expenses, but there has not been money in the budget for it in recent years. Councilwomen Catherine Runde said she brought it up because of a recurring problem with the Grant City Ambulance going the wrong way on the Square at an extremely high rate of speed. Runde wanted to change the ordinance; as written now, it allows the ambulance to go the wrong way on the Square, but that it has to be operated in a safe manner. She said that she had called the Sheriff's office about the ambulance going the wrong way on the square without result and that it had happened 5-6 times within the last year. She said that she wanted to change the ordinance to where it could only go the wrong way if there was no other way. She said that there was a danger that someone would get run over or that there would be a car accident. Mayor Debbie Roach said that there was another danger that if someone was on the street, they would have a hard time getting off if there were a lot of cars parked. Runde said that funeral processions from Andrews Funeral Home were different because it was arranged in advance and that the Sheriff's department blocked the roads before the procession started and that traffic went slowly.

Scott Davidson will start this week on constructing the new bathhouse to the pool if weather permits. The city will remove some concrete and do leveling work; the council voted to purchase a list of plumbing and building supplies for the new bathhouse.

The city will bid out asphalt for the Nature Trail. Public Works Director Carl Staton and Clerk Ayvonne Morin will draw up a list of specifications.

Staton reported that city crews have read meters, built new dog cages, and begun blading and picking trash off the streets. The school will have a community service day where students will pick trash off the streets. The council authorized Staton to get cold patch to repair potholes and to get the best possible price.

Holly Baxley reported that there were a lot of visitors to the business listings and that she would put Worth County Progress Organization info on the site for people to look at. She will create a Sesquicentennial page for both the city and the county.

The council voted to solicit bids for various repairs of City Hall. Work to be done includes installing new doors, putting up new signage, and repairing the leaky ceiling in the back of the building.

The city is awaiting a legal services agreement regarding the bond issue. Parnell has signed their contract with the city with no changes in expenses. The Rural Water District will have a minimum payment in their new contract; they had not had one before.

Councilman Dennis Downing reported that while doing business with Midwest Data, he had toured their headquarters in Rockport. He was given a picture with a view from the new tower south of town from 250 feet up. The new tower will increase Internet speed for grantcity.net customers.

Gina and Craig McNeese have offered to manage the pool on a volunteer basis this year, which will free up money for the pool. The city will set up a meeting with them.

Insurance needs for the city were discussed in the wake of the fire. A big question was replacement of the buildings if any of them were destroyed in a fire similar to the Square Fire. The buildings are all insured, but the question is if they are insured enough and if all of the lost inventory could be replaced in event of a major disaster. The city has a fireproof box that they could put a few things in and Midwest Data backs up all their data offsite so that the city could recover their data in the event of a disaster.