Resident asks council about commercial site

Riverside resident Mike Slagel representing his wife and sister-in-law who own a Scandinavian Furniture Store in Iowa City, asked the Riverside council Monday about a possible site in the city-owned commercial tract along Highway 22.
He explained that the owners would like to move the business to Riverside, where they live, but would like to purchase less than an acre. To date, Riverside has sold only acre parcels in the site.
Slagel said plans would call for a 6,000 to 7,000 square foot building and asked if the council would consider selling perhaps a half acre. His request came during citizen time and the council asked him to return at another meeting with a proposal.
In a related matter, city engineer Mike Hart said that site preparation is underway for the road into the commercial site to provide access to where the new University of Iowa Community Medical services clinic will be built. Hart said that the street site plan is “okay”. The council approved the clinic site review plan from Shive-Hattery.
Another plan did not fare well when the council found that bids for a covering structure over the UV area at the city maintenance building came in well over the budgeted $40,000. Bids were $46,507 from Stumpf Construction and $48,827 from McCreedy-Ruth. They did not include cost of electrical work which had been part of the estimate in the initial budgeting.
City worker Kevin Engel said the city still needs to cover the UV area, even if there is not a building. He stressed the area needs to be protected. The covering was part of the original plan for the building, but was cut when budget reductions had to be made. The council discussed possible rebidding, but took no action.
In other business, the council:

• set 6:45 p.m. June 1, for a public hearing on the sanitary sewer inflow and infiltration program and obtaining funds from the State Revolving (loan) Fund. Total project cost is estimated at $1.5 million with $700,000 obtained from the Clean Water SRF Fund. The loan will be bonded through General Obligation Bonds. Plans involve lining for about 25 percent of the cityÕs sewer system, as well as well as other improvements and extensions;
• set 6:45 p.m. Monday, May 18 for a public hearing on amending the 2008-09 budget;
• received Star Trek cereal boxes from Riverside Area Community Club (RACC) member Carolyn Hudson who told the council “We are a town with a future”;
• learned that Engel has set the second week in May for local science students to tour the city’s new wasterwater plant;
• learned that the cement under the bleaches for the ball fields in Hall Park is nearly done, but there were problems with individuals writing their names in the wet concrete and there were other difficulties because practices were held at the fields when they should not have been scheduled. There also has been vandalism in the park restrooms; and
• held an hour-long closed session with Attorney Dean Spina who represents the city in its contesting of the Revenue Sharing Agreement signed with the county in December, 2005. Spina is preparing a statement regarding the matter and the county’s response to his March 11 letter that called the agreement “void and unenforceable” because it amounted to a constitutional debt that exceeded the city’s debt limit. The agreement calls for Riverside to pay the county $175,000 annually for ten years as part of the debt repayment of $9.4 million in revenue bonds issued by the county on behalf of the city to pay for major water and wastewater infrastructure improvements necessitated by the building of the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort. The debt repayment is from TIF revenue, and the $175,000 is drawn from the $1,750,000 the city receives from the Casino each year. The county sought the payment to help offset the use of TIF money.