Travis Small, of Kwik Star's corporate office in Wisconsin, explained to city council a traffic study conducted by the company projects no significant increases in road traffic at its new west side location, but said the company would fund another study if required in future, and share in any costs to upgrade Overpass Drive to increase capacity or safety.

A full agenda awaited the City Council of Webster City at its first meeting of November Monday in council chambers at City Hall. Three key issues — a second Kwik Star store on Webster City’s west side, a new electric substation, and East Twin Park splash pad — received further council support.

Council passed a resolution to proceed with an agreement with Kwik Star for construction of its second Webster City convenience store. In the agreement, the city required the company to complete a traffic impact study assessing potential effects of increased road traffic in the neighborhood near Overpass Drive on the west side. The city had asked for several changes to the original agreement, but after discussion, these were dismissed.

Mayor John Hawkins seemed to capture the general feeling of the council, saying, “they (Kwik Star) gave us what we asked for,” a reference not only to the present agreement, but the general comportment of Kwik Star in its dealings with Webster City related to its first store on Fair Meadow Drive.

Traffic at that location, especially large semi truck/trailers entering and leaving U.S. Highway 20 to reach the store, has increased dramatically since its January 2019 opening.

Travis Small, representing Kwik Star, said the traffic study showed little traffic impact directly due to the new store, calling the new location “a neighborhood store on a quiet side of town.” The family-owned company operates more than 800 convenience stores in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and has been expanding rapidly in this territory in recent years.

A resolution authorizing up to $698,700 in engineering fees to be paid to DRG Engineering, Rock Rapids, the consultant working on the new Reisner electrical substation, to be located at the corner of Closz Drive and Millards Lane on Webster City’s southeast side, was approved. The new facility is needed to provide electricity to the planned new wastewater treatment plant, as well as companies in the industrial park.

It will also provide power for the “force main,” a pipeline planned to bring wastewater from the city’s present treatment plant on East Ohio Street to the new wastewater plant. As the line will run up grade, powerful electric pumps will be required for its operation. Reisner will completely replace the present Passwaters substation, whose key components are worn out, and must be replaced in any case. Total cost for the Reisner substation is now estimated to be $7,089,000, an increase of $419,000 over the $6,670,000 estimate in the city’s fiscal year 2024-2028 capital plan.

Fearing that the cost of the new substation, on top of the expected $79 million cost of the new wastewater treatment plant, might be more than the city and ratepayers can bear at one time, Hawkins asked if it was possible to “delay construction of the substation by even as little as two years, to allow us to raise more funds.”

In fact, electricity consumers in Webster City are not expected to be on the hook for the entire cost of the substation, as Corn Belt Electric Cooperative, of Humboldt, is expected to pay for up to 42% of the substation’s cost.

Action by the council directed the mayor to sign an agreement with the Iowa Economic Development Authority that will see the state contribute $55,000 to the Twin Park Splash Pad Project, if $239,762.37 can be raised locally within 90 days, or the city agrees to stand the cost itself.

The expected budget for the splash pad is $423,511. Assistant City Manager Biridiana Bishop, and Director of Parks & Recreation Breanne Lesher, who secured the Enhance Iowa Grant, have worked throughout the year to find grants to help pay for construction.

They’re currently working on a grant application to Enhance Hamilton County Foundation that would provide more funding for the splash pad project. At press time, private companies, individuals and the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors have pledged $183,750 toward completion of the project.

The council also approved the following actions;

. Allowed four change orders so Peterson Construction can continue renovation of the original Hamilton County courthouse in Wilson Brewer Historic Park. The change orders, involving material specifications for windows, cellar doors, posts and stairway framing, add $2,690 to the $235,100 budget. Work on the project began in July, and is scheduled for completion in January, 2024.

. Termination of an agreement with Koloni, Inc., Pocahontas, supplier of rental bicycles on the Brewer Creek and Boone River trails, and at Briggs Woods Park, and software allowing patrons to use credit cards for short-term bike rentals.

This project, intended to promote tourism in Hamilton County, has not met expectations, as actual bicycle rentals declined from 298 in 2021 to 132 thus far in 2023. Obtaining parts to repair the bicycles, and difficulty in resolving software issues with Koloni, were further motivations to discontinue the bike rental facilities. The bicycles have also been the target of vandals.

. Agreed to an amendment to the street department’s adopted budget to pay up to $30,000 to Murphy Tractor and Equipment Co., Fort Dodge, to repair the city’s John Deere roadgrader. The grader is the only such machine in the city’s fleet, and is essential to the city’s ability to remove snow from streets. These repairs would ordinarily have been done in-house, but the resignation of mechanic Cole Youngdale, and possibility of winter weather at any time, requires the work be completed as soon as possible.

. Approved the FY23 Street Finance Report, which shows funds received and spent on street maintenance and improvement during the year. This report must be submitted to the Iowa Department of Transportation by December 1 each year. During fiscal year 2023 the city took in revenue of $6,121,439, and spent $5,401,791 for local street maintenance and improvement.

. Approved the Annual Urban Renewal Report for fiscal year 2022-23, which must be submitted to the Iowa Department of Management by December 1 each year. The report shows revenues and expenditures for residential, industrial, schools, and commercial development and renewal in the city each year.

. Accepted the resignation of City Manager Daniel Ortiz-Hernandez.