Anyone who’s ever applied for funds from Webster City’s Hotel-Motel Tax Board knows there’s a well-established procedure before funds are granted.

The process is meticulously laid out in the board’s 14-page manual. It stipulates that funds must be used to promote a destination, attraction or event, in or near Webster City, that has the likelihood of attracting visitors.

Jamie Griffith, Hamilton County Fair Board secretary, and Zach Williams, Hamilton County Fair Board president, asked the City Council of Webster City in June for an annual grant of $10,000 from the hotel/motel tax fund.

The appeal was unusual in that it was made directly to the council rather than the Hotel-Motel Tax Board, but it was nonetheless approved on Monday.

Since 2008, the Hotel-Motel board has awarded the fair $65,536 for capital improvements, funds to support a rodeo at the 2020 fair when it was believed a special event was required to turn-out pandemic-era audiences, and $100,000 for an addition to the event center in 2022.

Since its creation, the Hotel-Motel Tax Board has awarded an average of $111,751.73 a year. It makes an average $4,223.50 annually in interest on certificates of deposit. Its present balance is $105,232.90. All funds come from taxes charged to overnight guests in Webster City hotels.

In other business, the council:

— Held a first reading to amend the Municipal Code of the City of Webster City related to off-street parking requirements. The measure lists acceptable surfacing materials for off-street parking spaces, including concrete, asphalt or a combination thereof.

— Heard a first reading amending the Code regarding controlled access facilities. The new language regulates when, and where, access (i.e. driveways) to city streets is allowed, as well as the width of driveways. The measure must pass two more readings before it can be formally adopted.

— Held a first reading of a proposed amendment to the Code which deals with “special 45 mile-per-hour speed zones.” Due to narrow shoulders on Clark Mollenhoff Drive from east Second Street to a point 1,300 feet north of east Second Street, speed limits will be reduced from the present 55 mph to 45 mph in the interest of safety and to bring it into compliance with statewide regulations.

— Passed the third and final reading of an ordinance establishing new rates for electrical energy sold by the City of Webster City. A 3% increase in usage rates will take effect August 1. In 2026, and in subsequent years, rates are expected to rise 1% each year on August 1, as has been the custom in recent years.

— Voted to close out the 2022 Electrical Underground Conversion Project as the project is now complete.

— Awarded a contract for $88,555 to test equipment at Reisner Electrical Substation, presently under construction on the city’s southeast side, to Electric Power Systems of Minneapolis. Testing will begin in October, 2025, and conclude at the end of January, 2026.

— Agreed to take possession of another vacant and abandoned home at 1308 Willson Avenue. Utilities haven’t been provided to the home for six months and, under city code, it is “not fit for occupancy.” The city was awarded deed to the property in court on June 30. The home was previously owned by John Michael Ellis, and Calvary SPVI, LLC.