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At tonights regularly scheduled meeting, the City Council members of Webster City will hold a first reading of a new rental housing ordinance. This is in response to poor living conditions reported in some residential rental units, and this ordinance has been proposed by city staff as a step in resolving this issue. Those affected by the new ordinance, landlords and tenants are encouraged to attend the meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
As required by Iowa law, the measure must pass two more public readings before it becomes part of the Code of Webster City, the body of laws which regulate local matters.
Separately, Council will consider whether to spend an estimated $718,000 on a substantial rebuilding of Hillcrest Drive, and just over $1,000,000 to resurface several streets with hot melt asphalt. If approved, both projects would be completed next summer.
Hot Melt Asphalt (HMA) has been Webster City's preferred method of resurfacing streets with low and medium-density traffic. In a typical HMA project, degraded curbs and gutters are repaired or completely replaced, the existing street is milled to a depth of about two inches, then new asphalt is poured and leveled. With proper maintenance, such streets can last 25 years, depending on traffic and annual freeze-thaw cycles.
The largest HMA repaving in recent years took place in 2025, when major projects on Fair Meadow Drive and South Willson Avenue were completed. The city paused HMA paving in 2026, focusing instead on concrete paving projects. Concrete, specifically Portland Cement Concrete, (PCC), is only economically feasible for use on streets with heavy traffic, including Second, Superior and Beach Streets in Webster City.
Other matters on the Council's agenda tonight include:
• an annual review of fees for services provided by city departments. The Police Department is seeking an increase in its fee for motorists requiring police assistance to unlock car doors, from the present $25, to $50. The fee for appealing a zoning decision by the city will rise from $150 to $175, and the Fire Department will implement increased fees to deal with nuisance calls. An example of a nuisance call would be the repeated calls to the same address for small fires, mostly related to carelessness in cooking.
•an offer to purchase a city-owned lot at 1110 John Street, by new owners of an adjacent home, who wish to increase the size of their yard.
•a review of the Railport Planning & Development study commissioned by the city two years ago. The study finds no immediate need for a new facility allowing rapid transfer of freight from rail to highway transportation, or vice-versa, but recommends the city be prepared to proceed should an industry, whether already here, or proposing to relocate here, requires such service.