The Boone City Council has decided to forego a March 7, 2023 public vote that would ask residents for $10 million to build a wellness center at McHose Park.
Instead, the city will form a task force to determine where a potential new center could be located. Canceling the vote is one of several steps the Boone City Council is taking to move toward stabilizing the city’s economic viability and growth in 2023.
Mayor John Slight told the City Council at its goal setting workshop Dec. 6 he’s almost done setting up the task force. And now, he said, the issue has grown from just deciding a location: The city also is considering establishing a recreation department.
The city had eliminated the recreation department and instead worked with the YMCA to provide community recreation services. The YMCA closed in 2019 after 14 years in Boone, and the city has been without a coordinated recreation program since.
After its closure, the city tried to build a center with a pool, an elevated track and a gymnasium for pickleball, volleyball and basketball that proponents said were needed amenities. But in March, Boone voters shot down a referendum to bond for a wellness center. The bond would have included a 2% increase to residents’ electric bills.
The City Council decided this summer to try again, this time without the franchise fee.
The City Council met with the parks commission Nov. 14 to get its input on building the wellness center, also called a recreation center, in McHose Park. Instead, commissioners strongly said they see a need for a city recreation department.
City leaders said at the November meeting the reason for building a recreation center is to attract new homeowners and businesses to Boone. They said having a community recreation center with a running track, indoor pool and recreation facilities has become a standard requirement for communities wanting to secure economic development and growth. Boone’s population has declined slightly over the last 10 years, according to census data.
Slight said the council decided to appoint a task force because a group of citizens approached the city last summer willing to help bring the rec center to reality. The task force also will be asked to consider hiring a recreation director.
The task force should be set up in 2023.
Boone City Council’s goals in 2023 and 2024: abatement, sidewalks and parks
Also on Dec. 6, the City Council reviewing its current and future goals.
The first goal for the current fiscal year 2023 also became the top goal for fiscal year 2024: dealing with residential property abatement. The council also decided to add commercial properties to the program next year.
Boone wants to address properties that have fallen into disrepair or have become a nuisance. So far this year, the city has been involved in four residential demolitions, City Manager Bill Skare told the council. The land at 722 Ringold St. has been sold, and Skare said the new owner plans to build three to four duplexes on the property.
Since the fiscal year started July 1, the city already has had 101 nuisance abatement complaints. One of the council’s recent changes was to increase fines for nuisance complaints to $50 for the first offense and $200 for each additional offense.
That has helped cut complaints down, Skare said. “And it’s allowed us to fund the community officer budget, not the salaries, but the expenses,” he said.
Also this year, the city set aside seed money to encourage residents to put in new sidewalks. So far, no one has applied for a grant that would pay 25% of the cost.
Skare said the program is an economic development incentive that raises property values and makes the community more attractive to potential residents and business owners.
“Why isn’t anyone applying for this?,” council member Linda Williamson asked.
Skare shrugged his shoulders and shook his head in response.
“Generally, it’s a hard sale to convince someone to put in a new sidewalk,” he said. “The property owner has to be willing to invest some money into their property and sometimes that’s a hard sale.”
The council decided to also add existing sidewalk repair to the grant program for fiscal year 2024.
Also on its list for fiscal year 2024, which starts July 1, is a plan to review the city’s parks and determine their best use.
“I don’t want to stir it up, but since we have 17 parks, is it possible that maybe — I know this isn’t a popular thing — but if we reviewed our 17 parks and reduced them and fixed up a couple and really make them nice, like with some special-needs equipment?,” Williamson said.
Slight agreed. “We don’t need 17 parks,” he said.
Skare said there already was an effort to identify unused parks and consider selling the land. That money would then be used to buy better equipment for the remaining parks.
“We’ve identified a couple that I know for a fact don’t get any use,” Slight said.
The council did not provide a list of those parks at the meeting.
Its members also discussed sprucing up the dog park and directed Skare to find a use for the empty fields near the Goldthwaite-Garvey Family Resource Center on Eighth Street.
Teresa Kay Albertson covers politics, crime, courts and local government in Ames and central Iowa for the Ames Tribune and Des Moines Register. Reach her on Twitter @TeresaAlberts11 and at talbertson@registermedia.com, 515-419-6098.