The Stuart City Council met in regular session Monday.

The meeting began with the Council adopting a snow removal ordinance upon the second reading, waiving the third. The ordinance states that from November 1st to April 1st, no vehicles of any kind will be parked on any public street, alley, or City owned off-street parking area between 2-6 a.m. Next, the Council approved the sale of a 1998 street department dump truck to Reliable Property Maintenance, Inc. of Spirit Lake for $11,650. They also approved the purchase of a “gator floatable” for a total cost of $10,907 to be taken from the aquatic center committee fund, and approved purchasing a security camera system from Southern Iowa Technologies, Inc. of Albia for $6,496.11.

The Council then directed Code Enforcement Officer Ed Leedom to direct any potential code violations to the Council instead of sending nuisance letters to the owner of the property at 308 North Harrison, as the owner was given 12 months time since last April to rehabilitate the property. Afterwards, the Council approved paying half of the annual $2,400 invoice from Tiernan Tech for website maintenance, which the other half is paid by the Stuart Chamber of Commerce. They then approved an hourly contribution rate increase of $.65 for Line Construction Benefit Fund members, taking effect January 1st. They also approved Stuart Economic Development Director Kristen Renslow’s proposal of the maximum affordable home price for Adair and Guthrie counties receiving low-to-moderate income funds from the blight housing program at $139,230 and $177,754, respectively.

Mayor Dick Cook then set the Halloween Beggar’s Night for October 31st from 5-6:30 p.m. downtown and 6-8 p.m. in residential. The Council then approved awarding the contract for infrastructure work for the All Saints Addition to Concrete Technologies, Inc. of Grimes, with a total base bid of about $1,323,885. Finally, the Council held several public hearings and then approved a resolution to take additional action on proposals to enter into a combined loan agreement. A special meeting will be held on October 28th at 6 p.m. regarding this loan agreement. They also approved amending their urban renewal area, adopted an ordinance providing for the division of taxes levied on taxable property in the addition to the urban renewal area, waiving the second and third readings, and approved setting two public hearing dates on November 12th for development agreements with Casey’s General Store and the Stuart Enterprise for Economic Development. Resident Kevin Guisinger also voiced his intention to run as a write-in candidate for council member seat at the November 5th election.