The Panora City Council approved a resolution to reset the public hearing date for the maximum property tax dollars and levy for fiscal year 2021 at their recent meeting.

City Administrator Lisa Grossman explained that this was needed due to an error in publishing the notice of the hearing. It will now be held on March 9th, followed by a public hearing for the proposed budget on March 23rd. The Council then discussed how hiring is coming along for an open electric operations assistant position. Grossman told the Council that she has one qualified applicant scheduled for an interview. The Council and Mayor Patrick Parker discussed how to expand their advertising for the position, and Grossman said she would follow up on their suggestions.

Grossman then informed the Council of an initial housing query she did on the City, mapping every parcel, “I got my totals and you know residential, I did it by vacant, owner-occupied, abandoned, just lots only, commercial, and if it’s apartments, number of units.”

Grossman is now in the process of comparing that with the City’s utility billing software for exact counts on rental units. She’s also meeting this week with representatives from Panora Telco, Midwest Partnership Economic Development, Region XII Council of Governments, and the housing committee to explore opportunities for prison-built housing. Grossman also told the Council to expect an upcoming proposal from her and Panora Emergency Medical Services Director Joe Hupp on increasing funding from townships served.