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City manager reports on staffing, antique mall demolition and façade grants
Summary
City Manager Bauer updated council on personnel plans (two additional firefighters and two police hires tied partly to COPS grant), progress on the long-delayed antique mall demolition with potential salvage of historic timbers, and facade-improvement applications with $250,000 available and roughly $150,000 requested to date.
City Manager Bauer used the council's Dec. 2 meeting to review several operational items and local projects.
On staffing, Bauer said the fire department currently has nine full-time positions filled and the draft 2026 budget includes two additional firefighter positions; the city is preparing to recruit and may use NTN testing to streamline civil-service testing for fire applicants. On police staffing he reported one open position with a candidate in final steps and said two additional officers are planned under a COPS grant. Regarding the COPS funding, Bauer explained the grant is generally a three-year award but agencies administering the grant have previously provided six-month to year-long extensions when turnover delays hiring, allowing municipalities time to replace officers and attach the grant to a new hire.
Bauer said contractor work on the long-delayed antique mall has begun and that demolition coordination with Algar Demolition is underway. Council members asked whether the front wall would remain; Bauer stated the entire structure is coming down but contractors may be able to salvage some hand-hewn timbers and bricks that could later be repurposed as a park feature. He said he had "snatched" an old brick from the chimney, which he believed may be original and more than 100 years old.
On economic development and facade improvements, Bauer said the facade-improvement application deadline recently passed with seven applications counted so far; the city has about $250,000 available and only about $150,000 requested to date. Bauer said a CIC meeting will review applicants and that the city could also apply the funds to properties it owns if council decides to do so.
Bauer also noted that the city will work with ICRC to produce promotional coverage of Christmas events and local businesses.
What happens next: Staff will follow up with recruitment steps for openings, coordinate salvage options for the antique mall demolition, and convene a CIC review meeting to decide facade-grant awardees.
