Let’s Talk Newton – Newton Mayor Randy Ervin

0:00Welcome to today's Let's Start Newton Power by the Niceville Raceway. I'm Randy Van. Joining us now we have Mayor Randy Urban, another city council meeting earlier this week Randy and some good things come out of it. One of the most notable things pertains to the rail park and I know it's something you guys worked on for months. A lot of people were involved but you guys that state certified that 367 acres I believe out there on the northeast side of town. That's a big accomplishment for everybody involved with that project. We've been working hard like you said last summer having late meetings and meetings to agree on things and what needs to come first but one of the things that we've worked on consistently from the beginning was to get this state certified by the state of Iowa and a lot of people is going to ask well what good does that do us that what that does is it allows the state of Iowa as they go to different trade shows and different meetings it allows them an opportunity to push into market this project for us. So a good example of that is as I said

1:03in the council meeting the other night the city of Bondarant recently was awarded an opportunity to build a new plant for a pellet company and that entire process was driven because the site in Bondarant was state certified. A lot of people they don't want to miss around looking to see if they have utilities they don't want to miss around to see if they have sewer the water or the city wants them or doesn't want them they want to be able to pick it up and look at the site and go yeah they're shovel ready we're interested in that site. So a company as as they often do we'll go to the state of Iowa and say okay where can we go that shovel ready electric ready water ready and has all the amenities they need and where do we go to that and now we will be able to do that same thing with the Newton rail park which is just north of Newton and we're one of the few sites that has the railroad part of the industry and one that a lot of people throughout the country is looking at. Also at the meeting we heard a presentation

2:06from Brad Spahn-Celler the Gulf Pro out at Westwood Gulf Course and they've been looking course with the new clubhouse expecting more visitors there it's open year-round now so they were hiring another person they decided to go with a little less involvement there. One of the things that we're really working hard on is where can we cut I know that's a discussion for a lot of people when we talk about things like property taxes and franchise fees they want to know what's the city of Newton doing to curb our cost and this is just a great example of going to Nick and the group at the park and wreck and saying hey let's look at your budget is this point or is this point necessary and Brad Spahn-Celler did an excellent job last night of saying hey maybe we don't need a second pro maybe what we need is an assistant manager that can help us have more events year-round I know this is the first year that with the golf simulators that we've had activities out there all winter long so that's a that's a pretty big task for Brad and his team out there

3:12so the thought to add somebody it is a lesser pay scale so we're not spending the full amount of money but I think it's a very responsible answer from Brad and Nick in the park group. Yeah and that place is getting a rave reviews and so now it has a shelter out there on the patio too. It is it's a beautiful facility over his look it's a whole number one you can watch people tee off you get done with 18 you come up the hill grab yourself a beverage and you can sit out under the shade and just enjoy the weather the atmosphere it's if you haven't been back out to the golf golf course in a while take a drive out there have a soda or a sandwich and just enjoy the atmosphere it's a pretty cool place yeah here the boots pretty good so I'll have to check that out soon also we're losing a long time person in the financial department here and this phrasier is headed off to retirement and her position I understand it's going to be filled as well that's a compliment waiting to happen because Lisa is phenomenal and the seven years I've

4:18been part of the city council I've never not reached out to her and said hey I'm wondering if finance could do it this way or I wonder if this would change the finance outlook and within literally minutes most of the time Lisa will have that information she's a great resource for the city of Newton and really one of the best that as a mayor I can count on at all times but thanks for her she's been blessed with an opportunity to retire and we all hope to get there someday so good for her now the great news in that is we decided a few years ago that we didn't want Lisa to walk out and not have anybody prepared for that position so we've been working hard with Candace Streeter she's worked exclusively on the budget and other things this year to make sure she's ready to go and she can do that under the tutelage of Lisa so now what we're going to do is as Lisa retires and enjoys her life we're going to make Candace into the new Lisa and then what we'll do is we'll change pay grades we'll also not replace Candace so what that does is again

5:21like we talked about earlier we're going to cut a full-time staff person a full-time equivalent if you will but at the same time we thought about this a few years ahead of time and we're prepared for this move Randy and we thank you for your comments and hope you have a good rest of your week thanks Randy that has been today's let's talk new with Newton Mayor Randy Irwin powered by the Knoxville Raceway make the short drive down highway 14 for the best dirt track racing around the spring car capital of the world committee or let's talk Newton programs you can find them online daily at caniankrless.com or wherever you subscribe to get your podcasts again that's today's let's talk new