The biggest thing to happen at this week’s Tama City Council meeting was the hiring of a new City Attorney. Thomas Hillers, a lawyer out of State Center, answered questions and talked about himself for a few moments before the council decided to bring him on. Jumping right in, cowboy boots and all, Hillers took his seat at the table and advised on the rest of the legal issues for the rest of the meeting.

Associate professor and part-time developer John Anderson and Jerimi Kopsa, who has a finance banking background, talked to the council on Monday. The duo knows that Tama-Toledo is in need of housing and wishes to move forward, jointly with the city, to erect a new 30-40 unit apartment complex. One possible location for the complex would be next to the Elementary. Anderson and Kopsa stated that they have spoken to Iowa Premium and that they are all for the complex, also that some grants would be available to cover the costs of the building. The council approved moving forward with the project.

The Dollar General was on the agenda to secure a commitment from the council that if they closed on the property to build a new store past the American Legion, that they’d be allowed to have driveway access. The Dollar General stated that after closing they want to be up and running at least 120 days later. The council approved the driveway access.

117 Siegel St., also known as the old Paper Mill, was approved for rental advertisements and contracts. A bid was approved to install walls in the warehouses to create bays, which will individually be rented out. A bid from Thomas Company to work on the warehouse’s electrical was approved. Larry Thomas abstained from voting.

Several properties currently owned by the city were put up for sale, and 103 acres of farmland owned by the city was rented to Troy Cline to farm.

One of the Life Pac 15s that Jimmy Hicklin, head of Tama EMS, bought in a two-for-one deal was sold to the city of Gillman for $10,000. Hicklin told the council that the city of Gillman is currently in the process of starting up its own EMS service.

In Hicklin’s EMS update to the council, he said that call volume is up and everything is going well. With the money coming in from the transfers they’ve been doing, EMS is only $30,000 away from paying off their new ambulance.

The water department had a good survey with the DNR. The police department reported having received 349 calls. In a recent altercation with a suspect, a squad car was damaged, but the officer was unharmed. The department will also soon start testing two applicants for the open officer position.

A payment for the Wastewater Bar Screen was approved. A public hearing was held to approve an FY24 budget amendment.