The public is invited to share their questions, comments and concerns during a public hearing in regards to a request from the Nudgers that asks the City of Perry to guarantee their loan to continue work at 1314-1316 Second Street.
City Administrator Butch Niebuhr says a few years ago, many people thought the historic building should just be tore down, but the Nudgers have worked to bring it back to life. And the city has helped with the project in various ways as well.
“One of the last things we got out of our (Iowa) Great Places initiative was some funds to stabilize that building in our downtown. The Great Places gave some money to put a new roof on that to keep it from deteriorating any further. And then when we came into the Neighborhood Stabilization Program we found that we could target some money toward the Nudgers for the living area on the second floor” says Niebuhr.
And so now the City is asked to help see the project through to completion.
“The City has some interest in that building now because we’ve put some money into it through our programs, although it didn’t come out of the general fund, it didn’t come out of any other department but it came through our grant programs that we have. So what the bank is asking us to do as a city is to use our bonding capacity to guarantee their note until they can do their work. Once they can do the work they can collect on the tax credits and pay that off and then get the city out from under that.”
The public hearing will take place during the next regular City Council meeting on Monday, May 5th at 6pm in the Clarion Room of the Security Bank Building.