The Jefferson City Council met Tuesday night in regular session.

Most of the meeting was a presentation and public comments about the proposed multi-cultural resource center with Greene County Development Corporation. Past President Sid Jones laid out the annual budget of $97,000 to fund a director and the program for years 2-4, after receiving a federal grant that would cover the first year’s expenses and director salary. Jones said they received over $76,000 from eight major employers, 17 small businesses, 22 individuals and the Greene County School District. Several people had concerns after the presentation was made. The Council approved pledging $5,000 per year for three years and allowing the director to be housed in the lobby area of City Hall. The Council also approved the GCDC funding request of $50,000. 

During open forum Sue Bose accused Greene County Development Corporation Executive Director Ken Paxton of bullying as she read a couple of excerpts from a letter he sent to an individual that Bose did not disclose. There were four other people that spoke against two housing projects, one with Kading Properties and another with KCG for a 30-40 apartment project south of Ace Hardware. Some of the issues that were brought up about the Kading project is the negative reviews and the management was horrible from an individual’s previous experience in Ames, while issues about the KCG project were about putting additional strains of assets and adding to the other proposed housing of having too much and not enough people to fill them. The Council took no action following the public’s comments.

The Council then approved all appointments of city staff positions, council committee assignments,  naming the official newspaper for 2024 as the Jefferson Herald, and other boards and commissions as presented for 2024. Next, the Council approved two changes of a CEO position for grants that were awarded to The Centennial and Public Adventures with Mayor Craig Berry authorized to sign grant forms. Then the Council approved several applications, one for Tim Heisterkamp who purchased the corner building at 101 East Lincoln Way for the facade grant and a forgivable loan, as well as the Courtyard on State Street, next to the Sierra Community Theater, for a forgivable loan with Greg Hacker.  

The Council also approved two applications for funding to have 100-percent of the environmental and asbestos studies done at the former Junkyard Cafe that Home State Bank now owns and needs to do before they can sell it. They also set January 24th as the public hearing date for a proposed rezoning for the KCG rental housing project south of Ace Hardware. 

The Council then approved an amendment to the Neighborhood Improvement Incentive Program to a maximum of $4,000 a homeowner could apply for exterior home improvements, the third reading to amend an ordinance to would exempt the dog park and animal shelter of disturbances from barking dogs, increasing dog licensing fees to $10, a resolution for a memorandum of understanding about the police union agreeing to increase wages for officers, implementing employee assistance program and the substance abuse policy for employees with CDLs as covered by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the 11th pay estimate of $434,483 to Shank Construction for the Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvement Project, and the fourth pay estimate of $128,998 to Jensen Builders for the airport hangar project.