Let’s Talk Newton – Newton Mayor Randy Ervin

Welcome 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

in 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

from 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

so 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

been 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

like 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

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