At the end of its final meeting of 2023, the Marshalltown city council received some clarification from City Administrator Joe Gaa on the legality and wording of an agreement with the Arts+Culture Alliance to provide a portion of the Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE) revenues to the organization for creative placemaking efforts.

Back in November, the council voted 4-3 to approve the agreement, and Gaa said he has since received confirmation from the city attorney that it is legal. Another lingering question has been exactly how much money will be distributed as it will ultimately depend on how much revenue the traffic cameras generate.

During a previous meeting, Gaa projected the figure at around $500,000 a year, and as a result, the original agreement committed up to $125,000 annually to the Alliance, up to $125,000 to police technology and up to $250,000 for community beautification and code enforcement. After conversing with Gaa, City Attorney Steve Leidinger then added a clarifying section noting that the Alliance will only receive the full amount if ATE revenues are sufficient to support them.

If the cameras generate less than $500,000 a year in the future, the Alliance will receive a flat 25 percent, and if they generate more than that, the organization will still be capped at a maximum of $125,000.

Mayor Pro Tem Mike Ladehoff then opened the floor up to council comments, and Councilor Greg Nichols, communicating remotely, said he appreciated the clarification but was still concerned that specific projects haven’t been presented. During the public comment period, Leigh Bauder said she liked to see art in the community and appreciated the work put into it, but, like Nichols, she also worried about the scope of the projects.

“If we’re committing the city to a five-year plan, what happens if we have that catastrophic event? We’ve seen them happen before. We’ve seen two major catastrophic events in the last five years,” she said. “Number two was listen to your constituents. It was very clear when I was out helping doing campaigning (for incoming Councilor Mark Mitchell), a lot of the constituents wanted roads and codes, which was Mark’s theme.”

Bauder added that according to the Alliance’s tax fillings in 2022, then-City Administrator Jessica Kinser was listed as the organization’s treasurer, and she expressed concern about a conflict of interest if Gaa potentially serves in a similar role now that the Alliance is receiving taxpayer money.

Councilor Gary Thompson sought additional clarification on language regarding “equal quarterly payments” depending on how much revenue is generated, and Gaa said the language simply says “four quarterly payments.”

“If at the end of the year, there’s not $125,000 (that’s) been paid out, but there’s not enough in the fund, then it doesn’t happen,” Gaa said.

Thompson then asked if the draft of the agreement Gaa had was different than the one provided to the council, and the one included in the council packet did stipulate “four equal payments.” Gaa then indicated that the change would be made.

Councilor Jeff Schneider asked Gaa how they got “this far down the path” without consulting the city attorney, and Gaa responded that it was a template they had used for other agreements in the past.

“I just don’t know if we had a big enough concern — again, they looked at it and said it was legal. This was just some extra added concerns that have come up along the way,” Gaa said. “This same format was approved in another agreement like a month before this.”

Thompson then referenced the fact that while the resolution the council passed specified ATE revenues funding the agreement, it wasn’t mentioned at all in the contract initially presented.

“I think that’s a major gaffe. We need stuff to come to us that’s ready, that’s bulletproof, so I guess in the future, I’d like to see things be a little more thought out before they rush to the council,” Thompson said.

A motion to approve the revised verbiage passed by a 5-2 vote with Thompson and Al Hoop opposed.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.