T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Marshalltown City Council At-Large candidate Scott McLain discusses issues and possible solutions facing Marshalltown. He and the other three at-large candidates — Tim Bradbury, Sue Cahill and Jeff Schneider — participated in a debate, along with mayoral candidates Mike Ladehoff and Gary Thompson, at the Marshalltown Public Library last night.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series on the Marshalltown City Council candidate debate.)

Major issues concerning Marshalltown voters were addressed during the Marshalltown Candidate Forum last night.

Meeting at the Marshalltown Public Library, at-large candidates Tim Bradbury, Sue Cahill, Scott McLain and incumbent Jeff Schneider, and mayoral candidates Mike Ladehoff and Gary Thompson, answered questions from Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO John Hall.

With roughly 40 people in attendance, all six candidates, utilizing 60 seconds at a time, addressed roads, housing and more. Candidates brought up the condition of roads in Marshalltown numerous times, and Hall said he had received multiple texts from people asking about roads.

He said the estimated cost of resurfacing a road within a town is $490,000 per mile. With more than 300 lane miles, 40 miles of alleyways and 19 bridges, Hall asked how the candidates would propose balancing the road maintenance and replacement with other city amenities, such as parks and law enforcement.

Bradbury was the first to respond, asking where fuel tax money had gone. That was supposed to take care of road maintenance, he said.

“Is it going in the general fund?” Bradbury asked. “Is it going to new roads downtown? And the road by JBS was $30 million. . . . What is our problem? Why? I’d like to know. People aren’t getting the answers, and they want to know.”

Hall asked Bradbury to elaborate on the cost of the Edgewood Road by JBS, stating it did not cost that much. Bradbury said he was basing the cost off of his memory, but was not involved in the project.

Cahill said the council needs to listen to the constituents and prioritize needs. The city needs a transparent plan on where the money is, what it will be used for and distributed.

According to McLain, many roads in Marshalltown do not have enough asphalt to fix them. He estimated the city is looking at spending $1 million per mile. However, McLain said the city could aggressively pursue federal grants and grants from the Iowa Department of Transportation.

“The other piece is putting our spending in in the right priorities,” he said. “We’ve built a lot of amenities. It’s time to focus on our roads and infrastructure.”

Schneider said the way to improve Marshalltown roads is moderation.

“Every year we need to increase the average condition,” he said. “That doesn’t mean replacing all the roads at the same time. We can’t. It’s way too much money.”

According to Ladehoff, the city staff is buried with work and proposes putting together a steering committee of citizens. Then, a project manager should be hired to identify which roads are the worst and what the best and fiscally responsible course of action would be.

“We do have some bonds allocated in 2022, 2023 that we can put toward it, and we can put together a pool of money that is $10 million,” he said. “We take the project manager and that crew, they put together a plan, they bring to city council, the city council passes it, the project manager then takes it out for bid and follows the projects through.”

Ladehoff’s plan would not cost taxpayers a dime, as he said the city already has the money. They just lack the staff.

Thompson came to the defense of the previous council as they dealt with the tornado, the pandemic which limited contractors and open city positions.

“Trust me, this issue is getting so much discussion, it’s so passionate,” he said. “Whoever your next council is, your next mayor is, we will start fixing roads. It’s going to happen, because we starting to get the staff back in place. We have a plan. We will get it done.”

Housing

Regarding housing, Hall acknowledged the efforts made by the council on cleaning up existing properties and initiating a housing needs assessment. He asked what housing initiatives candidates would like to see prioritized and funded.

Schneider was the first candidate to answer, and said the city has implemented a housing incentive of $10,000 which does not go far.

“But every little bit helps,” he said. “I will continue to support those efforts.”

Recruiting builders to come to Marshalltown is something Schneider would like to see accomplished, but does not know how to do that.

“It’s tough to get people to invest in a community they don’t think is going in the right direction and that’s why we need to keep up the positive energy of the city council,” he said.

Ladehoff, who has served on the council the last five years in Ward 1, four as mayor pro-tem, said the city has done well with affordable housing. He referenced an apartment complex recently built downtown and 200 units built on Olive Street, along with new planned condos.

“We have a variety of things going on, but the creative things the city council and myself have really championed is upper story housing in downtown,” Ladehoff said.

Thompson admitted housing is difficult, and the city has to work with builders. He would like to implement the building of affordable starter homes, similar to when he was a child. Then, people would build additions to their home. Now they move, Thompson said.

“One-third of our housing units in Marshalltown are rentals,” he said. “We’ve got to get affordable housing to break that rental cycle.”

Thompson said the other candidates were also right in saying all phases of housing should be addressed. To do that, he said council members and the mayor need to sit and talk with potential developers.

Bradbury said he did not have answers, but would like to see a commission of all businesses to see what the problems are and what the solutions are.

Cahill said housing has been an issue in Marshalltown for a long time, going back to when she was on the council in 2017. However, she thinks the city is moving in the right direction because of additions in neighborhoods which have been constructed during the last few years. Cahill would like to see more emphasis on senior housing.

“People my age . . . we’re looking at our homes with the big stairways and saying, ‘Hey. I need something all on one level. My knees don’t do it like they used to,'” she said. ” . . . . I think if we could incentivize areas to provide options for seniors, then they’re going to be selling their ranch houses where kids are playing and going to school.”

McLain said the city has too much red tape when it comes to housing. One such “red tape” piece is a tiny house section in the city code of ordinances.

“We should be able to develop three or four tiny houses on a parcel of land,” he said. “Because of the code, we can only put two, and it’s an exorbitant amount of land space still available and usable for additional tiny homes.”

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 219 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.