The malls on the south side of town need to be cleaned up.

The City of Marshalltown is a non-profit corporation. This is why in government circles it is called an “incorporated” area as opposed to the “un-incorporated” area that we call the country. Other than Marshalltown, there are several incorporated areas in Marshall County: LeGrand, Haverhill, and Laurel to name a few.

Every incorporated area has some form of rules, aka laws, that individuals and businesses must follow. These rules are called ordinances. They are published on the City’s website under the City Code of Ordinances. One chapter in the code of ordinances is Chapter 152: Property Maintenance. This chapter implements “The International Property Maintenance Code, 2021 Edition, published by the International Code Council”. This publication should be available in the Library in the next few weeks for you to access.

Currently we do not have a strong enforcement mechanism for implementing these codes. Many people in the 4th ward and around the city are concerned about the conditions of neighboring properties and the two malls on the south side of town.

The Council, moving forward, must develop and execute a plan around codes and code enforcement so that we can legally address these problems. Part of that defense is a properly funded and robust illegal defense if we receive pushback. Using codes and ordinances and a proper legal defense is the one way, in my opinion to clean up problems like the malls and other dilapidated properties.

The Chamber should also be involved to fill and empty property, or in finding a developer to redevelop the area. The Chamber may even need to provide aide to relocated current occupants.