A committee of elected officials and city staff will soon begin the process of reviewing recommended changes to Royal’s Code of Ordinances.

Darren Bumgarner, a planner with Northwest Iowa Planning and Development Commission, is finalizing the first draft of the revised ordinances. In an email to City Clerk Barb Fletcher, Bumgarner recommended that a small committee comprised of the mayor, city clerk and one or two council members be formed to review revisions and suggest any other changes.

The council agreed to have the group review the initial revisions rather than devote time for that during regular meetings.

“I don’t want to do it at this meeting,” Mayor Josh Toft said.

Council members will serve on a rotating basis. Maintenance Superintendent Sherman Nielsen will also attend committee meetings, especially when they deal with code sections such as utilities and other topics related to his responsibilities.

Bumgarner will be asked to personally attend all committee meetings.

• Progress made to clean up properties

A recheck of properties that received cleanup notices was made. Council Member Matt Goyette read through the list of properties and noted what, if any, progress was made.

“There was a lot of improvement,” he said. “It’s the ones who didn’t even try is what’s frustrating.”

Letters will be send to residents who were judged to have not done enough to clean up their properties. They will have 30 days to address the situation or the city will forward the information to the city attorney.

“I was very impressed with the properties that did improve,” Toft said. “We need to keep the town on the topside of looking good, not the bottom side.”

• Street repairs, mower purchase discussion

After acknowledging that several streets in Royal need repair, Nielsen offered “seed for thought” regarding a long-term need to redo Main Street.

“The only good way to fix Main Street is to tear it up and start over,” Nielsen said.

He explained that concrete beneath the asphalt surface needs to be replaced. Two blocks should be reconstructed, plus at least a quarter of a block on each end “to get a little better street while you’re doing it,” Nielsen noted.

Fletcher said the city still has drainage assessments to pay, but when that debt is retired there would be funds available for Main Street repairs.

Council Member Jeff Van Westen said the city has three options to finance the project: “Raise our taxes, assess people or look for grants.”

“We need to at least build a plan around this thing,” Goyette responded. “Maybe it’s a five-year plan.”

Returning to short-term needs, Nielsen said some of the worst areas in streets could be cut out and filled with concrete. Goyette offered to help identify them and take photos. They will be shown to council members next month so they can determine this year’s street repair program.

Nielsen also suggested the city purchase a new mower. The current model is six years old and is used more since the city has additional areas to mow.

Fletcher said the city could arrange to pay part of the purchase price out of this year’s budget and the rest in the new fiscal year. The council agreed a new mower was needed and asked for bids to be obtained.

• Building permit, tree planting

Council members reviewed a building permit application for a fence to be located at the front of residential property. According to discussion, the fence would be erected on the street side of the sidewalk grade.

The consensus was that a fence cannot be located that close to the street, so the council did not approve the application.

The mayor reported that trees were obtained with Trees Forever grant funds. Toft said any trees that were not claimed by residents would be planted in the park. One tree will be planted in Triangle Park to replace a dead maple.

In other business, Fletcher reported she received approximately 90 responses for contact numbers to be used by Iowa Lakes Regional Water during a water emergency. The council was pleased with the response, but would like to see more numbers added in the future.