Cascade City Council: Doing Biz's Bidding

All but a couple items on the 26-item agenda at Monday night’s Cascade Council meeting were city services the business community.  Most had to do with enlarging TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district, thereby providing tax rebates to: 1) Iowa Main Street Investments LLC,  2) R & D Vaske LLC, 3) Eastern Iowa Excavating & Concrete, 4) Maryville/Cascade Lumber, 5) 3-B Properties, and then shamelessly dispensing with the democratic charade of reconsidering these decisions at subsequent meetings by waiving 2^nd and 3^rd readings. Most votes were 4-0, with Kelchen absent.

The very glib “Interim” City Administrator Lisa Kotter thinks we don’t know what TIF is, but we do—everybody pays taxes but companies in the TIF area get a portion of theirs back. The rest of us don’t. That’s TIF in a nutshell.  In a couple years you will see payments of 4, 5, perhaps even 6 figures out of the city budget going to these companies. It was legally signed, sealed and delivered at last night’s meeting. Set in stone for the next 5 to 10 years. Too late then.

Meanwhile, the city street sweeper is about to bite the dust, and Council is not sure how it will afford a new or used (?) one. Duh! Me either.

The proceedings came to a screeching halt when Mike Beck showed up to say he wants to cram 6 condos or apartments into a spot where 4 had been platted. There are only 4 sewer hook-ups there, so four of the units will have to share 2 Y couplings to the sewer main. A fire hydrant might have to be moved to accommodate the cramming. No decisions were taken.

To complete its business service evening, council held a public hearing to amend the building code to allow “fitness and exercise type” businesses in commercial and manufacturing zones, which it seems, is where they belong. 

Council finished the evening off by OK-ing 4 x 4/all terrain vehicles on Hwy 136. This is what I mean by unintended consequences—it was originally thought these vehicles would lessen the pollution, noise and traffic on city streets.  Be good for the environment. That appears to have been wrong. Now what?