Midwest Memories, Wayland Museum to join forces in May

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

WAYLAND ? The Wayland City Council decided Wednesday night that the Wayland Museum will move into the Midwest Memories Museum and Shoppe in May.

?I?m thinking that if we go with this deal, there will be a lot more interest in it,? said Mayor Brad Roth before the council made the final decision to join forces with Midwest Memories Museum.

?I haven?t heard anybody say that it?s a bad idea,? commented Councilman Greg Rich.

The idea to combine the two came from Larry Roth, owner of Midwest Memories Museum and Shoppe, who approached the city with the idea earlier this month. He and Mayor Roth then met to discuss details and what the agreement would look like before bringing it back to the council for approval.

The agreement is that the city will pay $200 per month towards rent in the building.

?We?re just renting the space,? explained City Clerk Bev Conrad. ?We didn?t want it to be construed as any type of employee/employer relationship with Larry.?

Larry Roth will be paying the remainder and the utilities. The donation jar will be split 50/50, explained Mayor Roth, though if the city has a museum fundraiser the city will be keeping 100 percent of the profits.

?He?ll maintain the same hours that he currently does, which is about two days a week,? said Mayor Roth.

In the meantime, the current Wayland Museum building will be used for storage.

?Long term, I would say that needs to be refurbished into the house it was at one time,? said Mayor Roth, noting that it would be kept as a part of the museum.

In other business, the council heard an update from Wayland resident Mike Hulme concerning a watershed study within the city. A few years ago, Hulme initiated the process due to problems he was having on his property.

?We were having some pretty severe bank erosions through my property,? said Hulme. He explained that in the past three or four years a lot of his bank has eroded. ?I?ve already lost two feet in one little section that I mow that?s right there by the stream.?

He contacted the Henry County Soil and Conservation Department, who then brought in people from Des Moines to study the watershed. Now that the study has been completed, Hulme provided the council with the results.

He noted that there were two major recommendations to look at. First, the city would probably get the greatest benefit from water retention by the school. He noted that with a lot of that area being hard surface now, the water all runs into one inlet.

He also pointed out that where the old railroad went through is a natural water barrier. However, if that property were to be altered in the future, it could potentially cause runoff problems and a bottleneck of water on Main Street.

?It might be beneficial to you guys somewhere down the line, it might be beneficial to a developer somewhere down the line, or it might be beneficial to the school or somebody else,? said Hulme, who said he planned to present it to the WACO School Board as well.

In other business, the council:

- Passed a resolution setting the TIF loan from the general fund for $75,000 at zero percent interest for three years. The board had already passed the TIF and just needed to decide on the percentage of interest, explained Conrad.

- Passed a resolution for a contract between the city and Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission for services to undertake the completion of the comprehensive plan. This plan is needed when applying for grants

- Voted to donate $100 to the WACO after prom

- Voted to send a letter of support for the Iowa Rural Water Association grant proposal for EPA funding of a training specialist and EPA source water specialist technical assistance programs