Obscure city street reclaims its portion of Iowa history

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

For a short time, it was thought that 235th Street in Mt. Pleasant would become Progress Street, but the street negotiated a curve and now will be known as Blue Grass Road following action by the Mt. Pleasant City Council Wednesday evening.

It is likely most Mt. Pleasant residents don?t even know the location of Progress Street, it is equally likely that even less residents have driven on the street.

For inquiring minds, 235th Street is located near the industrial park on the eastern edge of Mt. Pleasant. The gravel, low-maintenance street is only a couple of blocks and runs from North Iris Road to U.S. Highway 218 (although there is no access to 218 from 235th Street).

The county approached the city recently, asking that the city consider renaming the street since there also is a county road by the same name. A name, rather than a number, also fits better into the city street naming methodology as most city streets have proper names.

Originally, the street committee suggested renaming the street Progress Street. Local historian Pat White, however, asked the city to consider naming it Blue Grass Road, the original name of the street.

White said Blue Grass Road was registered with the Iowa State Highway Commission Dec. 1, 1917. The route crossed the entire state and ran east to west across Henry County. Blue Grass Road entered Mt. Pleasant from New London on 235th Street, turned south on Iris Street and entered Mt. Pleasant on East Monroe Street.

In a second street matter, the council approved an engineering services agreement with Warner Engineering to design and oversee construction of South Prairie Street, located near Hy-Vee on Mt. Pleasant?s east side. ?There will be a bid-letting Feb. 25,? noted City Administrator Brent Schleisman. ?We want to get bids out early and hopefully, get a good bid.?

Under terms of the agreement, Warner will be paid $40,000 for its work.

Council members approved a contract with the benefitted fire district. The district is an arrangement whereby the Mt. Pleasant Fire Department provides protection to a portion of the rural areas of the county. The fee for providing the service was created by the Iowa State University Extension Service.

The city will receive $45,336 annually over the two-year contract for providing fire protection. The new agreement begins July 1, 2015, and the fee is about a $700 decrease per year from the current pact.

In other agenda items, the council passed a resolution, honoring and thanking Earl Reynolds for his 57 years of service to the city as electrical inspector. Reynolds retired Dec. 31, 2014, and began as inspector in 1957.

City Building and Zoning Administrator Jack Swarm will take Reynolds? place as electrical inspector. The council approved a salary adjustment for Swarm, increasing his annual salary by $2,000 to $43,638.40.

A plan on how the city plans to implement improvements to the wastewater treatment plant to meet Iowa Department of Natural Resources? regulations and mandates was approved.

Numerous mayoral appointments to various city committees, boards and commissions were approved.

The appointments include: reappointment of Bob Griffith and Patricia File to the board of adjustment; appointment of Dana Holmstrom to the board of adjustment replacing Jack Edwards; reappointment of Jeff Thomas and Paul Tinder to the historic preservation committee; appointment of Alan Huisinga, Dan McCabe and Mayor Steve Brimhall to the Mt. Pleasant Area Economic Development Commission.

In his remarks, Brimhall again stated the importance of the local option sales tax to the city. The tax, which the city has had for 20 years, was defeated in the November 2014 general election. The city plans to have another vote on the tax, which expires Dec. 31, 2015, in May.

?A lot of information will be released (prior to the election) so the people will know what the money is being used for,? Brimhall began. ?The budget is coming along well but streets are the problem. We have a long list of streets needing repair and if the local option sales tax is not approved, we will have to use property taxes.?

Council members meet again in regular session Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 5:30 p.m.