Patterson offers new building deal

    The Washington City Council was informed of some new developments in the proposed agreement with Jeremy Patterson at a special session held Wednesday night. Patterson, who is in the process of repairing the Mills Seed Building to move it to an empty lot on North Iowa Avenue, had previously requested $86,000 in an upfront grant from the city and offered to give the city ownership of the lot the building is on. At Wednesday?s meeting, Patterson said he would accept $60,000 from the city in the form of a forgivable loan while retaining ownership of the lot.

    Patterson told the council that repairs to the building are proceeding as scheduled and that he plans to have the building going down the road on Feb. 22. Patterson said that the move may take up to three days from start to finish. He said that after one day of moving, the building will be far enough along that it will be placed on Mark Redlinger?s lot in the 400 block of East Third Street.

    After the second day of moving, Patterson said that the building may have to spend a night on Third Street between Iowa and Marion avenues. He told the council he plans to pour a footing on the lot on Iowa Avenue for the building to sit on either Friday or Monday.

    Another issue that was brought up was the possibility that electricity would have to be shut off for some of the homes in the area. Patterson said he spoke with Alliant Energy about that and was told that about 50 homes would be without power for anywhere from five minutes to an hour and a half.

    ?Alliant Energy can back-feed the whole city so it?s not an inconvenience to anybody,? said Patterson. ?Everyone who is affected will get a letter. We have to put a notice in the paper so everybody knows.?

    City Administrator Dave Plyman told the council that the city would likely have to raise both its water and sewer rates. The city has been ordered by the state to build a new wastewater treatment plant, and the city is also planning to build a new water tower. A couple of council members said that if the city does raise rates, it should be upfront with the public about why the rates are being raised and where the money is going. 

    Councilman Merle Hagie remarked, ?Before I took a seat on this council, I saw the ?sewer project? line on my water bill and I thought, ?This city is looking ahead. We are bankrolling money for a new sewer plant.? Then, I come on the council and realize it?s just for operations ? not for a new sewer plant. I think we have to do some damage control here. I?m not the only guy who thinks that about their water bill.?

For the full article, see our Feb. 11 print edition.