T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Marshalltown Public Works Director Heather Thomas, left, addresses the mayor, city council, city administrator and city clerk about a plan to install fire service sprinkler hookups to Main Street buildings during the reconstruction project during Monday night’s regular meeting.

In light of recent events on the West Coast, fire prevention is a hot topic in communities large and small across the nation. During Monday night’s meeting, members of the Marshalltown city council agreed that with the reconstruction of Main Street looming, now is the time to get downtown buildings hooked up to fire service sprinkler services.

As Public Works Director Heather Thomas explained, there are currently “a lot” of buildings that don’t have the service, and the street already being torn up would provide an opportunity to get it done at a lower cost. She expressed concern about unused service lines being hit by utility company vehicles but also touted improved mapping systems and conversations with Marshalltown Water Works General Manager Shelli Lovell and former Fire Chief David Rierson on a compromise they feel will be workable.

Thomas said any downtown business with a fire service line already in place would receive a replacement at no cost, and from there, she delved into the different options available for those who do not currently have such a system and would want one in the future. Her question for the council was whether the city was interested in incentivizing property owners immediately or stubbing out service lines externally and setting up a connection fee for future reimbursement.

Tearing up the street for reconstruction, she added, would reduce some of the normal costs associated with installing a service line. Funds would have to come from the city, as Thomas said Water Works leadership is not interested in paying for proactive lines despite being supportive of the plan.

As she opened the floor up for questions, Councilor Jeff Schneider said he would like to see a cost estimate but felt there was no time like the present to get the work done.

“This is gonna be the best time we’re gonna have to get this done with the improvements we want to see downtown. We want to see the private money flowing to those buildings. This is gonna make the investment less risky, and so that’s what I’d like to see is what it costs and for the city to foot the bill to get the fire service inside,” he said. “Hooking it up past that is on the building owner, but I think we should do it.”

In response, Thomas estimated a cost of around $400,000. Mayor Joel Greer commented that he assumed new Housing and Community Development Director Deb Millizer, who formerly led the Marshalltown Central Business District, and Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall would support the proposal, and Councilor Gary Thompson agreed with Schneider but took it one step further — every property, including currently vacant lots, should be stubbed out for future service.

“In my history in Marshalltown, my age, we’ve been pretty lucky. The Elks fire downtown that was before a lot of peoples’ time, we were lucky we didn’t lose that whole block. The Surplus Supply building where the Gallery Garden is, we’re lucky we didn’t lose that whole block,” he said. “If Maharry starts the T-R on fire and the wind’s out of the west, we lose the whole block. If we truly believe in rebuilding downtown, this is the best way to spend money to make this available to every property owner.”

Thomas shared that at least one vacant lot currently owned by the city already has a service line stub with plans to add a hydrant.

“Whatever the cost is, it’s so much less expensive to do this now than to lose our whole downtown or lose a block or two, so that’s where I stand on this,” Thompson said.

Councilor Mike Ladehoff asked where the $400,000 would come from, and Thomas said that while she didn’t have a firm answer, budget season was an opportunity to review bond funds and projects that have come in under budget with the potential for reallocation. Nonetheless, Ladehoff felt that it was worth it to provide the service to ensure that downtown can stay beautiful well into the future.

During the public comment period, downtown building owner Dave Grieve, who is currently in the process of redeveloping the former Odd Fellows Hall on East Main Street, called the subject near and dear to his heart as installing a fire system in older structures like his can be very expensive without a monetary return on investment for safety.

“People only want the safety feature when they’re on fire — like California, LA right now, they wish they would have full reservoirs and active firefighting activities,” Grieve said. “If I put in an elevator, yes, patrons want an elevator because not too many people can climb three stairs of floors right now. I’d rather spend my money on that. However, I’m gonna have to sprinkle the building to do what I want to do in the building, and so getting this fire service at least into (the building) for future development is critical.”

In conversations with other prospective business owners, Grieve said some of them felt the systems were cost prohibitive and could cut into their budgets on other aspects of redeveloping the properties.

“If you want a prosperous town, you have to have a prosperous downtown, and the downtown is struggling for a number of reasons. And the derecho and the tornado have given some great opportunities and there’s some great progress rebuilding, but this fire stuff is what it takes to get safety and opportunity into the downtown area,” Grieve said.

Another commenter who identified himself only as Marco, who had previously emailed with city officials on the topic, said he was also supportive of providing the service to property owners at little to no cost to them during the reconstruction phase. He said downtown was an area where property owners “really got their money’s worth” as it related to taxes.

Hall expressed his support for the plan and believed it would create a better environment for the area aesthetically going forward as opposed to tearing up the concrete again down the road. He shared the example of the Valley Junction area in West Des Moines, where adjacent buildings have a shared riser pump and sprinkler system to minimize costs to individual business owners.

“It’s cheaper now than it will be then, so I think any steps that you take to continue to help make our downtown incredible is gonna be relevant and important, and return on investment will be significant,” Hall said.

Leigh Bauder recounted her experience in exploring investing in a property on West Main Street but said the sprinkler cost had been prohibitive, and she wondered if the sprinkler program would extend to all phases of the project (currently, East Main Street is set to be reconstructed before West Main). Thomas then returned to the podium for a few points of clarification, and Thompson reiterated that he wanted all buildings and lots included with no exceptions.

Ultimately, Thompson motioned to proceed with the plan and include the additional expense in the project bidding, and it passed by a unanimous 7-0 tally.

In other business, the council:

• Approved the appointment of Mark Mitchell to the Solid Waste Commission and Thompson as the alternate. Both councilors abstained from the votes on their own appointments.

• Heard a report from Marshall County Emergency Management Coordinator Kim Elder.

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.