As part of the larger Reimagine Miller project, the iconic Franklin Field, which once served as the home of MHS football and was the site of the first live broadcast of a high school sporting event in the country on KFJB Radio all the way back in 1922, will receive significant upgrades after Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) voters approved a bond referendum with 68 percent support last November. Near the end of a relatively brief open session on Monday night, the Marshalltown city council discussed and informally agreed upon moving forward with a 50/50 cost share agreement with the school district for the replacement of an aging stormwater pipe.

“The school district has been concerned because of the age of the pipe and the shallowness, the shallow depth at which it is located,” City Administrator Carol Webb said. “The replacement of the pipe also benefits the city in that the pipe is over 100 years old, and it gives us an opportunity to replace it with reinforced concrete pipe.”

She then explained the proposal to evenly share the estimated cost of $262,360 and said there were adequate funds in the stormwater enterprise fund to cover the city’s half — $131,180. As Mayor Joel Greer opened up the floor for comments, Councilor Mike Ladehoff felt the cost share was “a good idea” to replace some of the city’s older infrastructure, similar to what is already happening with the Main and State Street projects.

“If you can get it done before you put something really nice on top of it and then you have problems underneath and you’ve got to dig in, this is a good opportunity to do so. And since we have the funding, I think we oughta go ahead and do it,” he said.

During the public comment period, Marco Yepez Gomez offered his support for the plan and asked the council exactly how many currently operational pipes on the north side of town are over 100 years old and need to be replaced. Greer responded that his own home on the northwest side of town was one spot where aging pipe was replaced last summer, Yepez Gomez followed up by asking if there was a specific number on how many miles of pipe within the city limits were over 100 years old.

“I would say in general, we have older pipes in our system. We generally don’t just go and replace them if they’re in good condition. This particular project gives an opportunity to do that at half the cost, so this is a little bit of a unique situation,” Webb said. “But yeah, we definitely have older pipes in the system.”

Greer shared his excitement about the Franklin Field project and the potential to bring the area back to its historical splendor, and MCSD Superintendent Theron Schutte then stepped forward to offer his perspective, describing the stormwater pipe replacement as an “unexpected expenditure” that arose as school district and city officials began working together on the details.

Schutte said Franklin Field was the home of MHS football and track and field from 1922 until 1980, and it has continued to serve middle school football well until recently.

“It’s long overdue for a significant overhaul,” Schutte said.

The two unknowns the district ran into, he noted, are a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) requirement to put about $750,000 worth of dirt on the facility because it lies in a floodplain along with the replacement of the aforementioned pipe.

“We’re super excited about the project. (We) would love to have the city partner on this small piece of the project, and we’re real close to getting things underway. It’ll be full construction once school lets out, but we’ll be starting things hopefully in a couple weeks,” Schutte said. “The other thing I’m really excited about (is) there’s a lot of local involvement with contractors and subcontractors on that project too, which will make it extra special.”

Greer commented on the resurgence of the area around Franklin Elementary School, especially 13th Street, and felt the Franklin Field project would be the “crowning glory” in the neighborhood. With no further comments, the mayor moved on to the next discussion item before Councilor Gary Thompson asked for a point of order on whether city staff needed formal direction through a motion.

Unless there were any objections, which there were not, Greer and Webb agreed to proceed in drawing up a formal agreement with the MCSD and taking action at a future meeting.

Before the open session ended, Webb led a discussion on the city’s current lease agreements with various nonprofit organizations and clubs due to questions about rates, which vary widely from $1 a year to around market rate and from short-term to essentially in perpetuity.

“We’ve received some guidance from our legal counsel that we should take a deeper dive into the agreements and look at the criteria by which we establish how the lease agreement terms are determined,” Webb said. “That would be sort of a process, and what I’m asking of the council or the mayor is to have two volunteers from the council to dig deeper into this item with myself and (City Attorney) Steve Leidinger and make some recommendations and come back to council with those recommendations about how we’ll deal with these lease agreements going forward. So that’s my request for this evening.”

Thompson sought clarification on whether Leidinger was advising the council to break any of the leases currently in place, and Webb said that hadn’t come up yet. Initially, Thompson nominated Councilors Melisa Fonseca and Mark Mitchell, but eventually Thompson and fellow Councilor Greg Nichols volunteered themselves to serve on the ad hoc committee.

In other business, the council:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Approved a new retail tobacco license for mobile sales for Cave Cigar Experience at 812 W. Nevada St.

• Approved a resolution establishing a 28E agreement with the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA to allow the Apgar Family Water Plaza to be partially located on Y property.

• Approved the five-year capital improvement plan after a public hearing with no comments.

• Approved the plans, specifications, form of contract and cost for the 2025 PCC patch repair project, which is estimated to cost $460,000, on South 18th Avenue, East Main Street, South 12th Avenue and West Lincoln Way.

• Approved the first reading of an ordinance amending Chapter 156 regarding maximum fence height for major utility uses and utilization of barbed wire with major utility uses, and also waived second and third readings.