Emotions ran high during a regularly scheduled Osceola City Council meeting, when an email from Iowa Rep. Bobby Kaufmann was discussed.
The email was in reference to a meeting Kaufmann had with “several stakeholders” involved in the Clarke County reservoir project. The stakeholders Kaufmann referred to were the Clarke County Reservoir Commission’s consulting attorney, county engineer and one board member, who said the meeting went well.
The reservoir project comes from nearly three decades of work to build a new reservoir in Clarke County to replace West Lake. The reservoir was to provide a water supply for Osceola and Southern Iowa Rural Water Association (SIRWA) with an 816-acre lake, which could provide 2.2 million gallons of water per day.
“I cannot possibly overstate how wrong and misrepresenting of a statement that is,” Kaufmann wrote in his email in response to the meeting. “The House Government Oversight Committee has and will absolutely continue to have considerable issues with the proposed lake in Clarke County.”
Kaufmann then proposed a compromise in the email by suggesting to the council to refurbish West Lake and purchase Arbor Valley, an area within Osceola city limits.
Ty Wheeler, city administrator and clerk, created a response to Kaufmann’s email, which was approved by Osceola City Council members during the meeting March 15.
“The response to Kaufmann stated essentially that his compromise was proposed without any consultation of the city council and that Arbor Valley right now is inside the city limits. It’s zoned residential, and a water reservoir in a residential zone is not a permitted use,” Wheeler said. “So, he usurped the council’s authority ... by making such a proposal without calling the council first.”
Wheeler continued to explain Kaufmann has opposition to eminent domain, which is greatly involved in the reservoir project, especially after legislative setbacks and issues with landowners, which has caused CCRC to look into reducing the design of the reservoir.
“I think the concern that the council should have ... is this proposed compromise,” Wheeler said. “I don’t think that the city ought to continue to sit back and let these kinds of comments skate by. You’re the authority who makes these decisions, and should a compromise involve powers which you solely have to exercise, and you’re not consulted on it, it needs to be responded to.”
This is the second time a Clarke County committee has received a letter from Kaufmann. The first time, Kaufmann and other representatives of the Oversight Committee wrote a letter to the editor published in the Sept. 17, 2015, edition of the Osceola Sentinel-Tribune. The letter discussed a new law concerning eminent domain and its uses.
“The intent of the new law is to prevent you from abusing eminent domain and forces you to respect private property rights — something you have never done from your inception,” the letter read, directed at Clarke County Reservoir Commission members.
“I do not like that Rep. Kaufmann is saying what he can do with our city without talking to us first,” said Osceola Mayor Thomas Kedley. “It’s an abuse of power. He’s supposed to be representing our state, but he’s just focusing on Osceola, Iowa.”
Council member Dr. George Fotiadis mentioned other issues within the state of Iowa, such as Medicare expansion, the Bakken pipeline using eminent domain to pass through Iowa and the breakdown of mental health institutions.
“Are you telling me this is the top priority for the Oversight Committee?” Fotiadis said. “That we are the top priority of the Oversight Committee? That staggers the imagination.”
In other Osceola City Council news:
• Osceola City Council members unanimously passed a proposed amendment to city code prohibiting residents from parking in their front yards for extended periods of time in certain areas of the city. They also unanimously passed a proposed increase in penalty fees for failure to follow the parking prohibition.
• Council members approved pursuing a master plan for the development of the Interstate 35 corridor.
• Cleaning of a waste water digester was unanimously passed by council members. The digester breaks down solid waste and is currently running more than it would at its highest efficiency.
• Council members listened to Derek Lumsden discuss the possibility of applying for a $500,000 grant to rehabilitate a building into apartments.