After nearly an hour and a half of public comment Monday evening, the Indianola City Council unanimously voted to move forward with its streetscape project.
The city will end up paying $9,645,509.80 to Absolute Concrete Inc. for the downtown Square s redesign. The project was originally expected to cost $6,877,765.10.
Despite the higher price, councilmember Greg Marchant backed the project, saying the council can t keep kicking these projects down the road. Would I have liked to have a lower bid? Sure, he said. But I m glad we got a bid.
The city is expected to use funds from the local option sales and services tax, along with a $4.7 million bond through tax increment financing to fund the project. Taxes are not expected to be raised to fund the project.
The Indianola Eats Program served over 7,000 meals over the past several months, using a federal grant worth over $62,000 to purchase food from local businesses and distribute them to those in need around the community. City Manager Ryan Waller tells KNIA News the Indianola City Council approved the last of the procedural requirements that a federal grant requires at their most recent meeting, closing a program that was a big benefit to the community.
“The grant money that was funding this was to assist the restaurants that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in doing so was a double-blessing. We got to support the local restaurants that were impacted, and be able to feed those that are in need of meals or were having difficulty feeding their families.”