The City of Wall Lake has been awarded a substantial grant from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to assist with asbestos remediation and partial deconstruction of the former East Sac County (ESC) Elementary School building in town. The city council and ESC School Board have been in negotiations for nearly a year to have the city take possession of the property. Clerk, Chris Rodman, says this grant was one of the final obstacles that needed to be cleared for the deal to move forward.
The city had originally requested $132,000 from the DNR for the project and received nearly all of their ask with $121,700 to be awarded. The former school building is currently still owned by ESC, but officials can now begin the process of selling it to Wall Lake for one dollar. Rodman expects this will be completed by the end of the summer with crews arriving on scene shortly after the 2021-22 school year begins.
The Wall Lake City Council has approved an update of their vicious animal ordinance to bring it more in line with other communities in the state. Under the previous code, wild or venomous animals were generally prohibited within city limits, but it also barred residents from owning specific breeds of canine, including pit bulls, certain terriers and other similar varieties. The new language, which was approved at Monday’s meeting, removes the breed-specific section in the code and updates the definition of a vicious dog to be an animal that has a history of unprovoked attacks or has been trained for dog fighting or other violent responses. The ordinance’s second reading passed unanimously with the third reading waived by the council. It will go into effect once published, which is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 24. The full ordinance language can be found included below.