Ondrea Elmquist, Boone City Administrator, September 30, 2026

Today on our program, we're visiting with Andrea Almquist Boone City Administrator. Thanks for coming back. Thanks for having me. You didn't have much going on, did you? No. No, we're moving. We've got a lot of things happening. First, obviously, this fits right in with what we've got going on with all this rain. We are in the, hard to believe, eighth phase of the INI program, the influenza infiltration. And there are still people who have no idea what this is. But many years ago, one of the big issues for the city was, you had a lot of stormwater was getting into the sanitary sewer system. And it would make its way, it would back up into people's basements. That was the big issue. And so the city started looking at what can we do to try to relieve this, some of this problem. It could do a lot of different things for it. This seemed to be one of the easier fixes to do. Obviously, people always come up with, well, you know, now this is going to be ice on the street and stuff like that. But I mean, all of this had been thought about earlier. And not every neighborhood has the collection where you can put it right into a storm sewer and stuff. But it's making progress, though. We're into the eighth year now. Yeah. So we only have one phase left. And it actually is even bigger than that is that when that water gets down to the wastewater treatment center, we have to treat that water, which costs us money. And so by doing this and trying to eliminate the amount of water going to the sanitary sewer, that reduces our cost. And so this was one way that we could reduce that cost so that we didn't have to increase our fees. Yeah. And it's, well, the downside is, is it's really water that doesn't need to be treated. Absolutely. Absolutely. And in fact, has a tendency to kill your bugs. We saw that last year. I mean, early in the year when you had a lot of heavy, we had a lot of heavy rains and stuff like that. And that's how your wastewater treatment plant operates. Correct. So that's, that is absolutely true. If we get too much water down there, it over feeds the bugs and kills them off. So that's something that we always have to monitor, especially when we're getting this amount of water. So now we have, I'm guessing occasionally you're still going to get people with backups. And I know the C mom project, that's what the public works does when they can go out there and they, they check sewer lines and, and make sure they're open and stuff like that. You still get things that are plugged up and we do get backups, but you got, I mean, this has been a lot of water going through the system. Yeah. I mean, 20 years ago when I, when I started here, we were getting insurance claims because of sewer backups on a regular basis. And those have pretty much diminished that they just hardly ever happen anymore because of the I and I system. Well, we try, try, I mean, the city tried to do the, as best they could to alleviate some of that pressure. I don't know what kind of volumes of, I know they get a lot of water through the wastewater treatment plan. And I'm sure some of it is from some of the I and I are inflowing infiltration, getting the storm water in the system, but the effort to reduce the amount that's been going down there has, has paid some benefits. Absolutely. So we keep doing that. That's just one thing folks. That's just still going on. Yeah. And the idea is, is that after the, we've gotten through the entire community, which we're projected to be done not this year, but next year at the end of next year, fiscal year, is that that money can then be reallocated to maybe address some of these other issues that we have in regards to where that water is going and puddling up on the streets and things. Sure. Right now, the funding for that does come off if they'd look at their water bill. There's a surcharge on there, I don't even remember what it's identified as. Stormwater and discussion back in the nineties, I think that the city put that in place and has always used that water for stormwater improvements. And in this particular case, so the council has dedicated that to go to this I and I work that's being done. So, and WHKS has done, I mean, they're the ones working with the city on this. They've done several communities. Yes. They've worked with. Yes. And they've done all things. We're not the only ones doing this people. Nope. And they actually, I believe they've probably created the program or at least was one of the major engineers on doing it and they have done all eight phases. So they're very familiar with our community. If you're scheduling an appointment for your inspection of your sump pump, they will come with identifying badges showing who they are. And I think that they're able to answer your questions, work with you. I know that we have a situation with one part of our town right now that we're working through some little bit difficult, different situation or newer development. And they've been very patient with us and working with us on that. So we keep working. It's one of those things that council had made a decision a number of years ago and actually even new council has kept up that program, that's something they started and are moving forward with. So we got a lot of other infrastructure things to talk about. And one of the, well, some of it is getting diverted a little bit. Public works will actually be spending the next couple of weeks doing citywide cleanup. I want to talk about that because I know the council wanted to continue. They felt it needed to continue. Public works had some reservations just because issues came up over time, enforcement basically of guidelines. And I think one thing the council is insisted on, you got guidelines follow them. And we could see people that are going to be setting out items that should not be put in with that and it's going to get left there. Yeah. So we have revamped. I want to caution people on it. We have revamped the program. So I really encourage everybody to go out to either our Facebook page or our website. There is a flyer out there that is posted of exactly what we will take, what we won't take. There is a statement in there that if there's anything in that pile that is not acceptable, the whole pile does not get taken. And then we're going to post on your door that you have 72 hours to get that cleaned up or else we will clean it up and assess you. So and this is something the council, again, they were pretty, they wanted to keep the program going, but they also understood they were starting to get a lot of people just throwing household waste away. Right. Yep. And then, you know, we do still have the appliance free drop off and also a pickup tires. We can still pick up for those kinds of things. There is a fee. You'll need to go up to the city hall and pay those fees before those dates. The fees that they charge pretty much with the landfill charges. Yeah. Yeah. We're not making any money on that. So it's just, they'll do it, but then they also have the opportunity. You can, I think his city shed is where they're going to be having the drop off location. So they found some people that would be willing to do that. Take advantage of that if you want. And once again, I've used that before. It's pretty easy. You drive in and try to make it easy and the people that the people that they've had in the past are very good about taking the items off and, and, you know, making sure they're getting them out of there and getting them handled so they don't end up in the landfill, which is or in the ditch somewhere. Yep. We got those two weeks of this citywide cleanup. And once again, they will be basically next Monday. And my goal is to see if we could do this with no rain. Yeah. That would be very, that would be great. Public works would like that a lot. And I'm thinking there's a lot of farmers would like that too. So if you're north of Mamie, you need to have your stuff out on the curb by October 4th. And then if you're south of Mamie, it would be October 11th. And once again, they make one pass. One pass. That's it. They go around and so you want to make sure it's out there and get it taken care of. Another thing that's going to get it's not going to happen tomorrow because of the rain open burning starts to yes. So yeah, fire departments had a few of those already, but once again, I know people are it's just too wet. It is. I know yard waste, free yard waste at the landfill. You could do that also pretty wet out there to be hauling it out there, but we'll see If the trend continues, I'm pretty sure it'll come back to the council. You want to extend this or not? That is what the history has presented. Again it's all the other part to remember for the fall open burning part is the timeframe. Try to be done by five in the afternoon. I know that's created some issues for some people, but try to be done by five in the afternoon because then we tend to get smog in town. Yeah. That's just it. All right. Well, big discussion at the last city council meeting, data center, a lot of people there. We had people for it, had people opposed to it. Right now the council really hasn't had anything brought to them. Right. So the process is currently it's a private development right now between Boone County Economic Growth and Light Edge. And when they get ready to submit a site plan that goes to PNZ, Planning and Zoning, they will approve the site plan based off of our ordinances and then or deny it based off of the ordinances. That is their legal right to do. And then whatever their decision is, it then will go to city council for their opinion approval based off of that site plan and what our ordinances allows and does not allow. So that's about the only touch really that the council will have on that. Correct. There is no incentives. So there's no public hearing. There is no setting of the public hearing, holding of the public hearing. We do plan on having a development agreement, but that is really a development agreement showing what they're willing to do for our community and our safeguards to make sure that we have done our due diligence and saying, okay, you can only use this amount of water. Things like if you decommission, how will that be handled? Where are you going to take the water when you have to drain the system, which it is a closed loop system. So we went and visited Altoona and Altoona has been there 27 years and they've never drained their system. So those are the kind of discussions and the things that we're looking forward in having that development agreement, but since there is no incentive and it's really a kind of a one-sided development agreement for us, the minimum assessment will be in there. There would not be a public hearing for that either. When you went to Altoona and took a look at that, did you have a chance to talk to Altoona council or administrative staff or anything like that about light edge and working with them? Yeah, we spoke to the manager that manages that facility and we also talked to the marketing guy. Both of them have been there for years along with the developer that has been coming to our community and talking to our council and things like that. And I know they did provide you with copies of their water bills and stuff like that. Yep, I've seen the water bills, the utility bills for the past three years. Really no concern there. That is something that I have on my front end just looking at where we're sitting, how much water do we have, where we can develop without causing concerns in our own community as we sit now. So yeah, the employees that I spoke to seem to really like light edge and have been there for years. So, well, we'll see what happens. They have to make their decision on where they would like to go. And we know that just Lune County Economic Growth did put out a proposal to them. So we'll see. We are going to get work done on a water tower. This is, by the way, routine maintenance. This is not tied today. The industrial park water tower and basically part of one of the things that actually will be coming up and we'll talk a little bit about beginning starting to put together your capital improvement plan, your CIP. But this is something that Public Works in Whalen had put in there. It's over two fiscal years to do it. And every so often you have to go out and do this kind of maintenance on your infrastructure. And the industrial park water tower, that's the one that needed some and you got pretty good bid side. You got a lot of contractors bid that. Yeah. We hired Dixon Engineering this time. This is the first time we've hired them. I think they did a really good job going through it very thorough looking at what needed to be done. They did the bidding process for us also. So I think they did a really good job there. They came in under his estimate. So that typically lasts 15 to 20 years. And then we kind of have a rotation of our towers. Yeah. And where the work's going to be done. And I started thinking back and it's surprisingly, it's been about that long ago when this was done. Yes, and it's going to stay the same color. But that city had no choice on that. No. The FAA. You're too close to the airport. You got it. The other water tower project, that's moving forward. What out for bids? Yeah. Bids are due October 8th and we're expecting construction to start in the spring of 2027. Okay. This would be the one located out by Daisy. This would be tied to the Daisy project. This one is tied to Daisy. It will be located at the end of the Hancock Drive extension that is under construction right now. For the city, I mean, obviously having it there that meets some of the demands for volume of water and pressure in particular for Daisy. But it also does provide an area out there or a resource balancing your system because pressure throughout the system equalizing that is, people forget or don't realize how much of a challenge that is and it's not an easy system to follow. No. It's not. I learned a lot over the last couple of years. Finding out about what's underground here. Yes. Yes. An interesting learning curve that I have definitely undertaken here. But yeah, so part of it is, is that if we don't have that water tower, the rest of the community would be affected by Daisy. That's the importance of having that water tower. We call it the Daisy Tower, but there is definitely the benefits to our entire community, especially on the east side. That does provide them with the capacity that they need and like you said, the rate of water that they get. So anyway, that'll be a big project coming up. Now, one of the things that has come up, and we know the folks from SEH have let you know that, yes, it's going to cost a little more than originally thought, but the original thing was having a water tower, what kind there, there was not a lot of details put together on that, but how do you get the water there and everything else. So right now, we're finding out it was, it is just in the time that it's been in the planning stages, the price has gone up noticeably. Yeah. And I think everybody's feeling that on the construction side of things. And unfortunately too is that sometimes when you're doing the pre-engineering, the design of things, you don't know all the details until you get your test soil testing done and until you figure out what issues you may run to based off of a certain route. We've had to reroute certain things, especially on like the North transmission line. So those are all things that affect the price and unfortunately that is also part of the job is trying to figure out how we're going to pay for those increases in cost. So again, we're in the whole process of trying to keep up with that. You had said a long time ago, the whole thing with Daisy and the infrastructure for Daisy is how do you get it in and how do you tie it in so to avoid having to have the community actually pick up a lot of the charges. Yeah, my goal is is that the infrastructure is either paid via grants or the usage that Daisy's expected to bring to the water system and wastewater system. There is certainly... I know there's challenges with that. It's all about the timing, isn't it? It is. And part of that is why we use SRF. SRF is certainly a lower cost interest, but it also allows us to go out for bonds and bring in the revenue without having to pay for them right away. Those payments don't kick in until the project's about 80% complete. And the goal is is that that will be about the same time that Daisy comes online. So keep our fingers crossed that all works out for you. Those are just some of the many things that are happening too. Let's see. A few other things that are going on. We did have a couple other things that came up at the meeting. You are, have retained a firm to help you with trying to find a finance officer. Not easy. You're not the only community looking for one. No. I think some of them have finally hired them. One of the communities that was looking used the same firm was very pleased with this firm. And so I kind of took their lead and followed their steps, but I do know that there is another community within 40 miles of here looking for a finance officer that we are in competition with also. Well, if it was easy, I did want to go back to the water tower and again, we know that and there's also folks just in case you don't know, but the ground water reservoir, there might be some more work going on down there that I know that they're watching apparently a leak or something. Water is coming from some way and they want to find out where it is. But the council members did raise concerns about, especially with the water tower project out in the industrial park, discolored water. They didn't want to, you know, they wanted to make sure the public would be aware when some of this work is going to be going on. So right now the big thing would be as we go forward with some of this, there will be announcements that will be coming out. Yes. So we learned our lesson that if for any reason we think that it may change your water, we will be sending out a notice of any concern of discolored water ahead of time. The big issue is water starts going different directions through pipes and when that happens that it just scours the, what they call scours the pipeline, it gets some of the material that's coating it starts to work loose. That's where the discoloration comes from. We keep working at it. Other things, what are coming up for you at the council meeting here, the first one in October? Well, like with the bids for the water tower, that's going to be after the fact, but I kind of think others that are coming up, not too much. We have some bond stuff that we're going to deal with. At the last one, we did do a voluntary annexation part of the industrial park. This is a long range project segments of the industrial park get annexed into the city limits. Oh, yes, that's the 2026 phase, and that is over, I think a 30 year expansion. And then as they come in, then we get a 10 year abatement type of program for them. That was worked out. Oh, gosh. Wow. I'm going to say 15, 15, 20 years ago. Something like that. Yeah. I think the first one was 2011, but it was a while ago. It's been a long time. And once again, that will continue to go forward. All right. Now, we are getting to that time of the year. You hit October and you start looking at budgets and CIP, as if you didn't have a few other numbers to look at. But the first one of the first things up for you is that capital improvement plan, CIP. All the departments get together. They kind of put all of their things together on things they would like to do, projects they would like to do, equipment or things they might need to purchase. And you start putting together the overall plan that eventually is going to go to the full council. Yeah. So the first part of the project, like you said, is the capital improvement plan. And that really, this year is going to be focused on just getting updated the projects that we have in there. I think that it's going to be very limited on any new projects, just because we have so much going on. And then that's kind of, I don't like to call it a wish list, but it is the wants and the needs of the departments. And then that then gets moved into the CIP committee, goes through it, approves it or keeps it pending the projects each one. But then those that are approved, then try to get put into the budget. Just because the committee approves it does not necessarily mean that it's going to get into the budget. Because if there's no funding for it, it may have to get held off. And I know that a lot of communities, obviously most people have followed what Des Moines been doing and stuff. We're not quite sure where we're at yet. You're going to, it's going to take time to sit down and take a look at the numbers for Boone. When you started doing budget. Yeah. I spent two days last week at a conference trying to learn property tax. And there's still a lot of unknowns on how the new property tax reform is going to be calculated, how it's going to affect us. One of the big things that I'm working through is developments. We're, as you all know, we're all growing. And we have developers that want to come and want to do projects here. And it's a vital time for us to really take a look at how that property tax reform is going to affect us in offering incentives to these developers. And those were things that again, help took, took some of the risk off of some of their developments. Correct. It's one of the big things. Yeah. And, and I want to make it clear too, is that the city's not taking on that risk. It's the developers that are still taking on the risk. We're only doing tax rebates. So if their development does not happen, if, if they put in the streets and the infrastructure and something does not work out for them, the city's not on the hook unless there is actual development of buildings. And the one, the one part I know that you were disappointed in is because a portion of development, the tax dollars were always set aside for, especially if you use tax income and financing, always set aside for low to moderate income, which has gone away. And Boone was pretty aggressive on using their dollars for different projects for low to moderate income. Yeah. If you did a residential market rate or higher, you had to set aside a percentage of your TIF rebates. So if the developer was getting a hundred percent TIF rebate, a portion of that hundred percent had to be set aside for low to moderate income projects. And yeah, we, we have consistently used those dollars, um, everything from doing sidewalk programs, uh, to, uh, uh, low to moderate income apartment complexes. I think even use some on some of our storm sewer work. Absolutely. So it does have an impact on that too. Yeah. Wow. We'll just watch what happens. We've got plenty of work coming up too. Citywide cleanup, the big thing to remember next week, people north of Mamie, Eisenhower, get your items out on Sunday, by Sunday the 4th, the easy way to do that. And then south of Mamie, Eisenhower, it'll be the following Sunday, have them out on the, on the parking. Make sure you look at the guidelines and yes, and those can be found on the website and on the city of Boone Facebook page. Um, if we have gone down your street and you still have stuff left over, you probably will have a green tag on your door stating that you only have 72 hours to get rid of that, those remaining items. All right. Andrea Elmquist, our Boone City administrator. Thanks for joining us. Thank you.