Dave Casotti, Boone Mayor, October 20, 2026

Today taking time to visit with Mayor Dave Cassotti about the last night's Moon City Council meeting which was very well attended. It was pretty well attended. Yeah that was thanks for having me Jim and yes it was the room was packed. And even out in the hallway some people might ask why didn't you move it to the auditorium you had more room there but you didn't have your your video link. Right. Again you weren't able to do that. This is the way you had it on you had your you had your YouTube stream and yeah and things like that. Even though we did have some issues with our speakers that weren't quite working so we're looking into that. Well that's a whole other technical thing. In the meantime obviously the big thing last night was City Council did get the recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission to approve site plan for what's called the Boone Edge co-location facility and then also a memorandum of understanding and and Council did I mean they were working on this. Yeah. Again this is the first time you've actually had something on this on your agenda. Correct. Yep. Yeah we've been looking at it. We've been working on it for over two months and and just so everybody knows just because we've passed all this we're still only we're one of three or four I can't remember sites that Light Edge is looking at so this is not a done deal by any means. So but you feel pretty confident. Do you feel confident. I feel pretty confident. I honestly I hope we do get it obviously because I see the benefits for Boone and I know there's going to be people that argue with me on that but I yeah I know I'm still having trouble finding the negatives so. Well last night obviously you had a lot of people there that wanted to speak and a lot of them wanted to speak just against data centers in general. Yep. And I don't know if they had specific points they wanted to make about Light Edge or their operations. This is you had a lot of people there that wanted to speak in support of it too. Right. So none of them got a chance to say anything. Right. And that was it was a hard decision but we needed to get this worked through and we've had a couple opportunities for them to speak. We had the public forum and so forth. So and we see all the comments on Facebook and everything else so. Well let's talk a site plan itself approved by the Council seven nothing and once again shows two structures that would be built. And I think one of the things that Dave AIDS building official pointed out is it wouldn't be both of them right away all at once. It's going to be kind of they will add on as the need arises. Correct. Yep. Yep. So it's and one of the big things too that Mike from Light Edge spoke and then Terry also filled into that about the water use. Everybody was concerned about the water use and it is a closed loop system which does not once it's filled. Now they obviously are not trying to make this super short but once you know they'll fill it initially but then they have to purge it just because of all the sediment from or not sediment but the slack from from welding and the different things from the brand new purge. This is not on a regular but this is one time and just to get all the stuff out from the from the construction phase of it. Once they get that and they use a filter system and they've got tons of things in place for that. So if there's any issues they'll take care of it but once that's done they fill it up it's done. They've used the one in Altoona used point four gallons in the last two years. So that's because they changed that filter once in a while. So you lose just a few you know you lose a water and and then they fill it or put it back in and add that point four gallons in two years so it's not a big water user. So site plan itself again like the fact because this property's been sitting there since the late 90s. Yep. You got all the infrastructures in there for the from the city standpoint there's very little you have to do. Correct. Yeah they're they're paying for everything. They're not getting any incentives. There's no tax rebates or tax abatements. They're not asking for anything. So yeah that it's well let's switch over to the Memorandum of Understanding that was also approved unanimously and again it does identify a lot of things that would go into a development agreement. Again you talked about the amount of water that would be used. They said 75,000 gallons. That's it. They describe it as five five person households. Right. Correct. Again and that water usage again is not because of the cooling system it's because of their their toilets their sinks and their irrigation for their landscape for some reason they feel they have to water the grass. Right. Anyway but this is again so that's but that would be a maximum and again these are just all things that will end up would end up in a development agreement should they go for the building permit. Correct. Those are guidelines. Then you'll know you've been selected. Then yep and then we'll get it down to the nitty gritty and get everything finalized with the numbers and everything so. So some people keep saying secret meetings on this not really everything you guys have gotten have been right up front. Right. You've gone I think most of the council members have gone down to Altoona to see what that facility is like and what it is all but one of them and you know Kyle had a baby coming so he couldn't quite squeeze that in with work and that so but yeah yeah I wish everybody I wish they could take 12,000 people down and give them a tour it's their nice facilities they're clean yeah they're very conscious of everything so. Well we know at this point in time anyway the council did approve this so we move on to the next part of it and see if they decide they need a building permit and want to go ahead with it. Yep I don't know what their timeline is but yep. A development agreement would be in place before if they decide to go for a building permit you would start working on the current finalized development agreement right away because then you would have an opportunity for minimum assessed value which is really the thing one of the things the city wants right want to know you get you got those some of the limitations and I say some of the other things like if they damage one of the roads while they're building we broke it we'll fix it yep those kinds of things. Another thing that they talked about was if during construction if we get chosen and they start construction you know Dave AIDS is overwhelmed as it is with all the projects going on so if we needed a another building official type person to come in and oversee that project they would even pay for that for us to have someone in place to do that so they're willing to take care of any costs associated. I think Jordan Hammer raised a question on waste should there be a system or if they have to drain down some of their closed loop system or something they would have water would be tested and then if they had to bring in someone special to haul it away and get it treated elsewhere yep they would be responsible for that. Yep well that was a good point to make and question to ask so. But those are all part in the the memorandum of understanding that would be in a development agreement. Yep that's why I'm just going to say all that will then get finalized and end up in the any agreement so. Okay well that part actually was probably shorter than your request for proposal part. It was. The request for proposal so we just kind of lay the groundwork for people. Boone became one of those thriving communities one of the four identified as thriving communities in Iowa which gives you an advantage when you have developers that are pursuing tax incentives or basically opportunities to enhance some projects without the city actually doing it. Right. So it would be through the state of Iowa. Correct. One area hard to believe but one area where you're kind of lagging behind with all this residential construction is low to moderate income. I know it seems like that's all that's been going up lately but yeah because we're lagging behind so there is a need for it. In that area you got single family homes you got the marketplace rental properties but it's the low to moderate income where you're kind of behind. So taking a look at what you've got you've got property around around the Goldway Garvey Family Resource Center. Yep. And it's no secret there are several council members that are not interested in being landlords. Right. So what you did was put together a proposal and basically you have developers that are interested to build some low moderate income housing out in that particular area. Yep. And potentially acquire the building. Take care of the building itself. But you built in some safeguards for the tenants in there. Yes. They had a great deal of concern about that and even what after 10 years or things like that. So yeah. And rightly so. We get that. I mean and we want to make sure that that's that stays at daycare. So that's why we're trying to building these building these safeguards. We and they had some concerns excuse me still battling this stuff but we all but they had you know they had some concerns and they still would like to look at the possibility of them purchasing the building which would be great if they can do that. We would sell child care junction the building and let them own their own building and take care of things. But if not if that doesn't work out we can get the new builder to come in and have a new landlord. But we do have those safeguards in place because we want to keep that a daycare. I don't you know there would be we had 10 years put in there but I you know I don't see a new landlord getting rid of that either. I obviously don't know that would happen. So well one of the things about an RFP is they make a proposal to you. You guys get to shop at then. You're going to have to have a separate committee. You'll have some people that'll be on there. They'll review all of these all the applications. Yes we would like to build this. We would like to do this with this building. Continue to enhance child care or whatever. So these are all things that that's I mean it's I know it's a fast track to get there but they're unanswered right now. We don't know what developers are actually going to put out there or if they're going to want that site. Right. We have no idea so that's why we put it out for RFP and we'll we'll find out and go from there and yeah. And did make some adjustments on potentially because of some of the initial proposals for guidelines. Some adjustments will be made. We'll have to wait and see what happens. Yep. Go forward with that. Right. And one of the first things is go back to the very beginning. Wayland Andrews there to speak about the contract with short Elliott Hendrickson. This has to do with the surveying that's going to be done for the Eastgate Pump Station in the Forest Main project that's coming up. Again is he pointed out to the council because of the cost of this project which is right now at least on the construction site around seven million dollars. Yep. You had pulled some of that surveying out of there potentially to help control some of these costs. Right. And this is something that you're working with the engineering firm specifically to handle. Right. Yep. So that's what happened there folks if you were wondering. Yep. There's so much. There was. By the way he did not have a summary for us for the citywide cleanup but it's been a little busy for him. I cannot. I won't tell you because I don't know a hundred percent but I know he called me one day and he wasn't thrilled with how it was going. So. Well you and the council wanted to continue. And I know there were some challenges. Again some people kind of trying to skirt the guidelines. Yep. And that's still an issue this year. So we'll. Yeah. We've got another decision to make next year but. Well we'll see. Did what was the preference for doing it in October was it any better than if it would have been done in June. That part I haven't heard from oil and so I don't know for sure. Weather wise it was cooler although we had a nice week I think for it. I can't refer. We had a little rain in there but still. It was substantially cooler than June. Right. Typically been so. Yep. It's hot and buggy. Most of the time. And then they usually get the big downpour and then it's even heavier. Right. So. Yeah. Well we know that they definitely hauled a lot of mattresses. I heard that. So. Yep. And we'll see how it went with some of the other things that they had going on. So. Yeah. He did not have a chance to summarize it. But he did get you a little update on the Hancock Drive extension which last time he had talked about that said the big challenge has been the weather and surprise still the weather. Yep. More rain again. So. Again they've been trying to do things to try to get the base solidified so they can do the concrete. And it's just every time they turn around you get another inch inch and a half two inches of rain. And there you go. You got to wait for it to dry out. Right. Yep. And it's. If you had better connections to control this right. Well working on that. Yeah. It's still it's still frustrating that we had enough good weather this year that we thought it should have probably got in there. But I'm not going to point fingers or blame so we'll we'll get it done. Well that's just one of the things that continue to go on and did get that some of that work going on. There's a lot of other things that are still going on the headworks project down the wastewater treatment plant getting close to getting a lot of that taking care of to some of the other things that came up. We did have the. Well we know that from the Erickson Public Library Jamie Williams did show the annual report a lot of a lot of use. Yes. Libraries had a lot of use. She keeps things. She keeps things. Keeps things hopping over there with events and everything else. So was it 77 things a week. Yeah. Was it. Yeah. That just blew my mind when I heard a lot. That is. That's good. Anyway very busy. Later this week we'll find out more maybe. Yeah. We did have parks department the work that they have going on and one of the more recent items they had was some concerns about trucks on our trees on truck routes and getting that done. So I had to get another contractor got a bid from Central Iowa Home Solutions and if you happen to see them out there they'll be doing tree trimming especially along Story Street Street trying to give get it up high enough so the trucks aren't. Yep. Getting the trees. It happens. When you're a tree city. Yep. You got to deal with that. Yep. So at least there there are a couple other streets they'll be looking at. Right. Hopefully they hit some on Mamie too. So. Get that. Let's see. Some of the other things. Well. Go Chief Adams Chief Weebel. Let's go Weebel because he's up. Is there there events coming up for it. Well actually they'll both be out there for it. Right. Trunk or treat coming up Thursday and good weather for it. Yep. So we'll see how how full it gets down to for that. It does kick off their shop with a cop to does. That's one thing in particular. I know they do that and they've got let's see for Chief Adams. They have a couple of different things that will be coming up as well. They do their chilly drive through chilly field. That'll be coming up and their battery replacement program too. Yeah. They got a few things. They do. What other fun things came up. Oh yeah. Let's talk about the comment time at the end of the meeting your public comments because you did have a first of its items not on the agenda. And of course a lot of wanted to talk about data center pro and con but you did have individual that wanted to talk about your ordinance for e scooters and bikes and everything else. And he'd like to see something a little more a little stricter a little stricter. Yep. We'll take that into into you know take the advice of that and start looking into it. And maybe we do need to make a little bit stricter but we'll start with what we've got and if we need to change it we can change it. So I mean his position is he's had medical the medical experience professional and has seen the results of some of the accidents that come in and can't blame him. You know he talks about some of the kids on e-bikes that once you even modified a little bit all of a sudden you're going almost 30 miles an hour on them. Yep. No helmet. Yes. That's this that can be the scary thing for sure. So again those just some of the things I know you emphasized parents please spend some time educate your kids. Yeah. That's that's where you're going to listen. Well I know when I was a kid I did so it's that's that's the tough part too. I understand it. That's human nature. So hopefully we get through it and we have no problems and I'm sure there could be some exceptions here and there but we'll we'll get through it and see if we need to change it or not. One of this again Cole Hilsenbeck does chair public safety. He encouraged him to make contact. He'd like to sit down with him and see what kind of recommendations he has and how it might fit in there. But still the bottom line is we do have this ordinance and basically the bottom line is follow the traffic laws. I know the chief had talked about this on a recent visit to follow the traffic laws. That's one of the big things. Stop signs. Stop. All of those too. Other things coming up for him. That's most of it. That's most of it. There's a lot going on. It's hard to pick one out right now but well construction wise obviously as long as mother nature is cooperating we're starting to see some of that getting done. Public works now getting back away from doing the city wide cleanup. They get back into their regular routine and it'll be flushing hydrants and you're not too far away from having to do snow ordinances. I'm hoping it's a much further away than I was going to say don't don't tell me we have time. We do. Hopefully we have a lot of time. But people should plan for it. Yep. Yep. Otherwise I think mostly what came up for your meeting last night. I know you got a couple of committee meetings coming up. Utility committee did not meet yesterday but then again the only item really they would have had would have been the surveying for the forest main project. Yep. So we do have a couple of big ones that are coming up for you. People come on out. Trigger trading. Trigger treat. Did they ask you particularly? They have not yet have they? Well I said when do you recommend trick or treat. Actually Andrea caught me after the meeting last night and said when did you want to do it and I said or she goes do you want to keep it on Halloween from five to seven. I said absolutely let's not let's not break tradition so. Recommended times five to seven on Halloween. Yep. So we'll do that. I was wondering if anybody was going to just nail you. I say why why we should do it. We should do it later. No that's no one made any other recommendations and yeah she just asked me last night if that's what we want to do and I said yep let's keep it the same. Okay so we'll do it five to seven again people turn on your lights if you wish to have trick or treaters come by that night. Yep. Again it'll be dark so people use caution. Yep. Parents make sure your children are staying on the sidewalks and again it's just all the safety things that go with Halloween too. Yep. Look at that we've got a few other events that'll be taking place but again trunk or treat on this Thursday. Yep. Actually this Thursday. Yeah this Thursday. And also a five to seven kind of thing downtown so Story Street will be blocked off for that. Like yeah it's going to be a lot of kids. Last year they estimated 12 to 1500 so I'm gonna say we'll be there again. I'll bet so. Good weather wise it's going to be nice. That'll be the key. So and then really for Boone trick or treating on Halloween five to seven. Yep. Watch out for the little kiddos. Be out there. Have a good time. Enjoy yourself. Absolutely. Dave Cassotti Boone mayor our guest on our program today thanks for joining us. Thank you Jim.