The Kalona City Council voted on Monday, July 19 to approve the city partnering with the East Central Iowa Council of Governments (ECICOG) to complete an income survey. The survey will be used to determine low to moderate income percentage.

“We’ve never really been close enough percentage-wise to go out and do a physical survey,” City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh said. “We’re currently within about five percentage points, based off some of the census data.”

Schlabaugh said the survey is random, and ECICOG’s involvement helps ensure it’s randomness.

“We bring ECICOG in and they assist with making it random, so it’s not me, it’s not staff, it’s not council going out and choosing where to go to get the surveys we need for our sample size,” Schlabaugh said. “We partner with them to come up with that, to look through our list of residents and then choose them. We know who it is after the fact because we potentially have to work with them one-on-one to fill the survey out, if needed.”

Schlabaugh estimated that the cost for distributing the survey will be less than $1,000, which includes ECICOG creating the survey, crunching the data and presenting a report.

“What does this do if we hit that level [of low to moderate income percentage]? It allows us to leverage some funds through CDBG funds that are available that might be zero interest, low interest or forgivable loans on some things,” Schlabaugh said. “It’s not something that we’ve been eligible for in the past, but we’re close enough that it warrants doing the study.”

In other business, the council set two public hearings. The first, held on Monday, Aug. 2 at 7 p.m. will be on the proposed drawings, specifications, form of contract and cost for the construction of the proposed Watershed Improvements. The second, held Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. will concern the leasing of the first floor office space at 2285 133rd Street to C.J. Moyna and Sons.

The council also approved the final plat for phase two (lots 65-85) of the Northridge subdivision, showing lots 65-71 as R1, single family homes, and lots 72-79 as R2, multi-family homes. Schlabaugh said the plat had been reviewed and approved by the city engineer, Axiom consultants, both sets of attorneys for the city and C.J. Moyna and Sons, and Kalona’s planning and zoning committee.