The Walnut City Council, Thursday, was offered the chance to acquire the building in town currently owned by the Walnut School District. City Clerk Terri Abell said Walnut Community School District Superintendent Jesse Ulrich came before the Council to make the proposal. Ulrich said the School Board wanted to give the City the first opportunity to do something with the building. The decision was then made to form a committee comprised of the Mayor and two Council people, School Board members, and members of the public, to decide what they want the facility to become. They also discussed the possibility of hiring a consultant or an architect to conduct a feasibility study and facility study on the building.

Abell said if anyone from the community would like to volunteer to serve on the committee, they are more than welcome to contact the Walnut City Hall at 712-784-3443. It’s not clear if the District wants to gift the building to the City or sell it, but Abell said giving from a municipality-to municipality is a much easier. Last year, the Walnut School Board opted to reorganize with the AHST School District, with the idea being to have one campus, located in Avoca. Officials are exploring the option of selling or leasing the building in Walnut, which will serve students for the last time, during the next school year.

She said also, the Council received information from Bob Hilligas and Marye Bierbaum about expanding the City’s profile through social media. That includes advertising the various antique shops in the community on Facebook. The City already has a Facebook page, and an official City website that talks about local government and City events. Hilligas and Bierbaum were given a budget to handle the social media aspect of the City and tie in all relevant pages to the Facebook page.

The City she says also waiting to see if it will receive a grant for a Streetscape/Fascade Program, and they recently received a $400,000 grant through the CITIES Programfrom the Iowa West Foundation, which they are hoping to match with a grant being applied for through a CDBG (Community Development Block Grant).