The Atlantic City Council met on Wednesday evening in the Council Chambers at City Hall and one of the big agenda items was approval of a Veteran’s New Housing Forgivable Loan Program policy. When the policy was brought up for discussion Councilman Chris Jimmerson stated he thought the program should include the opportunity for some current local Veteran’s to take advantage. Under the initial proposal the policy would require someone to have not lived in Atlantic for the past 24 months to qualify.

The program is in coordination with the Home Base Iowa program that aims to bring retiring Veteran’s to or return to Iowa to build their lives after the military. The initial 24-month requirement was with the thought that they wouldn’t just give money to someone already here. Jimmerson contended that Veteran’s already living here have proven they want to be here and would give them incentive to build a new home. The program involves the opportunity for up to $15,000 in incentives to build and improve a new home in the Atlantic city limits. The initial program would have $90,000, or the opportunity for 6 potential recipients. The council decided to amend the requirements to allow for 2 of those recipients to be local and keep the 24-month away requirement for the other 4 slots.

That amendment was unanimously approved and then the full amended policy was unanimously approved by the council as well. The The program is seeded with $90,000 from the EDR (Economic Development Revolving) Fund. The City may pursue replenishing the loans through a TIF (Tax Increment Financing), but specific projects will need to be identified, and can occur later.

In other business the Council approved street closures for the Atlantic Homecoming Parade on October 11th and a portion of 6th Street near the city park for the Atlantic First Responders Family Night Out event on Sunday, August 25th from 4:00pm-7:00pm.

The Council also passed a Resolution “Amending the City Financial Policy to add Section 204” (A Federal Procurement Policy), with regard to Federal Disaster funds from FEMA.