(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council met in a regular, but brief meeting this (Wednesday) evening. Among the action items on their agenda was the First Reading of an Ordinance “Amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Atlantic” by “Amending Provisions Pertaining to All-Terrain Vehicles and Snowmobiles.”

City Councilman Dana Halder….

As previously mentioned in our newscast, City Administrator John Lund said Iowa Senate File 2130 was developed in response to a 2020 survey, asking ATV and UTV riders what they would like to see changed in Iowa law, to better support riders of those vehicles. The survey results determined riders wanted to ride on more County and State roadways in all 99 counties, under a uniform State law. Cities were then left to create their own rules, but were not allowed to charge permitting fees.

Atlantic City Administrator John Lund makes his report to the City Council (11-20-24)

The City of Atlantic’s Community Protection Committee met last August to review the options for adopting an ordinance regarding the use of ATV’s and UTV’s on city streets, and has reviewed and recommended to the Council an amended ordinance, which includes:

• A 1-year sunset for the ordinance, which will end after that year, if there are no issues.
• A cut-off of 18-years (similar to what the City of Ankeny has).
• ATV’s and UTV’s must have a working horn, headlamps and tail lamps, but will not require turn signals.
• A subsection will be added to the ordinance, which disallows towing by ATV’s and UTV’s.
• The ordinance exempts Park employees from being forbidden to operate the machines on City property.
• It includes a section of the existing snowmobile ordinance and clarifies when police officers can issue citations addressing any related violations.
• And, at the request of Atlantic Police Chief Devin Hogue, the amended ordinance states that ATV’s only be allowed for the purpose of snow removal during the snow season.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council approved a pay application to Hydro-Klean, LLC for the 2024 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project, and a related resolution accepting the work for the project and Ultra Violet CIPP (Cured In Place Pipe) Lining Project. City Administrator John Lund provided a preview of some of the issues affecting local governments such as Atlantic’s City Council, that the Iowa Legislature is expected to begin tackling, some of which may be more hurtful than helpful.

He said the Legislature has an interesting definition of leaner government.

Lund says there seems to be a big disconnect on what some community priorities are, with regard to the legislature.

He said we will also continue to see Senate File 295 – A bipartisan property tax reduction bill that some say would make Iowa’s fiscal situation worse fading in the next two-or-three years before it completely gone. It remains to be seen how that will impact state appropriation to provide partial “backfill” payments to the local governments whose revenue would be impacted by these reductions.

But on the plus side, Lund said, the “Say Yes to EMS” public measure passed in Cass County. Lund is getting ready for the legislature to convene, and how their actions will impact the City’s budget.