The Waterloo City Council on July 1 approved appointments, beautification grants to downtown businesses, a union contract and a new cell tower in town.

Roberta Rohwedder, a former executive director for the Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, was appointed by Mayor Stan Darter as a city building official effective July 8. The council approved this appointment.

The re-appointments of Phillip Kelley, Kenneth Perkins and Rita Trantham to three-year terms on the Waterloo Library Board were also approved by the council.

Waterloo Beautification Grant applications from Three Tails Parlor & Pantry at 401 W. Third Street, Groves Investments at 101 N. Market Street and Groves Investments at 120 N. Main Street were also approved by aldermen who were present.

Absent from this meeting were aldermen Jim Hopkins and Kyle Buettner.

The council gave the go-ahead for Columbia Avenue resurfacing to be done by low bidder Rooters Asphalt in the amount of $281,630.26. Waterloo Director of Public Works Tim Birk said work should start on this project in 6-8 weeks.

Another action item on July 1 was a special use permit granted to SBA Towers X for a cell phone communication tower to be installed at the southwest corner of Walmart, 961 N. Market Street.

The special use request for this 150-foot tower received unanimous favorable recommendation from the Waterloo Planning Commission, and then was approved by the Waterloo Zoning Board of Appeals by a vote of 5-2. The zoning board did make a stipulation that if this tower was not utilized for three years, it must be removed at the owners’ expense.

Per an SBA Towers X representative, Verizon Wireless will be leasing the tower at this time but the tower will be designed to handle additional service providers.

Lastly, a three-year union contract with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1 was approved by the city council following an executive session. 

Darter said a total of eight city employees are covered under this IBEW labor contract.

The next regular meeting of the Waterloo City Council is set for 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 15, at City Hall.