A 5:30 p.m. Personnel and Finance Committee meeting, followed by a Committee of the Whole session at 6:15 p.m., and regular council meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. will make for a long evening for Spencer's governing body.

The council will review the final filing of a proposed ordinance that will provide for a new section to the city code pertaining to substandard buildings; providing for an "Historic Restoration" classification.

To be eligible for the "Historic Restoration Classification", an application would need to be submitted to the City Clerk's Office who in turn would forward it to the building official for review. The building official would review the plan for compliance and discuss with the owner any deficiencies or need for clarifications. The application would then be forwarded to the Historic Preservation Board for their review. Once that step is completed, the board would forward their recommendation to the city council. The council can then approve or deny the request.

If the council approves the request, they will assign a date that the project must be completed by. If the project is not completed in the time frame established by the council,

it will automatically lose its Historic Preservation classification and be treated as a substandard building and be governed accordingly.

Based on the ordinance, each project is evaluated on its own merits, thus the time allotted for completion is determined on that evaluation. The maximum amount of time allowed by the council is three years.

The Progress and Development Committee met on this item and is recommending approval.

The city officials will consider a proposal from Buxton for a Community ID-Identifying Customers Retail Analysis Project.

Buxton is a national company that performs analysis for retail establishments that want to consider a specific city. Most major retail developers utilize this type of analysis before they invest in an area. More recently, Buxton has been approached by cities to perform a similar analysis on behalf of their city.

This allows cities to market to potential retail developers, in a more proactive way as the information that the developer would be looking for would already have been assimilated.

The Targeted Retail Task Force as well as the Progress & Development Committee has evaluated this proposal and are both recommending that the City move forward on this project.

City Manager Bob Fagen has met with both the Chamber as well as the Clay County Board of Supervisors on this project. According to Fagen, both seemed to be in support of the project and are considering participating in the cost.

The city staff are continuing to visit with other potential entities as to their interest in being a partner in the project.

Buxton for the most part uses an analysis called psychographics, which in layman's terms is the buying habits of a trade area.

When a consumer buys a magazine, use a credit card, leave a phone number or area code at a store, a trail is being left behind. The Buxton Company purchases that information and uses it in their analysis. A profile of the buying habits is created. That profile is then compared to what the profile of various retail stores are looking for to determine if there is a match.

The normal cost for Buxton to provide this service is $55,000. By working with other cities in the State we were able to reduce the cost down to $45,000.

According to Fagen, the city considers this an economic development tool, thus would look to funds in the budget that are directed for economic development.

At the last council meeting the first filing of an amendment to the fence regulation ordinance was approved. A Committee of the Whole session will take place beginning at 6:30 p.m. to further discuss the matter before addressing it on the agenda during the council meeting.

With the potential of both the second, as well as the final filing taking place at this meeting, the city staff felt it prudent to have clarification on how existing fences that "This ordinance shall be in effect following its final passage, approval and publication as provided by law as to all fences substantially repaired or constructed after the effective date of this ordinance, except that this ordinance shall apply to all temporary fences which violate the provisions of this ordinance from and after the effective date."

This would be the second filing of this ordinance. As discussed at the Progress and Development Committee as well as the previous council meeting, the city council would consider suspending the rules and take the final reading.

The Spencer Community Theater is requesting support for a CAT Grant Application for the SCT Expansion and Renovation Project. The estimated cost of the project is $1,200,000. As part of that support they will be requesting funding from the city for a portion of the project.

The amount of the funding will be discussed at the Finance & Personnel meeting at 5:30 p.m. prior to the council meeting.

City staff is requesting approval of a grant agreement with the IDOT/DNR Tree and Shrub Program. The grant would be in the amount of $100,000 and would be used for the Grand Avenue Enhancement Project. Recommend approval.

The Director of Public Works is requesting approval of a resolution to approve an Off Street Parking Agreement at the Spencer Readiness Center for the Iowa National Guard.

The city attorney has prepared an amendment to two chapters concerning electrical and plumbing contractor's licensing to conform to the new state law provisions governing licensing.

For the most part, the amendment to the ordinance allows the city to accept a contractor that holds a state license.