Spencer Aldermen approved a contract Thursday to develop a downtown revitalization project.
Spencer Mayor Alisa Farmer said the $20,000 contract includes architectural services to form a project plan. Farmer said the city will use a grant to cover the contract and get the initial phases of the project underway.
“We’ll have a community meeting, they will come in, they will get ideas and then they are gonna give us a plan as to what we can do to bring life back down to downtown, whether it’s you know, bringing from Highway 111 to the old part of town and giving us some different scenarios” Farmer said.
Farmer said she needed the board’s approval as the planner has a strict deadline to complete the plan by mid-June. Farmer said she is hoping the project will bring excitement back to the city of Spencer.
“I can remember when I was growing up that our little downtown area was a place to go,” Farmer said. “People went, and we used to have a car dealership, we used to have little shops, we had places to go, and things for people to do, and I would like to bring that back.”
Farmer said she does have an idea of what she would like to see as part of the downtown revitalization project. Farmer said she would like to see the downtown area somehow get connected to Highway 111.
“I would love to see it be connected in a good way for our kids to have some places to go for entertainment, for our residents to have a place to just be able to enjoy themselves, and things to do so we have great potential,” Farmer said. “It’s just a matter of getting it started.”
Farmer said the contract does not include reimbursable expenses, which include printing fees and mileage. Farmer said after conversations with the planner, reimbursable fees would be an estimated $500. City Attorney Edward Boring said the city should have that as part of the contract.
“My suggestion would be to get them to put $500 in there, take that paragraph completely out, it says included but not limited to mileage for any fees,” Boring said. “You don’t want them to start charging hotels and things of that nature.”
In other business, the board approved an ordinance on the first reading to repeal the municipal code involving the town lake. Farmer said this repeals some of the restrictions that were put in place many years ago. Farmer said the town has to repeal the restrictions for the Warren County Utility District.
