The Pella City Council had three contracts up for consideration related to ongoing development of the proposed Pella Rec Center at their meeting Tuesday.

Despite several public comments in opposition to start the meeting and requests to table all three motions by Councilmember Lynn Branderhorst, the Pella City Council ultimately approved the schematic design for the proposal, as well as for engineering services related to expanding University Street and Baseline Drive and associated sanitary sewer improvements. All of those elements were discussed during Policy and Planning at the March 7th meeting.

The council also set a public hearing on April 4th to consider the maximum property tax rate for fiscal year 2023-24, and approved the execution of a real estate gift agreement with the Community Betterment Organization, an engineering services agreement for the East 3rd Street reconstruction project, and a preliminary plat for the Hopkins Subdivision.

Following regular business, the Pella City Council discussed the selection process for an architect related to proposed renovations to the Pella Community Center, an update related to the Southside Beautification Project on the 500 block of Oskaloosa Street, and a K-9 therapy program at Pella Community Ambulance.