Jamie Lawrence, Sac City administrator, said the last time the city had a comprehensive plan done was in 2004.

The city is working with the Region 12 Council of Governments.

“It gives us a roadmap of areas that we can look at improving in the future as far as transportation, economic development, amenities,” Lawrence said. “Just the basic overview of the entire town on giving us a plan.”

Lawrence said getting a new comprehensive plan was one of his main goals when he was hired as city administrator a little more than a year ago.

—Submitted photo
Children participate in a recent art activity at the Sac City Public Library.

Part of that plan includes a survey that was recently sent out to town residents, which “gives us an idea of what everybody’s positions and priorities are.”

One of the biggest issues that residents are concerned about is the sanitary and storm sewer system.

Lawrence said this past summer, city crews cleaned out the lines in the system, removing roots and other items that were in there.

Further work will be done in the spring, Lawrence said, which includes a sanitary sewer rehabilitation project.

“That’ll help reduce the number of incidents we have where sewers are backing up in the community during large rain events,” he said.

Another big concern among residents is the lack of available housing.

“We don’t have a lot of available housing for new people to move into,” he said. “(The survey) showed there’s support for a housing development in town if we can get that worked out.”

Lawrence added that he believes the lack of available housing is hurting efforts to recruit people for jobs. He specifically mentioned Loring Hospital, which is located in Sac City, and said many of the doctors and other staff who work there don’t live in town.

“The medical staff and doctors find it difficult to find a house in town and end up living outside of town,” Lawrence said. “I think it would help our recruitment efforts if we met their needs.”

Related to housing, Lawrence said the city is also taking a look at abandoned and dilapidated properties in town.

“There are several houses in town — and I think every town has this problem — that have been abandoned and really need to be torn down,” he said.

At least two were demolished last year, and Lawrence said the city will continue to look at other options when it comes to abandoned properties.

Also in 2019, Lawrence said a major street project is being planned on Audubon Street.

“That’ll be a very nice improvement in town,” he said. “We wanted to do it last fall but were unable to.”

Other recent improvements in town have been funded by the John H. Criss Trust.

The late John Criss, a longtime businessman in Sac City, left $5.7 million to the city when he died in 2015. The only requirement was that the money be used for city improvement, and could not be used by private entities.

Using some of that money, Lawrence said a new shelter house was built in the town’s South Park, which also saw new playground equipment added.

“We revamped the tennis courts,” he said. “We redid our slides at the swimming pool.”

One beneficiary of the Criss Trust was the Sac City Library, which used its funds last year for a remodel of the building, which turns 30 years old this year.

Library Director Kim Nelsen said planning is underway for a major celebration later this year.

“We’re very excited to begin planning how we’re going to celebrate this event,” Nelsen said. “We’re looking to do something this fall, but we don’t know what it’ll look like yet. We’re not going to let that opportunity pass by.”

The library also received a grant from the Iowa Arts Council and the State Library of Iowa.

That money will be used to develop new programming for rural libraries.

It will pair local libraries, artists and art organizations “to create this creative aging initiative to work with community members who are over the age of 55 to bring empowerment and positive development and artistic ability and learning and excitement about art,” Nelsen said.

Working with Rusty Farrington, an adjunct instructor at Iowa Central Community College, Nelsen said the library is planning a series called “From Monet to Bob Ross.”

“We’re going to be learning how to do landscape painting and the techniques and tools that are involved in that,” she said. “We’re pretty excited about that.”

Additionally, Lawrence said the town is looking to develop the Raccoon River water trail.

“I think the community’s really focused on our water trail system in town,” Lawrence said. “I think everyone’s realized that’s a huge asset for us. We have a lot of kayakers annually. That’s a potential area for future growth.”