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The Wyoming council took a few moments to thank the county economic development and housing redevelopment authority director Nancy Hoffman, for her efforts on behalf of the city and wish her well on her upcoming retirement.  Wyoming has been successful at bringing to fruition a number of housing and commercial/industrial proposals  in cooperation with county HRA/EDA programs facilitating fiscal structure and awareness of what’s available.

Meanwhile; the owner of Linwood Pizza used the open microphone agenda segment to complain about the traffic congestion attributed to the Halloween events at Pinehaven.  He told council his delivery person needed 45 minutes to get across the Wyoming I-35 interstate bridge and even the ramp was backed-up.  He asked if semaphore lights could be better-synchronized or if on-foot manual traffic control could be positioned when things get excessively clogged.

City staff said the issues are being looked into.  

The Pinehaven operators worked with the city in previous years to set up temporary signage and sell timed entry tickets online, among other measures, to try and stagger the crowd’s off-site impacts.  The business runs a hayride and various seasonal activities.  It is located on an unimproved side road with no accessible outlets.  The area at Viking Boulevard (Village Inn) and I-35 can be heavily affected at peak hours. 

In other matters:

The council voted 4-0 to set assessments for the street improvements done in 2026 at a per unit charge of $1,083.  Total being assessed was for addressing deterioration of street surface with a mill and overlay.  Wyoming as a city only assesses 20 percent and did not assess property addresses directly in the project area for stormsewer, concrete, trail and other public-use amenities. 

Those affected parcels have 30 days to pay off the fee at no interest. The next cycle of property tax statements will have the assessment automatically added if the property owner opts not to pay immediately.

City Engineer Mark Erichson said he thinks the work turned out really well, and restoration tasks will be happening into next year,  due to the drought affecting establishment of sod etc.

Council accepted a resignation from the public works assistant supervisor and wished him well in his new job closer to where he resides.

The vote to advertise for a replacement was 3-1 with Council member Linda Nanko Yeager opposed and member Dennis Schilling absent.  Yeager said the position doesn’t need to be filled and said she opposed creating it in the first place (2022).

Public Works Director Steve Reeve said the position is valuable.  The staffer serves as a coach for inexperienced workers and has spread the growing city’s workload, and the position also helps monitor city systems like sewer and water.

Council then entered a closed session for confidential discussion under state law for an annual performance review of the administrator.

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