Civil Municipal View Feb2023

54 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 2 and a major renovation of the high school, as Neyer explains, “The purpose of that was to provide state of the art opportunities to all the students K through 12 for learning. There was a significant amount of modernization added to the building so that students would have state- of-the-art equipment to learn on. The statement was made, ‘We are training for something in the workforce that we don’t know is there yet’. The school district is very good at preparing students for whichever avenue they choose.” Preparing for residential expansion, the city is focusing its efforts on a development by Drees Homes expected to break ground in late 2023 that will bring 481 residences to the northern edge of the city. “We have some work to do with extending the sanitary sewer line to the site. We and the developer are going to be doing that together, they are cost-sharing that extension,” says Hamons. “With those homes, we will be adding several thousand more residents to the community.” Adding a joint fire/police services facility to this area is also up for discussion, with the city currently negotiating with the developer to acquire a piece of land to build on. “This would be important because our community has grown to the north, and that would give us a safety services facility on that edge of the town, which we don’t really have at this point,” acknowledges Hamons. Plans are also underway for a modification