The Austin City Council holds the fate of millions in their hands – millions of adult mosquitoes that is.

Saturday, August 05, 2000

The Austin City Council holds the fate of millions in their hands – millions of adult mosquitoes that is. If they vote yes, there will be three sprayings over the next month and adult mosquitoes will die although those yet unborn will remain unaffected. If they vote no, everyone lives.

City Engineer Jon Erichson told members of the council airport committee Tuesday that he’d received a bid for spraying; three applications would cost the city $17,600. The Blue Earth Company uses a synthetic chemical which, More’s Ag Center, Inc. owner Paul More says, is very safe to humans and pets. More did, however, say that if the city chose to hire his company to do the spraying they would ask for a 24-hour notification period on the cable TV and radio.

In addition to the plentiful mosquito, tax increment financing is also featured more than once in Monday’s Austin City Council agenda. The first time for TIF district No. 11, north of 18th Ave. NE, where the first buyer will be the Cooperative Response Center. The council will again – for the third time – continue a public hearing on the business subsidy agreement that details the deal between the city and the emergency call center to the Aug. 21 council meeting.

TIF districts No. 10 and No. 7 are also on the agenda. For No. 10, which includes much of downtown Austin’s older buildings as well as the new Hormel Foods Corp. offices on north Main Street, the council will document a $315,440 loan from the city’s building fund to the district for expenses including the purchase of the Wold Building, the Silver Bullet Business, the Lekakis property that once housed the Silver Bullet and the relocation of Deano Lekakis’s business, the Arcade.

Also included in that sum are appraisals on those buildings and Spanky’s Tavern, which city officials have said they would like to tear down and make into a parking lot for county employees. The council also will vote on a budget amendment for No. 7, the NE Industrial Park.

Also on Monday, the council will designate election judges and voting places for the Sept. 15 primary as well as the Nov. 7 general election. Council will start the 5:30 p.m. meeting by honoring two local organizations: both the local chapter of the Mower County American Red Cross and the Austin Salvation Army will receive special honors for their role in helping the community recover from the July 10 flooding. The meeting will take place in Council Chambers on the lower level of the Municipal Building at 500 Fourth Ave. NE. The public is encouraged to attend.