Dana mayor Mandy Sims is facing a dilemma many very, very small towns see – how does a town of 32 residents pay for needed maintenance and services?
Sims met with the county supervisors during the open forum portion of their meeting Monday. She reported that the street in front of Juhl Feed is “toast” and needs to be replaced. That work, along with patching other places in Dana’s streets, will cost $68,000. Dana’s entire city budget is only $61,000. She said she’s looking for extra money for the work.
RAGBRAI® will pass through Dana July 24 as it leaves Greene County. The council is planning a city-wide cleanup before then. “We want to give a nice impression of Dana. We’re trying really hard to clean up stuff,” she said. “We’d like to get stuff moving if we can and get some help wherever we can find it.”
County engineer Wade Weiss was with Sims. County Road E-26 is the main road through Dana. It’s taken a beating during construction of the nearby wind farm, and he’s planning to do some patching in June. He’s also planning a $50,000 repair job on the railroad crossing there.
He offered to talk with Fort Dodge Asphalt to find out the scope of the project to determine if there’s any part of it the county crew could help with.
Supervisor Mick Burkett, a former resident of Dana, offered to talk with Juhl Feed owners to ask if the company would be willing to pay for some of the work. Burkett and Weiss said they’d talk with the supervisors again after they learned more about what is needed.
The supervisors did not commit to help financially.
Dana is the county’s smallest incorporated town.
