Mason City council approves agreement with Clear Lake to hire watershed coordinator

MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City this week approved entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Clear Lake to hire a full-time watershed coordinator.

Clear Lake, through their informal partnership with the Clear Lake Enhancement and Restoration Project, has had a part-time position for many years, but it’s been difficult to retain a coordinator due to the limitations of a part-time position. Mason City has become more interested and engaged in watershed management, including the city’s participation in the Winnebago Watershed Coalition, and the agreement will allow Clear Lake to hire a full-time coordinator split roughly 30 hours per week for Clear Lake and 10 hours a week for Mason City.

City Finance Director Brent Hinson says Mason City would never find a quality part-time person with any experience or skill for a 10 hour a week job.  “We are coming in with a significant contribution to that to allow this to be a 40-hour arrangement, to allow them, and essentially we’ve kind of already talked with Clear Lake of what does this mean once this moves forward, what we can do to bring in additional partners.”

Hinson says a bilateral partnership between Mason City and Clear Lake makes the most sense.   “We’re seeing this as really at this point a two-year bridge with the hope that what we can do is, as we enhance, as we move forward on the Winnebago Watershed, this could be a deeper partnership with other entities in the region, and that we could maybe even have more than one full-time staff member that is performing this work.”

Under the agreement, Mason City will enter into a two-year commitment with an annual contribution of $35,000 per year, with Storm Sewer Utility funds being used to fund the partnership.