North Iowa Reporter

City of Mason Mayor Bill Schnickel recently gave the annual state of the city address.

During the Jan. 3 city council meeting, Mayor Schnickel gave his annual state of the city address. He started by emphasizing the importance of partnerships between the community and the local police department and encouraged residents not to be afraid to call the local dispatch number if they see anything strange or wrong in their neighborhood. Schnickel stressed the importance of having identity in each neighborhood, and treating each one with the same respect and focus as the downtown area. He also asked residents to help save the Mason City YMCA by donating to the cause before Jan 31.

"These are really, really exciting times in Mason City. There's so much going on, it's going to be hard for me to get it all in these remarks, but I'm going to do my very best tonight," Mayor Schnickel said. "From Pebble Creek to Rolling Acres from downtown to the North End, River City is blessed with 17 great neighborhoods. I mention this because, for every resident, really the most important spot in town is within 100 feet of your own home. That's why flourishing neighborhoods is one of our immediate goals for the city council for this new year and it's really something that everybody can help with. It can be as simple as getting to know our neighbors, lending a helping hand to our neighbors in need. There's a lot of lonely people out there that would love nothing better than to get to know you."

Schnickel discussed some current developments in the area including work on the River 2 Apartments and on some other buildings throughout the city. He promised that the city would match these private investments and improvements with their own improvements on the nearby streets, trails, landscaping, and lighting to beautify the area. Schnickel also promised a similar effort to addressing blighted properties and getting rid of condemned houses, and starting to look at vacant commercial properties as well. Blighted properties became a major focus in 2019 and the city addressed 48 blighted properties in the last year. 

Some other celebrations the mayor made within the city was the increasing technology and connectivity. Working with Metronet, 1000 new homes got internet options in the last year, with the promise of most of the city having service available by September now that they have laid the necessary infrastructure. The city is also on track to have free wi-fi available for the entire downtown area by March. The Mason city school district was able to celebrate their first increase in enrollment in several years, with 3404 enrollments. The district will soon open a new state of the art pool and fieldhouse.