At a recent meeting, our city officials described a tentative agreement that would allow a for-profit developer to construct a 56-unit apartment building on 7th Street East. This site is located on a dead-end road that is accessible only from Elm Avenue East—also a dead-end road. The proposal includes substantial property-tax subsidies for the developer, along with the city selling the acreage for just one dollar.

City of Montgomery officials presented their updated plan to address what was a largely ballooning tax burden on the former timeline of the Street and Utility Improvement Plan (SUIP) and other infrastructure desires. 
    What was looming as a tripling of city taxes has now been knocked down to between 125% to about 175% of the current city taxes, evening the burden out for many years but adding to the overall cost long-term. 

Montgomery city officials held their first of three town halls regarding the updated Street and Utilities Improvement Plan (SUIP) and the long-term budget of the city, as well as gave more details about the new Memorial Park playground to be installed in 2026. Only two residents showed up to this first town hall.

Montgomery City Administrator Brian Heck formally announced to city council his retirement plans, which has a somewhat flexible target date of June of this year. This was announced at the Monday, Jan. 5, special city council meeting.

“What I told Tom (Mayor Thomas Eisert) and what I put in my notes to council is that my target is June. June is what I’m looking at, and I will commit to hanging around until someone is brought on,” said Heck.

Montgomery Chamber of Commerce and the Community Economic Development Association (CEDA) held a Business and Retention Engagement Conversation at the Montgomery Police Department on Monday.

Business owners and leaders of the community were treated to lunch and participated in open conversation about the climate of business within the city of Montgomery.

Community Asset Development Group (CADG), out of the Twin Cities, has expressed a serious interest in creating a 43 unit apartment building to fall within affordable housing rules on the east side of Montgomery.

A parcel where it would reside currently owned by the city off the roundabout on 7th Street SE, just north of Elm Avenue SE, has been sitting vacant for some time and not earning any taxes.

“The site plan is pretty conceptual,” said Dave Pokorney, one of the two CADG partners. “We are just doing the financial modeling of approximately 43 units.”