On Thursday the Ames City Council held the final round of budget hearings, sharing information on transmit, communications, sustainability and community development in Ames.
Transit
CyRide ranks fourth in the nation for ridership per capita.
“We expect to provide more than five million rides this year. We are currently carrying about 30,000 passengers a day,” Barbara Neal, director of Transit, said.
CyRide will receive $6,368,140 from Iowa State Student Government, comprising 40% of the CyRide budget.
In November CyRide received a $14.6 million federal grant to convert 20 buses to B100 fuel and construct an indoor bus storage space.
CyRide offers an ADA Paratransit, known as Dial-A-Ride.
“Dial-A-Ride is CyRide’s paratransit service for individuals who are unable to use our fixed route services. We do expect to carry 16,500 passengers this year on Dial-A-Ride,” Neal said.
Communications
Last April the city of Ames launched a new webpage.
“It achieved our goals of being intuitive, mobile friendly and the big one, ADA compliant,” Susan Gwiasda, Communications and Outreach manager, said.
In addition to a new webpage the city launched GovDelivery.
“We added GovDelivery, an e-notification system that allows people to sign up for topics of particular interest to them, and then it also allows us to customize e-newsletters, several departments and divisions are taking advantage of that,” Gwiasda said.
Sustainability
The city of Ames awarded $63,000 to the community through the City Climate Action Grants Program.
Recipients of the grant include: Ames High School Cybersecurity & Technology (ACT) Club, The EcoTheatre Lab, Labyrinth Coffee/Collegiate Presbyterian Church and North Grand Christian Church.
The press release can be located on the city of Ames webpage.
This year Ames became a host site for Green Iowa AmeriCorps.
“We’ve got two AmeriCorps members with us, these folks are out there in people’s homes doing weatherization,” Pa Goldbeck, assistant city manager, said.
Community development program:
The city of Ames plans to finish construction of the two final affordable single-family homes alongside Habitat for Humanity, constructing, in total, eight homes.
In partnership with Townhomes at Creekside Development Group, the city of Ames constructed 38 multi-family, low-income housing units.
On Tuesday the city council will vote on the proposed CIP, discuss the adjusted budget, and vote on the proposed budget.
For more information on the Ames City Council, visit the city of Ames webpage.