Committee of the Whole Meeting

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MINUTES City Hall, 220 Clay Street February 2, 2026 The meeting of the Committee of the Whole met at City Hall at 6:05 p.m. on February 2, 2026, with the following Committee persons in attendance: Mayor Danny Laudick, Chris Latta, Tom Nagle, Aaron Hawbaker, Craig Fairbanks, Hannah Crisman, and Kelly Dunn. Absent: Gil Schultz. Staff members from all City Departments and members of the community attended in person. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE: Mayor Laudick called the meeting to order and introduced the only item on the Agenda, Update from Community Main Street and introduced Community Main Street Executive Director Kim Bear. Director Bear presented the Community Main Street (CMS) Mission Statement and Vision, the CMS program organizational structure, including a new position of Business & Community Development Coordinator, and the area included in Downtown. Bear provided information on the history of CMS, volunteer hours, private investments, and jobs created. Bear spoke to improvements downtown including the streetscape project, flowers/beautification, the Gateway River Park project, Main Street arch, public art, and an updated CMS website. Bear highlighted grants provided by CMS and collaboration with Placer.ai for consented mobile location-sharing information. Bear highlighted the events from summer 2025 including RAGBRAI, the Sturgis Falls Celebration, Artapalooza, and the District Street Party and indicated future events in addition to these annual items; Bear expressed thanks to the City staff and Licensing department for their help with these events. Bear praised the “Hoo Herd” which coordinates and implements Holiday Hoopla events, and highlighted other events held downtown by CMS. Bear presented focal points from the CMS Strategic Plan and goals moving forward. Bear provided information about CMS’s work with the Cedar Falls Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS) program with the Cedar Falls schools. Bear expressed excitement for the new downtown parking lot and stated that parking is a continuous conversation with stakeholders and downtown businesses/employees. The presentation concluded with expression of CMS’s successes, including new and continuing events, appreciation for volunteers, the gift certificate program, and past and continuing growth. Councilmembers thanked Bear and CMS for their work and dedication. Meeting adjourned at 6:35 p.m. Minutes by Katie Terhune, Administrative Supervisor