Agenda - Council - 10/22/2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

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them to start the work without testing. She said the company refused to have the house tested. She stated their floors were not fully cleaned until a month and a half after the incident took place. She shared that a representative from the second mitigation company said the home was completely safe. She explained that they received a letter on August 19 that Ames would be switching from their general insurance company to their biohazard insurance company to deal with this situation and they were told that this would speed up the process. She added that after this, weeks passed with little to no contact from the biohazard company. She shared that this company eventually threw out a settlement offer to the property owners, which they declined. She explained that since they denied the settlement agreement, they were met with hostility from Ames and their legal team and that it would not take much longer for things to be resolved. She added that all of the other property owners also received settlement offers which she believes were all declined. She noted that they were just informed that they will have to disclose this situation when and if they choose to sell their home and this could decrease the value of their home by 10% to 30%. She shared that Ames notified them last week that they have hired outside counsel to investigate the additional bid that her contractor had put in to remove the 2x4s that were contaminated in her basement. She said they were forced to have another hygienist into their home to take pictures this morning. She stated their rebuild was supposed to start yesterday but they have to delay until tomorrow because the new hygienist came in to look at the 2x4s and they were told that if anything was done to them in the meantime their request would be denied. She shared that they had their contractor contact Ames's legal team. She explained that their home is much further along than most of their neighbors and shared that she is very disappointed that they are not all being treated equally. She added that they were told that Ames has a large deductible that has not been met so they are having to pay out of pocket for these costs and if they do not hit the deductible then it is money saved for them. She reiterated that none of this is their fault and was entirely created by Ames and asked what repercussions Ames will have. She added that the County has tried to assist them in this but not even their pressure has done anything. Mayor Kuzma stated it was his understanding that the County was going to take over dealing with Ames so the property owners would not have to. City Administrator Hagen shared that the County had stepped in originally and told the property owners that if they were not hearing from Ames and things were not getting done then they could hire out the cleaning services on their own and then bring the bill to the County to have Ames pay. He noted that shortly after this, they were told that Ames had stepped up but now they are hearing otherwise. Mayor Kuzma apologized to the property owners for what they were having to go through. He asked what the City is allowed to do in this situation to help these property owners. City Attorney Knaak noted that the City has already helped apply pressure on this situation to move things forward. He explained that if they wanted to send in some City inspectors to help with this situation, they would need to have some basis of authority to do so, and the authority would need to be granted by the County. He said the City has really done all they can at this point. Councilmember Woestehoff asked when they make payments for the Highway 10 project if those payments go to the County or to Ames directly. City Council / October 8, 2024 Page 3 of 10