Opinion : The preacher said what?

The city council met on Thursday evening. As part of the meeting was the Citizen's Input segment. It's a grab bag of thoughts that come before the council in this department.

Thursday night was no exception. The community once in a while will get all riled up about the former Iowa Braille and Sight Savings School property. Some aren't happy with it being broken up and voice their opinions on the topic.

Unfortunately, when the State of Iowa handed the monstrosity to the City of Vinton to deal with, the city had to come up with a solution.

Many of us have watched as other government buildings like the former East School on East 5th St, and 5th Ave. has been in private hands and it is now literally falling down. Bricks are coming off, there are holes in the top of the building. It isn't safe. But what can be done? Old builds cost a lot of money.

The IBSSS is no different. Finding a solution for the property is the problem.

Rev. Hans Poetschner, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Vinton approached the council, not in his professional capacity as a pastor, but as a concerned citizen. One with a unique idea for the property. And when you hear it, if you're like me, you will chuckle and say, "He said what?"

Poetschner submitted a written memorandum to the council with his idea. In his memorandum to the council, he stated that after the school's closing in 2011, the main building has remained unused. He mentioned that some of the facilities are being used by Americorps as dormitories. He also noted that the property is being broken up into small parcels for businesses and private properties.

The proposal presented to the city, calls for transforming the property into senior independent living apartments and updating space for Americorp staff and students as well as developing a space for wedding venues and other community events and adding a restaurant. Poetschner believes that this plan would not work long term.

He pointed out that because the property is an old Victorian era complex, it would need a continuous income stream. He believes that parting the property out only gives it a temporary solution. He believes apartments and office space would be prohibitive and cost more than rent for comparable properties in the area.

Poetschner suggested that the city instead could turn the property into a "distinctly classic style casino in the manner of the grand European casinos in Monte Carlo and Baden Baden and Emphasize traditional casino entertainment and old-world style and manners."

He suggested forming a not-for-profit holding company with the two national organizations for the blind and share a portion of the profit for them to benefit the blind and suggested that this move might help the property quickly get a license from the state.

He feels that this idea would make the property to be better used by the community and meet some of the needs in the community. He said that he had seen things like this done with other old buildings. He said he believes that "politicians would fly to this project like flies on dog s***."

Mayor Bud Maynard said that the city is at the tail end of an agreement with the developers which will be up for a review in three months. He said at that time there will be some major decisions made on which way to move forward. At that time the council can continue and extend the agreement. Or they can make changes. It's not a 'til death do us part sort of deal. It is a contractual agreement.

Poetschner said that the city now has a Plan B and should the city take his advice, they can thank him for it later. He noted that it wouldn't be easy, but the benefits would be unimaginable for the city and a new ballgame.

Ths is something I never imagined, a preacher promoting gambling.(That alone for several reasons twists my brain.) But I'm torn on the idea. The more I see of politicians, I have no doubt the preacher is right on that front as well.

I'm still chuckling on this idea and the messenger. I don't think it's a bad idea. It is definitely out of the box thinking. The kind Vinton has always taken and hit it out of the park with.

So what are your thoughts? How can the city develop this huge set of buildings and turn them into something that will pay for their upkeep and maybe bring in a few tax dollars, while benefitting Vinton?

The city aka you and I, well, we can't fund it.

The state didn't think that it made sense for them aka us again to fund it.

Maybe something like bringing gambling in would pay the bills. Old Main, is probably the biggest headache in the project, simply because it's so big. It NEEDS a creative idea, and maybe this is it.

How it would affect the community in the long run well, that's where I might have a problem with the idea.

But I don't have any great solutions…or even lame ideas.

However, I'm still chuckling…