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OTTUMWA — Even as the City of Ottumwa has acknowledged a backlog of financial disclosures in recent months, the city is confident it will get back up to speed fairly quickly.

City administrator Philip Rath addressed the council Tuesday at Bridge View Center, acknowledging the resignation of finance officer Waseem Nisar and the interim assignment of Jessica Kinser to the role.

The city still has a way to go to clear its backlog, but Rath said it will meet deadlines to send state-required paperwork to proper authorities.

“This will be the jumpstart for the July reconciliation, August reconciliation and moving forward into the current fiscal year,” Rath said. “We’re working diligently to get all that done.

“I’m confident we’ll get there fairly rapidly.”

Kinser had been working with others in the finance department over the last few months on a contractual basis. The former city administrator in Marshalltown and Clinton also worked in finance with the City of Clinton previously.

“She was helping a number of areas,” Rath said, “filling in the accountant role, and being the interim will help us bridge working with the staff we have in place and continue the progress of reporting city funds, and eventually working to find the permanent finance director for that position.

“She comes with good experience, and will assist greatly.”

The city must submit an annual finance report to the state by Dec. 1, as well as an annual urban renewal report by the same date.

Rath said that during were discrepancies when the city was putting together its annual finance report.

“There were a number of internal transactions, things that were identified and corrected as part of that process, to get us to the point where we’ll close out the year and have the accurate reporting for that, which we’re anticipated by the next meeting (Dec. 5),” he said.

In other business:

— Council member Marc Roe, speaking as executive director of Greater Ottumwa Partners In Progress, discussed the amount of commercial growth in the community since the start of the year. It is anticipated Ottumwa will see over $134 million invested in public and private projects through the end of next year.

“The highest number we’ve seen since 1989 was back in 2003, to the tune of roughly $27 million,” he said. “Anybody that says this community is dying, look at the numbers. People don’t put $134 million into a dying community.”

Several major projects have contributed to that growth, specifically additions to both Ottumwa High School and Douma Elementary School. But seven-figure investments also have been seen with the Ottumwa Sportsplex and Cobblestone Hotel.

Mainly, the growth affects all parts of life, with retail, education, infrastructure and sewer separation all contributing. 

GOPIP has also begun the process of installing wayfinding signs in the community to direct visitors to different parts of the city. Wayfinding was first discussed in 2011, but was put on hold during the pandemic. However, 14 wayfinding signs have been planted in the ground, with another 13 scheduled for the spring.

Housing will also be increasing with the acquisition of the St. Joseph Hospital property, as well as the construction of apartments on Asbury and Sherwood.

Businesses also have opened in the last year, and tourism has increased year over year.

And Roe expects the investment number to grow because “there are projects on the horizon we can’t quite talk about yet.”

“One last time, I will say that anyone who says the city is dying or on its last breath is absolutely wrong,” Roe said.

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