The Ames City Council discussed the proposed rate changes for the water and electric utilities at their latest meeting Tuesday.

“I’ve gotten calls from some people who were concerned about the rate increases,” said John Dunn, director of the water and pollution control department for Ames. “They were just mostly concerned with how the rates were going to change and affect them.”

The new rate structure would charge a higher rate for water used for irrigation purposes.

“The large agricultural systems will be dramatically affected by these rate changes,” said Alan Essex, of Cambridge. “There should be rebates for people using proven water-saving devices.”

The council approved the rate changes by a 4-2 vote, with Jami Larson, 2nd Ward councilman, and Ryan Doll, 3rd Ward councilman, voting against.

Also discussed was a request to transfer Greenbriar Park to the Randall Corporation to take care of a drainage issue.

“The city has had this property for the last 30 years, and hasn’t taken care of it after I’ve made multiple requests,” said Matt Randall, of the Randall Corporation. “I’m willing to take the property and just fix it up.”

While Randall taking care of the issue would save the city about $188,000 – the cost of the repair work – Larson thought the city should keep and fix the property.

“How would it look if this property we’ve had for decades and needs to be fixed, we just shove to somebody else?” Larson said.

Councilman Matthew Goodman, however, argued a more historical approach and felt the city should have fixed the problem long ago.

“We’ve had this property for decades and haven’t done anything with it,” he said.

Randall, however, merely wanted action.

“We just need this drainage problem taken care of,” he said. “We’ve been flooded out the last four years, and I’ve asked for it to be fixed and it hasn’t been.”

The council also heard about the bidding process for the aquatic center. The lowest bid received for the project was nearly $1 million over the project’s budget. City staff was considering removing features before an anonymous donor gave $1 million to make sure the aquatic center is completed.