The Marshalltown City Council spent the better part of an hour last night wrestling with how to lay the financial groundwork for projects ranging from a quiet zone to new fire trucks to overall development. With over 11 million dollars in projects on the table, but only six-point-five million able to be borrowed for general obligation bonds.

The Council decided to move ahead with a two-phase approach, beginning the procedures for borrowing the $6.5 million dollars and holding off on another $4.75 million after next July for those projects which wouldn’t begin to become a reality until after that. Among the projects is four million dollars this year to extend Merle Hibbs Road.