CHARLES CITY - Charles City Mayor Jim Erb is hosting two public meetings over the July 4 weekend to discuss the future of the town's historic suspension bridge, which collapsed in last month's flood.

The meetings are scheduled for 2 p.m. today at the Charles Theatre and 11 a.m. Saturday at the Charles City Arts Center.

Erb said he scheduled the meetings for this weekend to give former Charles City residents who are back in town for the holiday a chance to attend.

Erb said the city still doesn't have an answer on what it can do to rebuild the 102-year-old swinging pedestrian bridge, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

"We are working our way through the options," Erb said.

Next week the city will try to get the remains of the bridge out of the Cedar River, according to Erb.

After that experts will be called in to do evaluations to see what is salvageable and what the city would need to do to rebuild the bridge in a way that meets modern requirements, he said.

The city can apply for state and federal funding to help with the rebuilding project, but it could be a long wait for the money because many other flood-damaged communities also are applying, according to Erb.

How quickly the bridge is rebuilt may depend on donations from the public, he said.