WATERLOO -- City officials raising the downtown Cedar River dam will have to spend an additional $61,000 to make sure the dam will still be there after they raise it.

The City Council Monday night will be asked to approve that additional expense to install longer rock anchors through the dam and into the rock below it. It is part of a $5.5 million project to install an inflatable rubber bladder on top of the downtown dam. The bladder would raise the upstream river level to make that silted-in portion of the Cedar navigable again for recreational boating.

The additional expense is necessary, city staff members said, because of "voids" under the dam.

"These are voids within the dam structure itself. It happens over time, probably, as material washes through," City Engineer Eric Thorson said. "That's an old wooden and rock dam. Basically, we're just going to fill the voids in the existing dam, and then the rock anchors help anchor that existing dam into the bedrock below so that when you put the new rubber bladder on the top, the thing doesn't tip over, basically."

The dam, along with a future riverwalk loop and pedestrian plaza and amphitheater, is a key element of the $20 million downtown revitalization plan which received a $7.5 million Vision Iowa grant in January 2003.

Peterson Contractors Inc. of Reinbeck is the contractor for the dam project. PCI's contract calls for the west half of the dam to be constructed this year and the east side of the dam to be worked on next year, with a Dec. 31, 2008, completion date.

Thorson said the additional $61,000 would be funded out of city bond proceeds.

City staff members noted there may be additional expense beyond the $61,000, because the type of grout and equipment that will be used to fill the dam voids will need to be changed. Consultants are still determining those costs, which will also come back to the council for approval.

In other business, the council Monday will be asked to:

--Approve an agreement with the board of trustees of the Waterloo Municipal Telecommunications Utility and Waterloo Telecom Partners Inc. to use city rights of way to install an alternative high speed data collection system.

The agreement would allow Waterloo Telecom Partners Inc. to use public right-of-way to install fiber optics cable for an "open access" information highway designed to connect users to the Internet and each other. The agreement also allows WTP to lease fiber strands earmarked for city use in McLeod USA's existing fiber loop.

WTP's first proposed project would involve running a fiber cable along the south side of U.S. Highway 218 from the Waterloo Community Schools headquarters to the proposed Cedar Valley TechWorks at John Deere's Westfield Avenue site. A spliced line would run across the Park Avenue bridge to connect the line to a "point of presence," or the rest of the world, in the Black's Building downtown.

City legal counsel cautioned potential users that the organization must rely on getting enough subscribers to make it financially feasible.

-- Approve a request from Safet and Saca Begic for a partial property tax exemption for $70,000 worth of improvements to 310-312 W. Fourth St., which is in the city's consolidated urban revitalization area.

--Approve an agreement with the Winifred Deeds estate to acquire property at 118 E. 10th St. for $31,240 as part of the Eastside Riverfront Housing Project.

--Approve a quitclaim deed from Robert and Yvonnea Weatherly for property at 622 Fowler St. The property includes a vacant building deemed dangerous by the city building official, which would be demolished.

--Approve a request from Mayor Tim Hurley to spend $70,000 over two years to help fund MyEntreNet, a Cedar Valley entrepreneurship system developed by the University of Northern Iowa. The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance and the city of Cedar Falls also are each funding the project for the same amount and time period, respectively. Total funding from those three entities would be matched by the UNI Regional Business Center.

--Approve allocating $30,000 of a $1 million advance of the city's share of proceeds from The Isle Casino & Hotel at Waterloo to the city facilities' maintenance budget.

The council meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the council chambers at City Hall. Council committee meetings prior to the council meeting are: 3:50 p.m., Public Safety; 3:55 p.m., Human Resources; 4 p.m. Finance; and at 4:15 p.m., council hearing on Russ Folkers' appeal of a city ruling that his pit bull Cleo is dangerous.

Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or Pat.Kinney@wcfcourier.com.