City of Ottumwa, Iowa - City Government

08/12/2026

A bit earlier than usual, the agenda for the August 18 City Council meeting is available at www.ottumwa.us/agendas.

08/12/2026

Our phone lines for Bridge City Sanitation and Commercial Sanitation are back to acting up again. Tech support will be in the office today to help us try to get this taken care of today. If you call either of us and it says we're sorry, the person you're trying to call is unavailable, please try again later. You can either try your call again later, or IF it will let you, PLEASE leave a voicemail WITH your return number, and I will call you right back. Like always, you can also email Bridge City Sanitation at [email protected] for all your residential trash pickup needs or Commercial Sanitation at [email protected] for all your dumpster needs ... Thank you all, and have a WONDERFUL Wednesday morning!! :)

08/11/2026

The special City Council meeting originally scheduled for the evening of August 11 (tonight) has been cancelled. The next meeting will be the regularly scheduled meeting on August 18.

08/11/2026

⚽ Big news for Legacy Fields! ⚽

Reserving a field at Legacy Fields just got a whole lot easier. You can now book your reservation online! No more phone tag or waiting on office hours to lock in your spot. 📅

Whether you're organizing a league match, a tournament, or just getting the team together for practice, you can now handle it from your phone or computer, whenever it's convenient for you. 🥅

🔗 Learn more and reserve your field today: www.ottumwa.us/legacyfields

08/07/2026

The agenda for the August 11 special City Council meeting can be found at www.ottumwa.us/agendas.

08/07/2026

🚧 Road closure notice: The 500 block of East Fourth Street will be closed from approximately 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 12, and Thursday, August 13, for work related to Ottumwa High School. Motorists are asked to plan for alternate routes during these times.

08/07/2026

🛁 What Exactly Is a Watershed? 💧

Here's an easy way to picture it: a watershed is like a giant bathtub. All the water that falls on your property, from rain, sprinklers, or melting snow, flows downhill to the nearest stream, river, or lake. And whatever that water picks up along the way (fertilizer, pet waste, salt, oil, trash) goes right along with it, affecting everyone downstream. 🌊

A few things worth knowing:

🗺️ You're always in one. Every single property in Iowa sits inside a watershed, whether you live in town, out in the country, or right along the river. There's no opting out, it's just geography.

⬇️ Water doesn't stop at property lines. What happens upstream doesn't stay upstream. A yard, a parking lot, and a farm field miles apart can all drain into the exact same creek.

🚱 Storm drains skip treatment. Unlike the water that goes down your sink, water that enters a storm drain flows directly to a nearby waterway, no treatment plant in between. Whatever's in it when it goes in is what's in the creek when it comes out.

🌳 Land cover changes everything. Pavement and rooftops shed water fast, sending it downhill quickly with whatever it's carrying. Grass, trees, and natural areas slow that water down and let more of it soak into the ground instead.

🏞️ Small watersheds add up to big ones. The creek behind your neighborhood feeds into a larger river, which feeds into an even larger one, eventually reaching the Mississippi or Missouri River. Local choices ripple a long way.

Understanding your watershed is the first step to protecting it. Small, everyday choices, on your own property, matter more than most people realize.

For more information, visit https://iowastormwater.org/.

08/06/2026

📊 By the Numbers: July 2026

Here’s a snapshot of public safety-related activity handled by our Police and Fire Departments during July. Both departments saw a bump in numbers. This may be attributed to the Fourth of July holiday.

🚓 Police Department
• Total call entries: 2,758
• Traffic stops: 425
• Serve warrants: 85
• Animal-related calls: 138
• Theft calls: 64
• Assist other agencies: 28
• Assist motorists: 22
• Citizen assists: 19

🚒 Fire Department
• Total call entries: 414
• Medical calls: 305 (including 22 lift assists)
• Fire-related responses: 42 (including 15 fire investigations)

These numbers reflect the wide range of situations our first responders handle every day, often behind the scenes and around the clock. Thank you to our Police and Fire teams for the work they do to keep our community safe and the Dispatchers for being that first contact when things go wrong. 👏🚔🚒

08/05/2026

The August 4 City Council meeting is available for viewing at https://www.youtube.com/live/o5Qa6uuSySE?si=3U5nR7aW7nilmG08.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

08/04/2026

🚨Progression Update - Vogel Heights🚨

🏡It has only been a few months, but a lot of work has been done at the old Saint Joseph Hospital site. Land development is underway in preparation for new, market-rate housing to be built. Single family, duplexes, and row homes will be constructed to help with new home availability. This project would not be possible without great partners like Greater Ottumwa Partners in Progress, the Ottumwa Legacy Foundation, and Wapello County Iowa. Look for future posts giving updates on this great project!🏠