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The Knoxville City Council met in special session Friday afternoon. At the meeting the council approved a request from the Knoxville Fire and Rescue Department for a street closure of 3rd Street between Montgomery and Washington streets on June 5th for their annual open house event. City Manager Dick Schrad says the street closure is necessary to accommodate large vehicles such as the Pella Fire Department’s ladder truck and two visiting helicopters. After Police Cheif Dan Losada confirmed that this will not cause any traffic problems the council unanimously approved the request.

The second item on the agenda was consideration of waiving the city’s camping restrictions for the World of Outlaws event June 3-5th. After much discussion the council decided that the main question and concern was whether or not this event will be large enough that more camping space will be needed outside of what area campgrounds have available. Planning and Zoning Administrator Cindy Glick says she talked with Knoxville Raceway Director of Racing, Ralph Capitani and he does not believe the event will require additional camping space at this time. Councilman Dave Roozeboom says his concern with granting the waiver was the possibility of it taking business away from area campgrounds. Councilman Bob Wims was absent from the special meeting, but Schrad stated that Wims had expressed to him that he was not in favor of granting the waiver at this time. Councilwoman Elsie Kemp stated that she believed there are possible loopholes in the current restrictions and the only ones affected by these regulations are those who own property along the stretch of highway 14 near the Raceway. A motion was made by Kemp to waive the camping restrictions for the World of Outlaws 3-day event, which was seconded by Councilwoman April Verwers. After roll call the votes were split with Roozeboom and Councilwoman Carolyn Formanek voting against the motion, with Wims absent and unable to vote on the motion it failed due to the tie.