A man from Minnesota was charged with Failure to Maintain Control and Operating While Intoxicated, following a single-vehicle accident Tuesday night about three-miles north of Brayton, in Audubon County. Sheriff’s officials say 44-year old Gary Allan English, of Kasson, MN, was traveling north on Lark Avenue at around 9-p.m. Tuesday, when his vehicle went out of control before entering the east ditch.

English was brought to the Audubon County Jail and later released after appearing before a magistrate. His preliminary hearing on the charges was set for January 7th.

The Atlantic Police Department reports the arrest on Monday of 50-year old Tamera Hall, of Atlantic. Hall was taken into custody on a shoplifting (5th degree theft) charge. She was booked in to the Cass County Jail and held pending an appearance before the magistrate.

The Harlan City Council, Tuesday, approved the forgiveness of an administrative fee by the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce. In the final Harlan City Council meeting of 2012, the council approved the motion on a vote of 5 to 1, with the nay vote coming from Council member Kate Kohorst. The 20% fee is part of the Hotel/Motel Tax.

The City Council also passed a motion to place all Hotel/Motel new monies on hold until a new ordinance has been created and adopted by the city of Harlan. Both motions were made at the previous Personnel and Finance Committee meeting last Thursday. City Administrator Terry Cox said the ordinance committee will meet on Thursday, December 27th. The deadline for the new ordinance is January 29th. However Cox said it could be brought to the first City Council meeting in January if it is finished.

In other business, the Harlan City Council approved the purchase of a ¾ ton Ford F-150 pickup from Keast Auto Center in Harlan for the city’s parks department. The truck cost the city $26,270 but Cox said they hope to sell 2 of the city’s vehicles to save the city $1,500. The Council also approved Harlan City Clerk Debra Sawyer to the Iowa League of Cities Education Committee and changed the 2nd council meeting in January from the 22nd to the 29th.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

The Shelby County Supervisors held their final meeting of 2012 Tuesday. The Board of Supervisors began their meeting with the land auction of cash rental property. The landfill ground sold for $395 per acre. Following the sale, the Shelby County Supervisors introduced Chris Nelson of Gronewold & Company to discuss the preliminary results of the county’s annual audit.

Nelson said last year, the Supervisors wanted more documentation attached to or provided with the preparation of expenditures for early childhood Iowa expenditures where the county is the fiscal agent. He said those have been approved. Nelson said there was also a mention of reconciliation of county taxes to the revenue reports of the county.

He said last Thursday, they tested past revenues and reviewed the daily reconciliations.  He said the tax receipts are reconciled on a daily and month basis. And, the Treasurer’s proportionate reports are being proportioned and those do balance. Nelson said they took the monthly summaries and compared those to the county revenue reports that are actual reports which come from the Treasurer’s office, and determined there was a small discrepancy less than $500 for the year, but he but didn’t go into further details. He recommended taking a step further to make sure everything balances out, including reconciling the account, and making sure the information is posted properly in county revenue reports.

The Shelby County Board of Supervisors will see the final audit report in February. Supervisor Roger Schmitz reported to the Board that he had recently attended the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting, along with officials from the city of Harlan. The Supervisors approved the forgiveness of a 20% administrative fee by the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce from the Hotel/Motel Tax, per legal advice. The motion was made at the Committee meeting but needed to be approved by the Supervisors and Harlan City Council.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)