The Cass County Board of Supervisors have approved the plans for a bridge replacement project on Lansing Road. Auditor Dale Sunderman said the bridge, on a Farm-to-Market Road, is over the East Nishnabotna River. The bridge is located about 2 ½ miles southwest of Atlantic, near the old Walnut Grove Research Farm. Engineer Charles Marker had signed-off on the project, but the forms needed to be approved by the Board, before being submitted to the Iowa Dept. of Transportation.

Once the plans are submitted to the DOT, the bids will go out for the project, and work will begin, but that isn’t likely to happen until later this year or sometime next year. In other business, Sunderman said he will publish in the various County newspapers, information about the voting precincts for the November 6^th General Election, which are essentially the same as they were during the Primary, except there will be numerous versions of the ballots. He says the number of precincts…13…will stay the same, but there will be 16 ballots styles because Townships are combined with cities in some cases.

Edna and Victoria Townships on the east side of the County, for instance, will combined, thereby eliminating the need for voters in Edna Township to travel to the west side of the County. They will instead, be voting in Massena. Some of the changes are due to State and Senatorial district changes, along with Supervisor district changes.

Voters in the Lewis Central and Council Bluffs Community School District’s, Tuesday, approved tax levies for both districts. The Omaha World-Herald reports 67-percent of the voters who cast ballots in the Council Bluffs Community School District, approved a change in the Instructional Support Levy (ISL) from the current 2.17-percent, to 10-percent. The levy will remain in-place through 2016. The increase in the levy is expected to generate an additional $2.9-million in property tax revenue for instructional and classroom support, only.

Voters in the Lewis Central Community School District approved the renewal of a 10-year Physical Plant and Equipment (PPEL – or, “Peppel”) Levy, which will remain at 50-cents per $1,000 of taxable valuation. The levy is typically used for building repairs, transportation and technology needs. School officials say they plan to use the levy funds for several planned projects, including heating and air conditioning work, pool deck and track replacements, new buses, and technology.