The Griswold School District’s Board of Education, Monday night, approved the transfer of school property to the City of Elliott. Action on approving the transfer of five-acres of school property on the north edge of Elliott, to the City of Elliott, for a wetland project was held following a public hearing on the matter. Superintendent Dana Kunze said the marshy land offers an ideal, natural means of filtering nitrates out of the City’s drinking water.

Kunze said also, more work needs to be done before any action can be taken on Re-districting for School Board Districts. He said he will need to hold additional discussions with the AEA and University of Iowa as to how those districts are formed before the process can move forward. He says he thought they were off to a good start, but on second look, he may have to scrap what’s been accomplished so far, and start over. Kunze said there’s still plenty of time to accomplish the task, and the board still wants to head in that direction.

If the Griswold School District were to re-district it’s Board of Education, there would be four geographical districts and three board members elected At-Large, instead of the current seven different districts and one person from each district on the board. Kunze says it gets kind of confusing when redistricting is taken into consideration, as far as who stays on the Board and who has to run for re-election, but that can’t be determined until the districts are actually set. The University of Iowa provides those services to the district under an agreement reached earlier. Basically, it means the process is only in the formulative stages right now.

In other business, the Griswold School Board approved Kunze requesting from their bonding agent a means of maximizing funds for various projects, instead of just paying for the Middle School/High School roofing project alone.  He says he will ask Piper-Jaffrey to put together a bonding scenario which would allow the district to borrow against the penny sales tax revenue into the future, on approximately $2.2-million, so that the money is available for projects now. Kunze says “There’s a long laundry list of things (they) want to do, and unfortunately the list is longer than the money is,” therefore it will still take some determination to figure out which projects are a priority. He says they still have to live within their budget.

ROCKWELL CITY, Iowa (AP) – Some Iowa legislators say a special nursing home for elderly sex offenders and other criminals may be needed.  State  Rep. Helen Miller, D-Fort Dodge, says the state will need a facility “where these individuals will be contained.” She made her statement when the issue was raised at a Fort Dodge forum on Saturday. 

 A sex offender who was released to a Pomeroy nursing home was accused of sexual contact with a resident there.   Gov. Terry Branstad has proposed a law requiring nursing homes to notify families of residents when a sexual offender moves in. 
 
On Saturday, Rep. Tom Shaw, R-Laurens, said stronger measures are needed. He says the state might have to buy a nursing home and employ personnel trained to deal with sex offenders.

Authorities in Stuart are investigating the cause of a house fire which occurred early this morning in Stuart.  Stuart Police Chief Dave Reha told KJAN News the fire took place at a residence in the 600 block of North Western Street. Reha said the home appears to be a total loss. No injuries were reported. Additional details about the blaze are currently not available.