A three-person committee tasked with deciding how to fill a vacancy on the Cass County Board of Supervisors created by the recent death of Supervisor Chuck Kinen, has voted to hold a Special Election in conjunction with the November 8th City elections. The decision came during a meeting this (Thursday) afternoon at the courthouse in Atlantic. The committee was comprised of Auditor Dale Sunderman, Recorder Joyce Jensen and Treasurer Tracey Marshall. Their vote was unanimous.

Sunderman said the next step is contact the Chairpersons of the Central Committees, who will be allowed to file a Nomination by Convention. He stressed however, that the nomination will be open to all interested persons who are residents of Cass County, who file a nomination petition. Sunderman said because of the Special election, there will be two ballots for voters in Atlantic Ward Two.

He says there will be a ballot for the County residents with only the County office on it, plus the regular City ballot, with the County office included on it as well. The precincts which make up Cass County Supervisor District 2 are Atlantic Ward 2/Grove Twp 2 (the portion of Grove Twp NW of the Atlantic city limits) and Atlantic Ward 3.

The filing deadline to file nomination petitions to be included for the County Office is 5-p.m. September 23rd at the Auditor’s office in Atlantic. Those interested do not need to declare a party at this time. The person who wins the nomination would be sworn in immediately after the results of the election are canvassed on November 15th, and hold the Supervisors post until the next General election in 2014.

Recorder Joyce Jensen noted that Chuck Kinen would have approved of the committee’s decision to hold a special election during the City Election. She said he would be happy it’s not costing the taxpayers any extra money.

TABOR, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say an southwest Iowa man was injured after he walked into the tail rotor of helicopter that had just landed after touring flooding along Missouri River. The Fremont County sheriff’s office says 80-year old Robert Smith, of rural Tabor, was injured Wednesday afternoon. Sheriff’s dispatcher Cole Tackette told The Associated Press on Thursday that a private, two-seat helicopter flown by Larry Inman, of Randolph, had just landed near Smith’s house southeast of Tabor, and Smith walked out to meet it. Tackette says Smith apparently didn’t see the rotor and was hit in the face.

Smith was rushed to the Fremont-Mills School before being flown by helicopter to Creighton Medical Center in Omaha, and later transferred to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Hospital spokesman Paul Baltes said Thursday Smith was in critical condition, but Sheriff Kevin Aistrope told the Omaha World-Herald the mans’ injuries were not considered to be life-threatening.

The Sheriff said it’s possible Smith tripped and fell into the rotor blade, but the accident, which happened at around 1:30-p.m. Wednesday, remains under investigation by the sheriff’s office and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest over the weekend, of two men from Pottawattamie County. 39-year old Micheal Dean Mundorf, of Oakland, was charged Sunday, with Driving While Barred. He was later released on $2,000 bond. And, last Saturday (Sept. 3^rd), 28-year old Quintin John Perdue, of Council Bluffs, was taken into custody on a District Court warrant for violation of his probation. Perdue was being held in the Cass County Jail, on $10,000 bond.

The City of Atlantic’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Task Force is scheduled to meet this evening. During the meeting at City Hall, the committee will hold a review of discussion on TIF matters to-date, discuss the definition of Industrial, Commercial and Residential TIFs’, work on developing recommended criteria and the framework guideline for each category, and, they’ll discuss the inclusion of TIF-funded tax rebates, or a “Reverse TIF,” and non-TIF development incentives and/or tax rebates. The meeting begins at 7-p.m.

The TIF Task Force was established in July, by Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones. The panel will have no authority, implied or otherwise, to establish a TIF policy. It will only offer an opinion on how such a policy should be formulated and implemented.