(Atlantic, Iowa) [updated] – The City Council in Atlantic, Thursday afternoon, passed a Resolution setting April 3rd, 2024 at 5-p.m., as the date and time for a public hearing on a proposed Maximum Property Tax Levy for Fiscal Year 2025. The hearing will be held in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall.

City Administrator John Lund says the proposed maximum levy are as follows:

The Council also passed a Resolution “Approving the proposed maximum property tax levy for FY 2025.” In other business, the Atlantic City Council approved the “Homes for Iowa” Program and Housing Development Fund Budgets for the FY 2024 Revised Estimate and FY 2025 Budget. Mayor Grace Garrett said John McCurdy with SWIPCO provided her with information about Homes for Iowa, Inc., a public-private partnership with Iowa Prison Industries. The homes are built near the Newton Correctional Release Facility, south of Newton, IA.

Councilman Sean Sarsfield is familiar with the construction.

Iowa Prison Industries (IPI) builds the homes, trains the minimum-security offender crew, and sells the homes to HFI to pay for the training. HFI sells the homes to the public, manages all sales orders, coordinates moving logistics with IPI, and decides program policy. IPI contracts with a company to move the houses onto a slab or property with a basement in-place.

The City of Atlantic is on a list to acquire one of the the homes for $85,000-to $95,000. Councilperson Elaine Otte says they have a list of available lots the City owns.

Mayor Garrett said John McCurdy requested eight homes for the Counties they serve..

Previously, a private individual had to buy the home, but that was recently changed to allow a city to purchase one or more of the homes. It was noted that if the home doesn’t sell within 90-days, the City has the option to rent it out.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds today (Thursday) issued a disaster proclamation for Allamakee and Clayton County in response to a sudden structural failure of a border bridge on February 25. The bridge is located in Lansing, Iowa on Iowa Highway 9 and connects to Wisconsin Highway 35. The proclamation is effective immediately and continues through March 30, 2024.

The governor’s proclamation activates the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Emergency Repair (ER) Program which authorizes emergency relief funding to cover the costs of repair or reconstruction of federal-aid routes that have suffered severe damage as a result of sudden structural failure.

Gov. Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for Allamakee and Clayton Counties in response to a sudden structural failure of a border bridge on February 25.

(Radio Iowa) – The Food Bank of Siouxland got a record-breaking donation today (Thursday) from Perdue Farms and the Feeding America program. Food Bank Director Jacob Wanderscheid says Perdue delivered 80-thousand pounds of frozen chicken breasts.

“This will be the biggest single donation that we received at one time of a greatly needed product in chicken,” he says. “Protein is the number one item that gets asked for, and top three of the categories that get distributed.” He says it will fill up their freezer space.

“We did work with Perdue to try to get it in two different shipments so that we could get the first shipment to get into the warehouse. We have room for the second one and we’re working with our partners like Hope Food Pantry in Sioux Center distribute this.It should start leaving our warehouse by Monday,” Wanderscheid says. Gary Malenke is the senior vice president of Perdue Farms in Sioux Center, and says the Siouxland donation is part of a larger overall effort.

Jacob Wanderscheid next to a pallet of chicken. (KSCJ photo)

“Today is the single largest donation that Perdue has ever made the history of the company,” he says. “Over three-point-three million pounds of product being delivered across the United States today. really kind of in recognition of leap day and you know the need for another day to feed ourselves.”

The Siouxland area covers 11 counties and it is estimated that more than 25-thousands resident don’t have enough food, including 42 percent of all children.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds unveiled a new mobile workforce office today (Thursday) that’ll travel around the state to help connect out-of-work Iowans with new jobs. Reynolds says it’s part of her initiative to focus on “re-employment.” She says her bill passed in 2022 to limit unemployment benefits to 16 weeks maximum has reduced the average amount of time Iowans get benefits.

“Nine-point-six weeks on unemployment that is the shortest amount of time in more than 50 years. And significantly better than the national average of more than 14 weeks,” Reynolds says. Reynolds says the mobile workforce office will help with the state’s ongoing efforts to alleviate the state’s workforce shortage. She says about 60-thousand jobs are open, many in the health care field.

The 32-foot workforce bus cost nearly half a million dollars and was paid for with a mix of COVID relief funds and other federal grants.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston cited a man for Failure to Provide Proof of Insurance (accident related), Wednesday. Authorities say a 1997 GMC pickup driven by 16-year-old Justin Ray Loudon, of Creston, was turning south from Swan Street onto Maple, when the pickup sideswiped a 2006 Chevy Impala that was legally parked on the west side of the street in the 600 block of N. Maple. The accident happened at around 3:45-p.m.

The pickup sustained $500 damage. Damage to the car owned by Michelle Henry, of Creston, was estimated  at $1,500. No injuries were reported.

(Iowa DPS) – An endangered person advisory is being issued for seven-year-old Milla Keahna. Milla was reported missing to the Meskwaki Nation Police Department. Milla was reportedly last seen with her mother, Starla Mae Marie Lincoln, or possibly her father, Redmond Keahna.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Milla, Starla, or Redmond is asked to call 911 or the Tama County Communications at 641.484.3760 and dial 1 for dispatch, the Meskwaki Nation Police Department tip line at 641.481.0840, or call the Marshall County Crime Stoppers at 641.753.1234, Text 274637 and “Marshall” followed by tip message, or online: marshallcountycs.com.

Milla Keahna

(Radio Iowa) – A report from the U-S Department of Energy found Iowa churches are below the national average for use of renewable energy, though a church in northeast Iowa is helping to change that. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Decorah is one of just 17 houses of worship in Iowa that uses solar power, according to the report. Jim Fritz has been a member of the congregation for about 30 years and first proposed the idea. He says it started in his own backyard.

“We had also done a lot of solar at our house, and I’d done about all I possibly could, and didn’t feel like I’d done enough,” Fritz says, “so we live two blocks from the church and I thought, ‘Ok, let’s just go down there instead.’” In the past year, the church has devoted itself to switching over to renewable energy. Fritz says three of the church’s rooftop furnaces were failing, and all five were ugly, so the solution was simple.

“You either go back to what you’ve been doing for the last however long and continue to spew emissions,” Fritz says, “or you can do something creative and clean up an eyesore.” The church replaced all five furnaces with 102 solar panels and is now operating at net zero. The switch to solar will allow the church to offset an estimated 25 tons of carbon emissions per year.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Governor Reynolds today (Thursday) announced $1 million in initial funding for competitive grants available through the Iowa Department of Education to support school districts that partner with or create local child care centers to help more high school students earn a national child development credential. With 246 districts across Iowa currently offering family and consumer science pathways as part of their career and technical education, the new Credentials for Child Care Careers grant will help schools support a strong child care pipeline.

“Preparing Iowa’s future workforce begins in our schools. Our investment in work-based learning opportunities introduces students to in-demand careers and offers programs that provide the training necessary to earn a credential while still in high school,” Governor Reynolds stated. “This forward-looking approach not only prepares young Iowans to be career ready upon graduation, it also supports local businesses in building their workforce pipeline.”

“The Credentials for Child Care Careers grant will expand access to high-quality child care, while supporting an early childhood workforce of and for local communities,” said Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow. “By aligning existing programs to the attainment of an industry-recognized credential, this innovative program will strengthen pathways to in-demand child development careers.”

The Child Development Associate (CDA) credential is a nationally recognized credential in early childhood education awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition, a leader in the credentialing of early childhood educators worldwide. Obtaining the CDA credential requires coursework, experience in the field and a demonstration assessment during which the student is observed while working with children. Districts that are awarded funding will receive course curriculum that meets both the professional development requirements outlined by Iowa Health and Human Services for employees of Iowa licensed child care centers and the classroom requirements for a CDA credential.

Eligible school districts that partner with a licensed child care center, including school-operated child care programs, can apply for up to $15,000 for each of the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, for a total of $30,000. Allowable costs include student exam fees, textbooks, CDA course materials, student stipends, licensed child care partner stipends, and other approved expenses that help remove barriers to participation.

Applications for the Credentials for Child Care Careers grant will be accepted in IowaGrants.gov beginning today, Feb. 29, 2024.  The application deadline is noon on March 29, 2024.

More information about the Credentials for Child Care Careers grant is available on the Iowa Department of Education’s website.
Initial funding for the Credentials for Child Care Careers grant is made available through the state’s allocation of funds provided through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

(DES MOINES, Iowa) – Governor Reynolds recently announced that 16 communities have been awarded a total of $8 million in grants to advance water quality projects. The funding is made available through the Wastewater and Drinking Water Treatment Financial Assistance Program, which was created as a part of Senate File 512, the first legislation signed into law by Governor Reynolds in 2018. Among the Drinking Water Financial Assistance grants, was $500,000 to the Guthrie County City of Jamaica.

The Governor says  “This was the first bill I signed into law as Governor in 2018s.  Since then, the program has assisted 68 communities through a total of nearly $26 million in grants and an additional $550 million in other funds leveraged to advance water quality infrastructure projects throughout the state.”

The 2023 program received 48 applicants requesting more than $23 million in water quality grants. A committee consisting of designees from the Iowa Finance Authority, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship judged the Wastewater and Drinking Water Financial Assistance Program applications based on the program’s priorities.

Priorities for grant awards include: Disadvantaged communities; Projects that will significantly improve water quality in their watershed; Projects that use alternative wastewater treatment technologies; Communities with the highest sewer or water rates; Projects that use technology to address nutrient reduction; and projects to address improvements to drinking water source waters. The program receives a portion of the tax on metered water and had $8 million available for allocation in 2023. Grants will be awarded through the program on an annual basis through 2039.

The Wastewater program has assisted 68 communities through a total of nearly $26 million in water quality grants since the first awards were granted in 2019. The program is expected to have approximately $7 million in available funds in 2024 based on the portion of tax that will be allocated to the program.