The Exira-EHK School Board, Monday evening approved the hiring of a Principal for the Pre-K through 5^th grade school.

That’s Exira-EHK Superintendent Trevor Miller. Mr. Miller said also the Exira-EHK Board voted to continue with the mask mandate through the end of the current school year.

The Exira-EHK Board also approved: filling a Librarian vacancy through an AEA Sharing Agreement; An Operational Sharing Agreement with IKM-Manning for a School Business Official (SBO). Kyle Wagner will be leaving this Friday and taking another H-R position. He’ll be replaced by Mallory Meyer, who currently serves as a shared SBO.

And, the Board approved continuing the Operational Sharing Agreement with IKM-Manning for Superintendent. Trevor Miller

A Technology agreement was also reached with IKM-Manning for Dan Spooner, who will do a 60/40 split, with 60% of his time at Exira-EHK and 40% at IKM-Manning. The current arrangement is 50-50. In other board meeting news, they approved a bid of $84,900 from TBB&M Construction for renovation of the staff restroom in the Exira building. There were three bids in all, for the project, which involves taking two small bathrooms and turning them into one Uni-Sex bathroom.

Miller says the facility hasn’t had any updates since the school was built in 1957. Work is expected to take place over the summer and be ready by next school year.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports 42-year-old Jacob Benjamin Tuttle, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced Monday in Council Bluffs U-S District Court, for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. He is required to serve 84 months in prison, plus 3 years of supervised release following his prison term. He’ll also have to pay a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victims Fund. Tuttle pleaded guilty to the offense on August 11, 2020.

On November 26, 2019 Tuttle was driving a stolen car on a rural two-lane highway in Mills County, when Tuttle saw a Sheriff’s patrol vehicle behind him. Tuttle accelerated to 100 mph
before he crashed the car on the side of the road and ran from the scene. He was arrested a short time later. On the front passenger seat of the stolen vehicle, officers found a Taurus .357 Magnum, along with 12 grams of methamphetamine. Tuttle is a convicted felon and drug user, therefore, prohibited from possessing firearms.

The investigation was conducted by the Mills County Sheriff’s Office. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that on Monday, April 12th, United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger sentenced 35-year-old David Robert Blake Vanderpool, of Council Bluffs, to 50 months (4.1 years) in prison for knowingly possessing a short barrel shotgun that was not registered to him. Vanderpool was ordered to serve three years of supervised release to follow his prison term and pay a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victims’ Fund. There is no parole in the federal system.

On June 23, 2020, the Iowa State Patrol conducted a traffic stop on Vanderpool for speeding on Interstate 29. During the stop, troopers observed a sawed-off shotgun, found to be loaded, on the backseat of Vanderpool’s car. A check of the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record by law enforcement found the firearm was not registered to him. Vanderpool pleaded guilty on November 20, 2020, to the firearm charge.

The matter was investigated by the Iowa State Patrol and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the
Southern District of Iowa.

The Cass Board of Supervisors, Tuesday, praised Cass County Public Health for helping to vaccinate the local population. Supervisors Board Chair Steve Baier said “Things are winding down and a big part of it is a sense of urgency and people are becoming more relaxed,” in hopes things are getting back to normal. Baier said the County COVID vaccination program has been better handled than other counties’ programs.

He said there are about 200 people still on a list waiting to receive their vaccinations, and that “We’re getting to the point where just about everybody [who] wants vaccinated has been vaccinated.”

In other business, the Cass County Supervisors, Tuesday, approved the five-year Secondary Roads Construction Program, and new hires for three Maintenance positions. Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman says that includes…

County Engineer Trent Wolken said he had 35 applicants for three maintenance positions and they were all very qualified candidates.

The Board passed a Resolution for the 2021 Weed Control Program, which was the same as last year, with the exception the year was changed from 2020 to 2021. They also established a Cass County Temporary County Redistricting Commission, with districts based on 2020 census data.

Once again here’s Dale Sunderman…

The unpaid Commission will include Steve Baier and Dale Sunderman as members. There were no candidates to appoint to the Cass County Zoning Board of Adjustment and/or Zoning Commission, nor was there a licensed physician’s name available for appointment to the Cass County Board of Health, so those items were tabled during Tuesday’s meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – State prison officials are disputing an OSHA report that cited deficiencies in the radio communications system for staff at the Anamosa State Penitentiary. The report from the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration was issued eight months before a correctional officer and a nurse were killed inside the Anamosa prison. The Iowa Department of Corrections is appealing the 20-thousand dollar OSHA fine. Department spokesman Cord Overton says data from incidents when staff hit the emergency button on their radios will be introduced as evidence this summer as an administrative law judge reviews the case.

Overton says he cannot address specific details until after the case is resolved, but he says the agency is confident the radio communication system has not caused any delays in response to staff assaults. The OSHA investigation at Anamosa, which happened in February of last year, did not include interviews with prison managers according to Overton.

K-C-R-G T-V was first to acquire the Iowa OSHA report through a public records request. The report indicated the Anamosa prison’s communication system would not show the location of an emergency if an employee radioed that he or she was being attacked. OSHA cited other deficiencies, including dropped calls within the prison. Governor Kim Reynolds has said she is committed to addressing any security issues that are identified by reviews launched after last month’s murders of two Anamosa prison employees.