The Atlantic City Council will hold a regularly scheduled meeting beginning at 5:30-p.m., on Wed., April 21st. On their agenda, is a Public Hearing on adoption of the Final, FY2022 City of Atlantic Budget. The Council Originally set the date of the public hearing during their March 3rd meeting, and approved the budget during their March 17th meeting.

City Administrator John Lund said “An error in the State’s budget software resulted in the public notice being produced without the time, date, and location of the public hearing.” The mistake was caught by County Auditor Dale Sunderman, left the City to hope the Dept. of Management would grant a budget extension, or be frozen at the FY21 property tax dollars. “Fortunately,” Lund says, “The Director of the Dept. of Management did formally grant the extension.” The Council then reset the Public Hearing during their meeting April 7th. Following the hearing, the Council will move to pass a Resolution to adopt the Budget as presented.

There will also be a Public Hearing on “Authorizing [an] application for Financial Assistance to [USDA] Rural Development, to finance the purchase of cat cages, examination tables, polyurethane on the floors, and equipment for, the Atlantic Animal Shelter,” as part of an shelter addition that is to be constructed. The Shelter is requesting $50,000. Some of the funds will be used to update the old building, as well. The USDA will cover 35% of the costs of a project, which means a total of $142,857 would need to be spent. The City’s match share would come to $92,857. John Lund says “Since the City awarded a bid to Henningsen Construction for $215,422 (earlier this month), the City will easily meet the grant requirement.

The hearing will be followed by action on agreeing to apply fr the USDA-RD funds. In other business, the Council will hold the second reading of amended ordinances calling for: changes to the Zoning Regulations and snow removal. The latter would change the current 72-hour time-frame following the end of a snow event for removing snow from sidewalks and vehicles from the streets or city-owned parking lots, to 24-hours.

The Atlantic City Council will also act on passing a resolution calling for a Public Hearing on the Sale of Real Estate (at 211 W. 6th Street). Jeff Pross intends to build a new home on the property, which the City has decided to sell to him for $1. During the Council’s meeting on March 17th, there were concerns the residence would have steel siding. Since that time, Pross has updated the proposed exterior materials to comply with the Zoning Ordinance. Before this (or any similar) deal can go through, however, the public must be allowed to comment on the sale of City-owned real estate.

And, at the start of Wednesday’s meeting, Dolly Bergmann, with the local Trees Forever organization, will make a Tree City USA Award to the City. It’s the 25th year for the award in Atlantic, which is one of only 3,500 communities across the County to receive the honor. Afterward, Mayor Dave Jones will sign a Proclamation recognizing April 30th as Arbor Day in the City of Atlantic.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a traffic stop Thursday afternoon resulted in the arrest of a man from Elliott. 24-year-old Kyle Andrew Nicholson was taken into custody for Driving While Revoked. He was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and later released on a $1,000 cash bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The legislature has sent the governor a bill that would let 16 and 17 year olds operate the rides at Iowa amusement parks, carnivals and fairs. Senator Zach Whiting of Spirit Lake says it will address critically important workforce issues at Adventureland in central Iowa and Arnolds Park in northwest Iowa.

“At the Arnolds Park Amusement Park and in the Iowa Great Lakes area, we often have a significant J1 Visa population, folks that come over and work seasonally at restaurants and in hotels and motels and, particularly, at the amusement park and that didn’t happen this year because of Covid,” Whiting says, “and so this bill, I think, gives employers the ability to expand their workforce to include 16 and 17 year olds.”

Senator Nate Boulton, a Democrat from Des Moines who opposed the bill, says it chips away at child labor laws and does not guarantee an adult is nearby to respond if the ride malfunctions. “There’s a sign that usually says: ‘You must be this tall to ride this ride.’ We should also have: ‘You must be this old to operate this ride,’ as a standard…because accidents do happen,” Boulton says. “Things fall out of repair and even the best upkeep can result in problems.”

Representative Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, was initially skeptical, but she says after investigating the issue, she decided to support the bill. “Sixteen-year-olds don’t generally work just for the fun of it,” Donahue says. “They’re working because they need to earn that money and I was a kid just like that — had to have a job.”

Senator Dan Zumbach, a Republican from Ryan, says age does not have a lot to do with ability. “Even in my own family, I had a 12 year old that was better at operating equipment than my 18 year old because of experience and just his skills,” Zumbach says.

The bill passed the House six weeks ago on a 76-to-17 vote. It passed the Senate this week on a 29-to-15 vote and it’s now up to the governor as to whether bill becomes state law. FEDERAL law forbids 14 and 15 year olds from operating carnival rides, so this proposal would not conflict with that. Kids 13 and younger are not allowed to work in an amusement park or carnival, unless a parent owns the business.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Human Services is considering policies to try to get more employees at its six facilities to take the Covid-19 vaccine. The agency manages facilities for juvenile delinquents and patients who are mentally ill or profoundly disabled. More than a third of the people who WORK at those facilities have declined vaccinations. Department spokesman Matt Highland says one policy under consideration would require unvaccinated employees to use vacation time to quarantine if they test positive for Covid or are exposed to the virus.

“Wanting to use those tools to prevent the spread, we’re going to start adjusting policies like that to really help to incentivize our team members to get the vaccinations,” Highland says. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Highland made his comments at the monthly meeting of the Human Services Council. The Department of Human Services manages the state Mental Health Institutes in Cherokee and Independence and the Resource Centers in Glenwood and Woodward for patients with mental and physical disabilities. The agency also oversees the State Training School in Eldora for juvenile delinquent boys and operates a unit in Independence where violent sexual predators are committed after their prison sentences have expired.

(Reporting by Iowa Public Radio’s Natalie Krebs)

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has released a statement on how it may handle redrawing Iowa legislative districts this year if — as expected — U.S. Census data arrives past a constitutional deadline.

(Photo from the Judicial System website)

The statement from the Iowa Supreme Court seems to suggest the court would try to use parts of the state redistricting law the legislature has used for five decades. However, the court did not say which parts of the law it would use, only that it would aim to have the process completed by December 31, 2021.

The maps for Iowa House and Senate districts, as well as congressional districts, are redrawn once a decade to reflect population changes identified by the latest Census. 2020 Census data is due to arrive months late. Under the Iowa Constitution, lawmakers have a September deadline to complete the reapportionment process or that duty falls to the Iowa Supreme Court.

The document released by the court concluded by saying its written statement is “not legally binding” and noted how unusual it is for a court to comment on a matter it later may be forced to rule upon.

(Radio Iowa) – Black Lives Matter activists protested at the Iowa Capitol Thursday, urging lawmakers to reject a bill that would give Iowa law enforcement “qualified immunity” from most lawsuits over their on-duty actions. Harold Walehwa  was one of the protest organizers. “We’re literally in the middle of the Derek Chauvin trial, but we’re trying to pass bills to increase qualified immunity? What kind of sense does that make?” he asked rhetorically. “Why would y’all be trying to increase the protection police officers have instead of trying to go for accountability?”

House Speaker Pat Grassley says the legislature is on a tight schedule and the Minnesota trial of the officer charged with killing George Floyd isn’t a factor in the timing of bills to be debated in the Iowa House. Angelina Ramirez, another protest organizer, spoke out against bills that boost penalties for rioters who cause property damage and forbid diversity training in schools and other government institutions from discussing gender or racial stereotypes.”They won’t care about their Black and brown constituents unless…they’re pressured to,” she said. “We must be that catalyst.”

An Iowa State Trooper arrested an 18-year-old at the protest inside the capitol. Witnesses say she asked asked for the names and badge numbers of two officers. The Des Moines Register reports the trooper who made the arrest wrote in the criminal complaint that the high school student pushed his arm to get his attention.

(Radio Iowa) Shelby County Sheriff Neil Gross, Carroll County Sheriff Ken Pingrey, and Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals, are three of ten sheriffs in Iowa to sign a letter sent to President Joe Biden this week urging him to secure the southern border and stop the mass influx of illegal immigration. Sheriffs in Clayton, Greene, Grundy, Iowa, Lucas, Scott, and Wayne Counties also signed on.

The letter said ““In the interests of ending the undermining of our laws and the increased risks to the safety and security of the people of the United States of America, we respectfully request that you immediately reverse course on your pro-illegal immigration policies, resume the border wall construction, and embrace the common-sense, public-safety-supporting border policies of the previous administration.”

Sheriff Kevin Pals there are enough illegals with bad intentions coming in that they are placing a strain on local law enforcement agencies. “The problem is identifying some of these people. They are hard to identify, and if they’ve never been arrested before even taking their fingerprints for identification purposes — sometimes we don’t know who they are,” Pals says. “The problem is there are some who have gotten deported and they are back in North Iowa within two week,” Pals says.

Pals says most of those causing problems are from one part of the world. He says the majority are from Mexico, Guatemala, and Brazil that are coming here. He says those from other countries have such small numbers that they are not detected. Pals says it is not just law enforcement that is trying to deal with the influx. “And the human services that are necessary to care for these people. We’ve got homeless people in North Iowa and then we are bringing in other people. How is our system going to continue to support these people,” Pals says.

Almost 275 sheriff’s from 39 states including Iowa signed the letter sent to the President.