(Radio Iowa) – Keep Iowa Beautiful is looking for more volunteers to join the state’s effort in the national Great American Cleanup. Executive director, Andy Frantz says the idea is to clean up public spaces. “Whether it’s church groups, sports clubs, just volunteers or whatever to make a concerted effort to clean up parks, rivers, riverbeds, roadsides, all of those sorts of things. S every year there’s a big push,” he says. You can go to KeepIowaBeautiful.org to sign up. “The first 35 of those communities this year that sign up will be eligible for a 50-dollar reimbursement to any expenses, it’s pretty loose, any expenses that are related to the pickup efforts,” Frantz says. “It can be anything from bags to pickers to gloves.”

He asks that you sign up so they know how many groups are taking part. “They can do it between now and the end of July, we’d like to hope that they’ll be able to pull it together by then. So it’s really an open window that sits available to any of the communities and whatever works for them, you know weather permitting all of those sorts of things to have their local event,” he says. Frantz says the effort makes a difference. “There have been about 50 events in the last couple of years. Seven-thousand volunteer hours and over three-thousand trash bags of litter and debris have been picked up,” Frantz says. He says there are a lot more clean up efforts that happen each year outside this program.

Frantz says applications are due April 30th for those who want to be considered for the reimbursement money. Awarded communities will receive notification on May 6th.

(Radio Iowa) – A bill headed to the governor would only let local governments have topsoil and storm water regulations that are tougher than state rules if the city covers the extra costs. Senator Mike Webster, a Republican from Bettendorf who works in the construction industry, says building regulations should be based on life, health and safety issues.

“I don’t build retention ponds. I build houses,” Webster says. “Some of the regulations that come from cities currently…put 24 inches of topsoil on ground that didn’t even have that. (It’s) thousands and thousands of dollars in added expense for somebody just trying to build a house.” Critics say the bill would prevent local officials from responding to flooding issues. Senator Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City, says the state legislature should stay out of it and let county and city officials make these decisions.

“I’m not worried about parking lots. In the end, I care about people’s homes and town homes. I care about the ability of people, of fellow Iowans to have dry basements.” The bill won Senate passage a year ago. Earlier this month the bill failed in the House, but four days later wound up passing 53 to 46. On Monday, Senate Republicans accepted an adjustment the House made in the bill and gave it final legislative approval.