The Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Atlantic has resigned. Seth Staashelm, turned in a letter of Resignation to the city of Atlantic last week. Staashelm has accepted another position with the city of Marion. In a statement, Staashelm said “I am very appreciative for my time with the city of Atlantic and in the community. I would like to thank everyone in the community for being so great to myself and my wife during our time here. We have made a lot of good relationships with folks in the area and feel blessed and welcomed in Atlantic. The people here is what makes this community so great and why Atlantic has a promising future. We will truly miss the community and will always have a special place for Atlantic in my heart.”

At this time the Atlantic Park and Recreation board has made no decision on the Park and Recreation Director position.Their next meeting is set for Feb. 25th.

The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday evening, will act on a Resolution “Establishing procedures for Collection, Interest and Penalties,” for delinquent Storm Water Utility Bills. City Administrator John Lund reports the City’s Personnel and Finance Committee met January 23rd and reviewed a recommendation by the Finance and Administration Department to establish an administrative fee for delinquent storm water bills. In order to encourage utility customers to pay their bills, the City (if the resolution is approved), would add a penalty for the issuance of correspondence stating the exact amount a property owner owes if the bill is not paid after six-months of non-payment. The fee amounts to $25 per parcel. Late payment penalties would not be changed, and remain at 15-percent per month.

Lund says by the City’s estimate, nearly 25-percent of all stormwater bills are in such a state of delinquency, that they are rolled over into property taxes. Most bills are $17.10. The City assume the bills are being thrown into the garbage and/or the property owner is being “recalcitrant” (purposefully uncooperative). The policy of charging a fee for correspondence on overdue Storm Water Utility Bills was unanimously recommended by the Personnel and Finance Committee.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council will act on setting the date for a Public Hearing as March 6, 2019, to adopt the Proposed FY 2020 Ten-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), and a Resolution adopting the Preliminary FY 2020 Budget, as well as setting the date for a Public Hearing on the Budget as March 6, 2019. The draft FY2019 budget was submitted to the Council and media prior to the Feb. 6th Council meeting. At that time, the proposed budget for FY 2020 was $16,520,747, which was a decrease of $129,388 (-.78%), from the FY 2019 Revised estimate of $16,650,135.

Lund says a few changes have been made to the budget since that meeting:

• The property tax levy and revenues scheduled for the operation and maintenance of the Senior Center have been eliminated.
• The Employee Benefits levy was returned to its originally scheduled levy of $3.50.
• All revenues and expenditures in the Senior Center sub-general fund have been eliminated for FY 2020-FY2030, based on the assumption the building will be sold by July 1, 2019. The fund balance will remain and the balance returned to the General Fund in the FY 2021 Budget’s revised Estimate for FY 2020. (That transfer has not officially been scheduled yet)
• A revenue-neutral recalculation based on the insurance tax levy and the utility replacement tax levy, was made to reflect state forms.
• and, the State backfill numbers differed from the original estimate. Lund says those adjustments have been made in the General Fund, Emergency Levy, Employee Benefits Fund and Debt Service Fund.

The estimated Total Tax Levy under the revised budget of $16-million 135-thousand 155-dollars ($16,135,155.00), amounts to $16.86 per thousand dollars valuation on regular property, and $3.00 per thousand on agricultural land. The City must approve the preliminary budget and set the date for a public hearing, in order to allow the public to examine the budget and provide their feedback to the Council. The final budget must be submitted to the State by March 15, 2019. And, the Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, is expected to recognize Tommy Gaines for his 20-years of service to the Atlantic Street Department.

Officials with the City of Atlantic are reminding residents the City has an ordinance prohibiting the pushing or blowing of snow onto City streets, alleys or right-of-ways. Also, when piling snow do not pile snow near roads blocking the view of traffic as this creates a danger to the public on top of already difficult driving conditions. Authorities say “We understand with this much snow it is difficult to know where to push it to. Please be courteous when clearing snow from your property. Keep piles low,  do not pile snow up on other properties without permission, think about traffics line of sight, as well as pedestrians & school children who are walking to & from school. “

The Cass County Board of Supervisors are set to hold their regular weekly meeting 9-a.m. Tuesday, at the courthouse, in Atlantic. On their agenda, is the review of a proposed agreement with the Sheriff’s Deputies and Jailer’s Unit, and work on the Fiscal Year Cass County 2019-2020 Budget. Other business includes regular reports (as available) from the County Attorney, Engineer and Mental Health/General Relief Coordinator.

(Radio Iowa) — The weekend’s winter weather is blamed in at least three deaths in the state. The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office says a car went out of control on Highway 14 on Sunday afternoon, crossed the center line and collided with a semi. Both people in the car were killed. Deputies say the area had gotten about six inches of snow and the road was slick.

Police in Cedar Rapids say officers responded after someone found a man’s body, face down outside on Saturday afternoon. Investigators say it appeared he’d been there for some time and was frozen. Foul play is not suspected.

And, it’s still not known what caused a weekend house fire in southeast Iowa that left a young boy dead. When Oskaloosa firefighters arrived at the home on Friday night, they were told seven-year-old David Fogle was trapped in the basement. The boy’s mother, Angelia Wells, had tried to get to him, unsuccessfully, and was badly burned. Firefighters did eventually rescue the child but he died later at the hospital. Two other children made it out safely. The Mahaska County Community Emergency Response Team is collecting donations for the family.

Several Democratic presidential candidates are closing out the long holiday weekend on the campaign trail, with stops planned across states key to securing their party’s nomination. On Presidents Day, much of the campaign trail spotlight moved to New Hampshire, home to the first presidential primary. Three candidates, Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, planned to campaign in the state. The three senators are crisscrossing the state, making their first trips to it since launching their 2020 presidential bids.

Booker has been in the state for a few days and will wrap up his trip with a house party in Nashua. House parties are a staple of campaigning in the state. Harris planned an afternoon town hall in Portsmouth and will participate in the Politics & Eggs breakfast on Tuesday. Klobuchar will hold a meet-and-greet in Goffstown on Monday before a CNN town hall.

Meanwhile, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York was back in Iowa, the leadoff caucus state, with plans to meet voters in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, who also is running for president, was campaigning in Iowa as well.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Working in grain bins can be deadly, so insurers want to remind farmers of the dangers. Nationwide insurance is helping sponsor a campaign to educate farmers about safety procedures they can use when working in grain bins. Farmers should wear proper safety gear when they enter grain bins and test the atmosphere for toxic gases.

Brad Liggett with Nationwide says the insurer is also working with other groups to train first responders and provide grain bin rescue tubes to fire departments. Since 2014, 77 fire departments in 24 states have received the rescue tubes that help protect someone stuck in the grain while responders work to rescue them.

(Radio Iowa) — A pilot program in its first year at Big Creek State Park near Des Moines is using black locust trees as a raw material for hand-crafting wooden log chairs. Iowa D-N-R park manager Chad Kelchen says the trees are considered an invasive species so it’s a bonus to be able to make use of them in a worthwhile fashion. “It’s not the furniture component I’m after,” Kelchen says. “I’m after the whole end user, that’s the ultimate goal. I’m tired of just piling the stuff and burning it. Somebody’s got to have a use for it.”

State law allows the public to harvest the black locust trees with a special permit. Kelchen says since the trees are invasive, this is a great way to repurpose them. “When you start talking furniture and stripping down these big trees, standing out in the timber, it’s hard to get an idea of what you’re looking at doing,” he says. “When I talked the first person into it, he talked his friends into it and they had a lot of fun. And that’s what this program is about, having fun, learning a little bit and getting something done.”

So far, two volunteer groups have participated in constructing three log chairs through 40 hours of in-kind service. The chairs will not be sold. Instead, they will be used at cabins at Springbrook State Park, in Guthrie County. Kelchen says it’s likely the program will be offered again next winter.

(Thanks to Pat Blank at Iowa Public Radio)

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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(Radio Iowa) — The leader of the Iowa Department of Education has been getting a lot of calls and questions as the number of school days canceled by winter weather continues to mount. Director Ryan Wise says making up the days depends on whether school districts set their yearly calendar based a set number of hours or a set number of days.  “If schools have a days calendar — they have to have at least 180 school days of instruction,” Wise explains. “If they choose a calendar based on instructional hours — they need to have a thousand and 80 hours of instruction over the course of the year.”

School districts had to tack missed days onto the end of the school year or cut short spring break to make up missed days the hour option was added with a change in state law 2014. Wise says it’s become the calendar of choice. “I believe about 95 percent of districts have an hours calendar and so, that allows them the flexibility to do creative things like add additional minutes on to the end of the day. So, they lengthen their school day for a set period of time for the remainder of the year,” Wise explains.

Schools that use the 180-day calendar need to have students in class for a minimum number of hours to qualify as a day. “Six hours of instruction meets the minimum requirement for a day of instruction toward the 180-days requirement,” according to Wise. “And schools are also allow to use parent-teacher conferences to count toward the days of instruction.” The Department of Education doesn’t keep a running total of school days — but Wise says he’s heard it ranges from more than 10 to less than 10. One of the questions he gets is if the Ed Department or the governor can waive the calendar requirement in years like this one. “There’s no power granted to the governor or the department or the director to waive that requirement, ” he says.

Each district makes its own decision on when the weather is too bad to hold classes. “It is absolutely one of the toughest decisions that our superintendents have to make,” Wise says, “and I don’t envy them at all in having to make that call.” He says the superintendents do a good job of making those decisions based on the what’s best for the safety of the students and school employees.  Wise says the number of snow days this year varies widely across the state. “I’ve heard in some places 10-plus days have been missed, and in others it’s been less than that.”