(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council will be focusing on Emergency Medical Services (EMS) as an Essential Service, in the weeks to come. Councilwoman Elaine Otte said the City has been working with the County and the hospital on EMS [ambulance] services.

The Board of Supervisors has set the date for a public hearing on the matter, and “In support of that, we all need to perk our ears up, we need to make sure that when that goes on the ballot in November, that gets passed as an essential service, for Cass County and Atlantic to continue to have ambulance service.”

City Administrator John Lund said the EMS issue “Will be a big thing,” when he discusses the City’s Budget. “The City of Atlantic needs to vote ‘yes’ on this, because if this [referendum] does not pass with a 60% [majority], which would put the property tax levy on a much wider [spread out] amongst a much larger tax base than the City has…if that fails, the City Council next year will have two options, and they’re both horrible.”

He said “It’ll be astronomically high tax rates that we’ve never seen before, or the Council will be in the position of having to gut departments. And I’m not being like dramatic about that…if you have to come up with $200,000 for an ambulance service, and you don’t want to raise the taxes, that’s the only alternative you have. And, it could be $300,000 if we don’t get fully funded again from the Small Business Income Tax credit,” and other “headwinds,” such as a Commercial Property tax rollback.

Lund said “Nobody likes to vote to increase their own taxes,” but about one-third of the base in the County comes from Atlantic. Councilwoman Otte reminded the Council and public, Essential Service gives the County and Cities the ability to levy taxes that support an ambulance or  EMS service. “We already have the right to do that for Police and Fire Departments, but ambulance services have never been considered an ‘essential service,’ so there was no way to get tax support for that.”

She said the legislature a few years ago made it possible for counties and cities would have the ability to do so, but it must be approved through a voter referendum. Mayor Grace Garrett said it will be very important for the City and County to educate the public and help them understand that this is another piece of providing an essential service to the community. Voters in Shelby County passed a referendum last November, approving a new tax to fund EMS. That decision puts EMS on the same level as police and fire services. Guthrie County is working on a similar proposal.

(Atlantic, Iowa) –  The Atlantic City Council, this (Tuesday) evening received an update for Retail Coach Project Director Kyle Cofer, on work to bring prospective businesses to town. Mayor Grace Garrett informed new City Council members the City has been working with Retail Coach for nearly three years, along with the Chamber and CADCO.

Speaking electronically from his office, Cofer said Retail Coach is a retail recruitment and consulting firm hired directly by municipalities to recruit retail stores and restaurants that are best fit for a particular market and sites within that market. Without revealing any names, Cofer said they along with the Mayor are working to bring an “expanding, upscale” convenience store expanding all throughout the State,” to Atlantic. He said they would like to be located on the City’s east side, near Walmart. Since the talks began, the prospective business has found a site in that area, and things are moving forward with the concept.

Cofer said also, “We’ve recently started working with a Dollar Store [type] combo.” Those businesses fit into communities with a population of 5-to 10-thousand people. “They are very interested in Atlantic, and we are in the process of discussing sites with them. We’re really trying to push them on the west side to spur more development in that area.”

As for restaurants, Cofer said they are working behind the scenes directly with a franchisee instead of the chain itself. He says “It’s always the best bet for us, because its an easier process.”  The individual he spoke of they have had multiple conversations with, “Is proven. He and his company currently operate over 40 restaurants…they open 4-to 5 restaurants per year.” There is no time frame for him to visit Atlantic, but the conversations continue.

Lastly, Cofer said they are also working with a quick service restaurant chain that specializes in burgers. They are looking for three-quarters of an acre to an acre of land. “A year, year and a half ago, all four of these were not showing interest in the market. It just goes to show you how things can change and that as the real estate market changes and also as the site selection [changes] for what these specific brands look for.”

Retail Coach wants to continue to work with the City for another year or so, but the Council took no action on renewing the current agreement, because it was not on the agenda as an action item.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council passed a Resolution “Approving Plans, Specifications and Form of Contract for the 2024 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation – Ultra Violet Cast In Place Pipe (UV/CIPP)  Lining Project,” and awarded the project to Hydro-Clean, LLC. out of Des Moines, for their low bid of $91,500.00. The bid was below the engineer’s estimate of $194,280.

The Council passed a Resolution “Setting the Date of Public hearing for March 20, 2024, at 5:30 P.M. in the Atlantic
City Council Chambers, on a Proposal to Enter into a General Obligation Solid Waste Management Loan Agreement and to Borrow Money Thereunder in a Principal Amount Not to Exceed $90,000.”And, they passed a Resolution “Adopting the Emergency Leave Bank Policy to the Personnel Handbook.”

In his report, City Administrator John  Lund said the Splash Pad project has received some “push back” from those who would bid on the project, based on the timeline. Assuming a bid was approved, the very earliest they could even get started, he said, would be at the end of May, assuming there are no supply issues or weather delays. The goal now, is to move the project to later in the year, and shoot for an opening prior to Memorial Day, 2025. It was hoped the Splash Pad might open later this Summer, but the Committee agreed the delay would better serve the goal of quality and timely construction.

(Radio Iowa) – With 91 percent of the votes, Joe Biden has won the Iowa Democratic Party mail-in system that’s replaced the delegate math that determined which presidential candidate won Iowa Caucuses of the past. Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Rita Hart says the new system addresses complaints that the Caucuses were not very democratic, since you had to be present on Caucus Night to participate.

“An in-person Caucus was not very inclusive and now we have a two-part process where we have the in-person (meetings) and then we have the mail-in,” Hart says, “and, as a result, we’ve gotten so much more accessibility.” Over 12-thousand Iowa Democrats returned what the party called “presidential preference cards.” Nearly four percent indicated they were uncommitted to a presidential candidate at this point in the race. Dean Phillips, a Minnesota congressman, finished a distant third with under three percent, followed by author Marianne Williamson. Hart says Iowa Democrats will discuss whether this is the way they’ll conduct the 2028 Iowa Caucuses.

Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Rita Hart

“We’re going to be in a different situation in 2028. It’ll be a much more competitive environment. We’ll have more people involved in the process as far as candidates are concerned, which makes a big difference, I think,” Hart says. Hart says there are all sorts of ideas to consider. “Should we have a system where we mail out ‘presidential preference card’ requests to every Democrat in the state so that there’s even more accessibility? Should we have drop off boxes so it makes it easier for people to participate, especially those who are procrastinators or those who don’t trust the Postal Service?” Hart asks.

Iowa Republicans held their party’s first voting contest of the 2024 presidential campaign with their Caucuses on January 15th. National Democrats kicked the Iowa Democratic Party’s Caucuses out of the lead-off position after the 2020 Caucus results were delayed and critics — including President Biden — said the party needed to start the 2024 campaign in states where voters of color had a voice in choosing the nominee.

(Radio Iowa) – Republicans in the Iowa House have voted to ban drop boxes at county auditors’ offices for absentee ballots and to require that absentee ballots be in election offices the day before an election. For elections held in Iowa the past three years, absentee ballots were counted if the ballot was received by county auditors by the time polls closed. Representative Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from Wilton, says anyone can vote in the time frame outlined in the bill.

“Five hundred and four hours — that is how much time we have to vote here in Iowa,” Kaufmann said. House Democrats voted against the bill, which makes other changes, like requiring new absentee ballot envelopes. Representative Amy Nielsen is a Democrat from North Liberty. “We’re adding even more hoops for our voters to jump through, just for them to exercise their constitutional right to a vote,” Nielsen says.

Representative Austin Baeth, a Democrat from Des Moines, suggests the changes are fueled by paranoia. “I don’t know when this body is going to be satisfied that there is no organized conspiracy to tamper in our elections,” Baeth says. Representative Kaufmann, who has managed previous bills making election law changes, responded. “That extra envelope makes sure that ballot has not been tampered with,” Kaufmann says. “No one has said there’s a vast conspiracy here. I certainly have not.”

The bill now goes to the Iowa Senate for consideration.

(Radio Iowa) – University of Iowa researchers are studying the mental health and well-being of faculty and staff at college campuses across the state.

Barry Schreier, director of higher education programming at the UI’s Scanlan Center for School Mental Health, says the first phase of the survey was conducted last April in seven community colleges. When the second phase is launched next month, Schreier says it will broaden in scope.

“We are going to try to pick up as many schools as possible, which is going to expand out to additional community colleges,” Schreier says. “We will have at least over half the community colleges in the state, which is a pretty good sample, and we are expanding out to the private schools. There are 30 some in the state and we have picked up several of those, and then we will begin to sample the three regent universities as well.”

Student mental health is not the focus of this study, he says, as many others are already doing that.

“This is unique because it is sampling staff and faculty, which is not very typical,” Schreier says. “Most services and research about campus mental health and well-being are largely student-facing, and that certainly has been the case in Iowa. This is a first-of-its-kind survey of staff and faculty in higher education in the state of Iowa.”

One finding of the survey’s first phase was that nearly 75% of community college staff had referred students to mental health resources in the previous year, which he says was an unexpected and large percentage.

“Staff and faculty, whether they feel ready or not to assist students when they’re in distress, they’re doing it,” Schreier says. “Staff and faculty then apparently have a good understanding of what resources are on their campuses and are making those referrals, understanding that they are first-line responders.”

The survey also quizzed faculty and staff about whether they considered themselves “flourishing,” and most did, but 30% also reported feeling burned out.

“One of our recommendations that we think is a really critical finding of this study is that when campuses are talking, when the press is talking to campuses about campus mental health, it is critical that they talk about both sides of the coin,” Schreier says. “Folks are struggling, a percentage of folks certainly are struggling and living with mental health concerns, and at the same time, can also be flourishing.”

The Scanlan Center is considered the state’s hub for school-based mental health research, training, professional learning, and clinical services.