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DAVID E. SWOLLEY, 68, of Exira (Svcs. 3/8/24)

Obituaries

March 5th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

DAVID E. SWOLLEY, 68, of Exira, died Sunday, March 3rd 2024, at the Douglas County Healthcare Center in Omaha. Funeral services for DAVID SWOLLEY will be held 2-p.m. Friday, March 8, 2024, in the Iowa Veterans Cemetery near Adel. Kessler Funeral Home in Exira has the arrangements.

Friends may call at the funeral home, where the family visitation is on Friday, from 9-until 11-a.m.

Burial is in the Iowa Veterans Cemetery near Adel.

DAVID E. SWOLLEY is survived by:

His wife – Ronda Swolley.

His sons – Jacob Swolley and Toby Swolley.

His daughter – Brandy (Travis) Schleusner.

His step-children: Heath (Kim Stowell) Robinson; Kari Hansen, and Jessica “Jessie” (Jesse Mills) Hansen.

His brothers – Francis “Bud” (Linda) Swolley Jr, Jerry (Audrey) Swolley, andSteve (Tootsie) Swolley.

His sister – Julie (Jim) Swolley.

7 grandchildren, many other relatives, and his in-laws.

Atlantic City Official warns about tax increases if EMS isn’t declared an essential service

News

March 5th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(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 City Council receives Retail Coach update; SplashPad won’t happen until 2025

News

March 5th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(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.

Biden wins Iowa Democrats’ mail-in Caucus count

News

March 5th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(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.

No. 6 Iowa State men host No. 20 BYU Wednesday night

Sports

March 5th, 2024 by admin

The sixth ranked Iowa State men will try to close the regular season unbeaten at home on Wednesday night by hosting 20th ranked BYU. The Cougars are the top scoring team in the Big-12 and connected on 13 three pointers in an 87-72 victory in the first meeting back in mid-January.

That’s ISU coach T.J. Otzelberger. BYU leads the Big 12 by averaging more than 11 made three pointers per game.

Defensively the Cyclones work to keep the ball out of the paint so that can lead to more three point attempts by an opponent.

Iowa State is 23-6 overall and 12-4 in the Big 12.

AHSTW Vikings Boys Basketball 2023-2024 season recap

Sports

March 5th, 2024 by admin

The AHSTW Vikings boy’s basketball team ended their season with a 60-57 loss in the first round of the Class 2A-Region 7 bracket. The Vikings were led in scoring by sophomore Collin Harder who had 19 points in that game. AHSTW Vikings ended with a 5-17 overall record and went 3-13 in the Western Iowa Conference this season.

The Vikings were led in scoring by junior Luke Sternberg who scored 343 points and averaged 16 points per game this season.

AHSTW Vikings will lose one senior this season to graduation. Nick Denning

Vikings coach Grant Harris gave his thoughts on playing a very good Clarinda team this post season.

Vikings coach Harris talked about what it meant to have senior Nick Denning part of the team over the years.

AHSTW coach Harris commented on what he encouraged his team will be doing over the summer.

 

Valero signs on with Summit for carbon pipeline use

Ag/Outdoor, News

March 5th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Summit Carbon Solutions has announced a partnership with ethanol producer Valero for the use of its proposed carbon pipeline. Valero has five Iowa ethanol plants in Albert City, Charles City, Fort Dodge, Hartley, and Lakota, along with others in Nebraska, Minnesota, and South Dakota. They produce one-point-one BILLION gallons of ethanol every year.

Summit says the company would capture three-point-one million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually that would be shipped through the pipeline that will run through Iowa. The Iowa Utilities Board held an eight-week public hearing on the pipeline permit that ended in November, and Summit is waiting for the I-U-B decision on the issue.

Election law changes pass Iowa House on 62-35 vote

News

March 5th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(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.

Iowa’s Molly Davis to miss B1G Tournament

Sports

March 5th, 2024 by admin

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder says senior guard Molly Davis will not be available for this week’s Big Ten Tournament in the Twin Cities. Davis suffered a knee injury in Sunday’s win over Ohio State but is hoping to return for the NCAA Tournament.

Bluder says they feared the worst when Davis was helped off the floor on Sunday.

The third ranked Hawkeyes are 26-4 and open the Big Ten Tournament on Friday night against the winner of Thursday’s game between Penn State and Wisconsin.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark is B1G Player of the Year

Sports

March 5th, 2024 by admin

Iowa star Caitlin Clark is the Big Ten Player of the Year for the third straight season. Clark led the league in scoring and assists at more than 32 points and nearly nine assists per game. She also finished seventh in rebounds. Clark told the Big Ten Network she still has some goals to accomplish before heading to the WNBA.

It is the sixth time in the last seven years an Iowa player has won the award.