(Atlantic, Iowa) – If you’ve ever wondered what people serving on county boards and commissions do, and how you can serve in those types of positions, an event taking place this Saturday, March 9th in Atlantic, will help to answer your questions. Cass County Democrats are hosting “Local Office, Boards, and Commissions Panel and Q&A” from 10-until 11-a.m., March 9th,  AM at the American Legion Memorial Building (201 Poplar St., in Atlantic. While the event is being hosted by the Democrats, all people, regardless of party affiliation are encouraged to attend. The event is free and open to the public. Panelists scheduled to share their experiences will include Wendy Richter, Todd Weppler, Phil Hascall, and Sandy Sothman.

Richter was elected to the Cass County Board of Supervisors in 2022. In this role, she serves as a liaison to the following boards and commissions: Cass County Board of Health, Cass County Local Food Policy Council, Healthy Cass County, Cass County Tourism, Boost 4 Families Board, and West Central Community Action Board. She also serves as an alternate liaison to Nishna Valley Trails and the Southwest Iowa Planning Council. Cass County Supervisors serve four-year terms.

While Richter is just two years into her term, the following Board members are up for reelection this November: Steve Green (District 1, representing rural Atlantic), Steve Baier (District 4, representing the south and southwest portion of the county, including Griswold), and Bernard Pettinger (District 5, representing the north and east portion of the county, including Wiota,
Anita, Massena, and Cumberland).

Todd Weppler was last elected to the Cass County Agricultural Extension Council in 2022. Members of this board serve four-year terms. Sandy Sothman was appointed to the Cass County Conservation Board in 2021. Members of this board serve five-year terms. Phil Hascall is currently appointed to both the Airport Zoning Board of Adjustment and the Cass County Zoning Board of Adjustment. Members of these boards also serve five-year terms.

LaVon Eblen, retired Extension leader in Cass and Audubon Counties and former host of KJAN’s Backyard and Beyond program, will moderate the panel. LaVon herself has previously served on county boards including the Cass County Local Food Policy Council and Healthy Cass County.

Doors will open at 9:45-a.m., Saturday. Light breakfast refreshments will be provided.

For more information on the Cass County Democrats, or to join the Cass County Democrats email newsletter, contact casscountyiadems@gmail.com or follow the Cass County Democrats on Facebook @CassCountyIADems.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department reports the arrest at around 1:17-p.m. Sunday, of 45-year-old Joshua Duane Mohn, of Red Oak, for Driving While Barred. Mohn was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Red Oak was arrested late Sunday night, on an Assault charge. Authorities say Officers arrested 31-year-old Matthew Allen Boyce at around 11:15-p.m., in the 1100 block of N. 3rd Street. Boyce was charged with Assault causing bodily injury – a Serious Misdemeanor. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa district court judges are paid less than judges in every state that touches Iowa. While the Iowa Supreme Court’s chief justice has recommended a more than six percent salary hike for Iowa judges, that still won’t bring their pay in line with any surrounding state. In January, Chief Justice Susan Christensen told lawmakers Iowa district court judges have gone without pay raises in 10 of the last 15 years and they now make 16-thousand dollars less per year than South Dakota judges and 38-thousand dollars less than judges in Nebraska.

“Being appointed by our governor should be the pinnacle of a lawyer’s career, not a deep financial sacrifice,” Christensen said. Bob Gast, the state court administrator, says the number of applicants for district court judgeships has declined 61 percent in the past 20 years. “Fewer of those applicants are coming from the private practice of law,” Gast says. “There has been a 65% decline from 2009 to 2023.” State Representative Brian Lohse, a Republican from Bondurant, is chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that drafts a budget for the the state’s court system. He says raising the salaries of district court judges is a goal he hopes to achieve this year, but lawmakers haven’t settled on a number yet.

“Being a judge is a difficult job, but it’s also not the most lucrative when compared to the private sector,” Lohse says. “If we’re going to really move forward in the law and have the kind of decisions we want and good, good justice, we need to be able to put bright legal minds in the benches and, as a lawyer myself, you want a good person sitting in that judicial seat, making the decisions for your case.”

The annual salary for a district court judge today is just over 158-thousand dollars. The average salary for an attorney in Iowa’s capitol city of Des Moines is four-thousand dollars higher.