(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council met this (Wednesday) evening and received a report from Atlantic Municipal Utilities General Manager Steve Tjepkes. He mentioned that in addition to the normal cost increases, their Purchased Power costs are increasing about 10-percent next year (2025). Because of that, and expected local system improvements in their 2025 Capital Projects budget, AMU will be increasing electric rates for the first time in nine-years.

Tjpekes says there will be an average overall increase of 5-percent across all rate classes in 2025. The improvements that are factored-in to AMU’s $2.4-million Capital Improvement Projects Budget, he said, include the replacement of two, 161-Kilovolt (kV) circuit breakers, which are “celebrating their 50th year of being in-place,” Tjepkes said.

On a positive note, Tjepkes said AMU was awarded a National Excellence in Reliability award for reliable electric service, compared to electric companies throughout the country, with an average service availability rate exceeding 99.9%. He said also, AMU’s electric rates are the second-lowest of all 181 utilities. Both the electric and water departments are currently debt-free, according to Steve Tjepkes.

AMU GM Steve Tjepkes

On the water operations side, AMU is planning a 10% overall water rate increase in 2025. What that means is the average residential water bill is $25/month. A 10% increase would add $2.50/per month to that bill.

The utility was awarded a $500,000 CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) to offset a portion of a planned replacement of an underground water storage tank.  The new tank will hold treated water that will be ready to be distributed throughout the system.

The Atlantic City Council passed a resolution approving the Calendar Year (CY) 2025 Budget for AMU, which the utilities’ Board of Trustees approved Monday night, following a public hearing.  The City Council also heard from Nishna Valley Family YMCA Director Dan Haynes, who mentioned the Recreational Center Building will finally be paid-off by the end of the month, through the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) Fund.

Haynes reminded the Council a project to expand and renovate the recreation center is planned in conjunction with Vision Atlantic and the Charles E. Lakin Foundation, which has committed $6.4-million in grant funds toward the YMCA portion of the Vision Atlantic project.  In other business, the Atlantic City Council acted on approving:

• An order to approve pay application number three to the Henley Group, LLC, for the Sunnyside Park Splashpad Project.
• And, the Second Reading of an ordinance amending the City’s Code of Ordinance, with regard to ATV and Snowmobile use in the City.

Councilman Shawn Sarsfield said there are some misconceptions among some citizens about the ordinance.

The Council held a Public Hearing on a proposed amendment to the Urban Renewal Plan (URP) for the Southeast Urban Renewal District (URD). The hearing was followed by action on passing a resolution to approve the amendment as presented. During their meeting on Aug. 3rd, the Council held a public hearing an passed a resolution adopting the original Prairie Hills Subdivision Project to the Southeast URD.

City Administrator John Lund noted “Amending the Urban Renewal Area to include the new Urban Renewal Project, is a prerequisite to formal debt being incurred and eligible for TIF (Tax Increment Financing) capture under a development agreement, as proposed in a resolution setting the public hearing and date for, approval of a development agreement with Vision Atlantic, which includes an annual appropriation for TIF payments. The council act on [passing] the resolution during their meeting Wednesday evening.

The final order of business for the Atlantic City Council, was act on an Order approving the Annual/Financial Urban Renewal Report, as required under the Code of Iowa.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest today (Wednesday), of 44-year old Anthony Michael Petersen. He was taken into custody in the 100 block of W. Coolbaugh Street at around 2:30-p.m., on an active Red Oak Police Department warrant for Sexual Abuse in the 3rd Degree. Petersen was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $10,000 cash-only bond.

Anthony Michael Petersen (Pott. County Jail booking photo from Aug., 2024)

(Radio Iowa) – There is a Iowa connection to today’s (Wednesday) shooting of the C-E-O of United HealthCare in New York City. Fifty-year-old Brian Thompson was a 1993 graduate of South Hamilton High School in Jewell. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting in 1997. Thompson has been the C-E-O of United HealthCare since 2021. He had been living in Minnesota.

Brian Thompson (UnitedHealth Group photo)

Thompson was in New York attending an investor conference for United Health Care at the time. Police in New York continue with their investigation into the shooting of Thompson. South Hamilton Superintendent Heather Holm said that Thompson was class valedictorian in 1993. He was also a star athlete, Homecoming king, and a respected leader in the community.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Two Council Bluffs individuals were sentenced to federal prison for possessing firearms as felons. According to public court documents, in December 2022, law enforcement obtained a search warrant for the joint Council Bluffs residence of Anthony Michael Huff, 37, and Bobbie Jo Adkins, 37. Inside the residence, a loaded 12-gauge shotgun was in a bedroom, where a marijuana grow lab was also located, as well as ammunition found in the living room. On Adkins’s cell phone, law enforcement later located photos of the shotgun where Huff told Adkins “we got the gun.”

Huff and Adkins are both felons and prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition. In 2012, Huff was convicted of two felony counts of terroristic threats in the Nebraska District Court for Dodge County. In 2015, Adkins was convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon, in the Iowa District Court for Page County.

Huff received a 37-month sentence, followed by a three-year term of supervised release. Adkins received a 48-month sentence, followed by a three-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Council Bluffs Police Department, and the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement (SWINE) Task Force.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A Sioux Falls, South Dakota man and Guatemalan national was sentenced on November 26, 2024 in Council  Bluffs U-S District Court, to 15 years in federal prison for possessing a distribution quantity of methamphetamine and possessing a firearm as a felon and in relation to his drug trafficking.

According to public court documents, 47-year-old Johny Fernando Diaz-Mendez, was arrested in March 2024 and found in possession of a firearm in his waistband and a large quantity of methamphetamine. After completing his term of imprisonment, Diaz-Mendez will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement and the Iowa State Patrol.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.

(Radio Iowa) – Wetlands in Iowa help prevent nearly 500-million dollars in flood damage every year, according to a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Report author Stacy Woods says wetlands are natural floodwater barriers that absorb and slow down rushing water like a sponge. Federal data shows a decline in the number of wetlands, especially in the Prairie Pothole region, Great Lakes and southeast. Woods fears the trend could accelerate, as a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year stripped away federal protections in the Clean Water Act for many wetlands.

Woods says, “It’s critically important that we really step up to protect the wetlands that remain, because we’re going to need them as our flooding frequency increases with this warming climate.” The report’s findings build on peer-reviewed research, which estimates one acre of wetlands provides 745-dollars of flood mitigation benefits to residential homes.

“We know that flooding is a significant issue,” she says. “It’s expensive, and it’s getting worse as the climate warms.” Along with flood mitigation, the report says wetlands provide habitat and food for roughly half of the endangered species in the U.S. They also act as natural pollution filters for drinking water. In the last two decades, Iowa has had six flood disasters with losses exceeding one-billion dollars.

“In our report, we were only looking at how wetlands benefit communities by mitigating flood damage,” Woods says, “but of course, wetlands bring so many benefits to communities.” The report recommends boosting conservation programs that help restore and protect these habitats.

(Radio Iowa) – An engineering study indicates between four and five MILLION dollars in repairs are needed for Spencer’s waste water treatment plant, which was damaged by catastrophic flooding in June. Kevin Robinson, Spencer’s Acting City Manager, says city officials are reviewing the study. “We’ll be meeting with Public Works, discussing the pros and cons of moving forward either replacing the stuff that was damaged in our normal project deadline and/or…is there a better path forward,” Robinson says. “The technology that we use is old.” Robinson says some FEMA disaster money could be used to improve the plant.

Spencer officials are also considering a plan that would use city and federal funds on a project to tear down seven apartment buildings in Spencer that were swamped by flooding in June. The city would spend 300-thousand dollars to acquire the property. Spencer’s Acting City Manager says the city would then apply to use federal funds to demolish the apartments. “Those properties sit development ready until our Community Development Block Grant Disaster Relief funding comes in, which will be 18-24 months,” he says. Robinson says Spencer officials have discussed the plan with two state agencies that are involved in housing development projects.

“They believe that we could get flood-compliant apartment complexes back in those areas,” Robinson says. Eighty percent of the structures in Spencer were either damaged or destroyed in June by flooding or backed up sewer water. Spencer sits at the convergence of the Little Sioux and Ocheyedan Rivers.