The Walnut City Council is set to meet 5-p.m. Thursday (Dec. 6), during a regular session. On their agenda is a review of bids for Solid Waste Disposal, and a motion to execute an agreement with a contractor for the residential hauling of solid waste. The Council will also review the City’s Health Insurance package, and discuss the Walnut Community Center, including: adding liquor liability to the City Insurance plan; use of facility and gymnasiums; fire extinguisher and service elevator inspections.

In other business, the Walnut City Council will discuss the Property Maintenance Code, and take action on the third and final reading of an Ordinance adopting the 2015 edition of the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC). City officials say the IPMC is designed to ensure rental properties are safe, have smoke alarms, and that the electrical and heating systems are safe. There is no set inspection for regular housing, unless the home is new construction or having extensive remodeling.

The Council will also discuss and possibly take action on the 1^st reading of an amended Ordinance pertaining to Water Rates for Service, followed by a possible waiving of the 2^nd and 3^rd readings. They will also consider the possible adoption of a Resolution Transferring Funds from the City’s Water Fund into The Short-Lived Asset Reserve Fund.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Concerns about student-to-student bullying have led the Ames school district to suspend its middle school principal. District spokesman Eric Smidt says the decision to move out principal Dan Fox wasn’t based off just one incident but rather was an effort to improve Ames Middle School. The district said in an email to parents and staffers last week that district administrators “will be working on various measures to ensure there is a safe and orderly environment for teaching and learning.”

Concerns were raised by parents and students, and an online petition appeared that sought improved safety for LGBTQ students at the school. Officials say Fox still works for district and is being paid while on suspension.

(Radio Iowa) — New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg spent Tuesday in Iowa, touting a film about climate change that he financed and promising he’ll make a decision “early next year” about whether he’ll run for president and — maybe — sell his business. Bloomberg stopped at a Cedar Rapids solar panel company, talked with students in learning to maintain wind turbines, met with activists seeking gun restrictions. Last night, Bloomberg spoke at the showing of the film highlighting people, including a few Iowans, who are embracing renewable energy alternatives. A past skeptic of ethanol subsidies, Bloomberg embraced the corn-based fuel. “I think that ethanol and biofuels are part of the mix. There’s a place for it. I think eventually you’d like to get to a world where we don’t burn anything. That’s the way that you really clean the air the most, but we’re a long ways from that…E10 or E15 is part of the mix and it’s going to be part of the mix for a long time.”

Bloomberg spoke with Radio Iowa for nearly 20 minutes, sketching out the purpose of his possible presidential bid. “You work hard. If it works, it works and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” Bloomberg said, “but my main objective would be to try to focus everybody on the main issues facing this country.” Bloomberg, who is 76, served a dozen years as New York City’s mayor. He founded the Bloomberg media company focused on news and market information. Bloomberg says Tuesday’s downturn in the stock market was caused by uncertainty about President Trump’s negotiations with China. “I think that Trump is right in saying that the relationship we have with China is not fair. We haven’t fought that battle in a long, long time…We should stand up to China,” Bloomberg says. “…Having said that, the ways you do it is as important as the fact that you’re doing it.”

Bloomberg suggests Trump has mistakenly approached negotiations like a “real estate promoter.” “In his view, there’s a winner and a loser in every transaction and I think that’s a very simplistic approach to the world. You always want to have the other person to think they didn’t get everything they wanted, but they got something and they want to think you didn’t because you’re going to have to go back and do another deal at another time,” Bloomberg said. “…You don’t want to win each time. You want to move up.”

Bloomberg told Radio Iowa if he does run for president, he will either place his company in a blind trust or sell it. “But I think at my age, if selling it is possible, I would do that,” Bloomberg said. “At some point, you’re going to die anyway, so you want to do it before then.”