HAMBURG, IOWA – Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) members, staff, and supporters came together for the 48th Annual Meeting on Thursday, September 28th at the newly renovated Hamburg Fire Station. The day included a tour of Hamburg, a luncheon, awards presentation, and annual report. The day started with a tour of the City of Hamburg led by Mayor Harry Reed to celebrate many of the projects that have been completed or are in progress following the 2019 flood. Stops on the tour included the newly opened Hamburg Inn & Suites, ConAgra popcorn production facility, The Hamburg Locker, and the disaster recovery housing development site North Ridge Acres. Following the tour, attendees enjoyed a luncheon catered by Horseshoe Café and Catering from Sidney. The program was then opened with a welcome by Mayor Adams and introductions by SWIPCO Board Chair Todd Valline.

Five partnership awards were then presented by SWIPCO staff to various entities that helped SWIPCO achieve end goals in fiscal year 2023. Those awards included:

• Connections Area Agency on Aging for their continued partnership with Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA) to help disabled Iowans get to where they need to go at a reduced cost.
• Denver Regional Office of the U.S. Economic Development Administration for their work managing an unprecedented amount of funding for disaster recovery from the 2019 floods and the Covid pandemic. Regional Representative Alex Smith was on hand to accept the award.
• Faith In Action for their continued partnership with SWITA to provide rides for the residents of Fremont and Page Counties.
• F&M Carpentry for their excellent work and very high client satisfaction as a contractor for many SWIPCO housing projects in the past year. Owners Roy and Tammy Fifer were on hand to accept the award.
• Terry Brown, Disaster Project Officer with Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management for his exemplary help in coordinating long term recovery efforts in Hamburg and Fremont and Mills Counties after the 2019 floods.
  

  SWIPCO Board recognition John McCurdy, SWIPCO Executive Director (left); Alan Armstrong, Former Page County Supervisor (right).

  

  Partnership award presentation: Alex Smith, US Economic Development Administration (left); John McCurdy, SWIPCO Executive Director (right).

  

  Partnership award presentation: (left to right) John McCurdy, SWIPCO Executive Director; Roy Fifer, F&M Carpentry; Tammy Fifer, F&M Carpentry; Matthew Lee, SWIPCO Building Inspector.

  

  SWIPCO Board recognition Lynn Grobe, Former Pottawattamie County Supervisor (left); John McCurdy, SWIPCO Executive Director (right).

  

  Partnership award presentation: (left to right) Terry Brown, Disaster Project Officer with Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management; John McCurdy, SWIPCO Executive Director.

Four former members of the SWIPCO Policy Board were honored for their service at the meeting. John Hartkopf, Cass County Supervisor, 2 years. Alan Armstrong, Page County Supervisor, 5 years. Lynn Grobe, Pottawattamie County Supervisor, 10 years. Brad Wright, Red Oak City Administrator, 20 years.

Four SWIPCO office staff employees were honored for employment milestones. Dani Briggs, Lead Planner, 5 years. Dee Holtz, Administrative Assistant, 5 years. John McCurdy, Executive Director, 10 years. Mark Hansen, Fleet Mechanic, 15 years. SWITA driver of the year Dean Driskell was also recognized. (attached photos courtesy SWIPCO Communications Director Chris Parks)

To finish up the meeting, Executive Director John McCurdy presented annual report information and shared the many success stories for SWIPCO in fiscal year 2023. Highlights included that SWITA provided 526,300 rides in fiscal year 2023, the most any rural public transit agency ever has in the state of Iowa. SWIPCO’s planning staff are also currently managing over $120 million in grant funds. SWIPCO and the Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund (SWIHTF) completed 61 housing rehabilitation projects, assisted with the purchase of 19 homes, demolished 15 dilapidated houses, and conducted dozens of building inspections. SWIPCO’s administrative team managing resources and came in right on target for SWIPCO’s $7 million operating budget, the largest portion of which is payroll for SWIPCO’s 100 employees.

SWIPCO, founded in 1975, is a council of governments serving eight counties in Southwest Iowa with public transportation, community development, and housing assistance. Counties served are Cass, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, and Shelby. SWIPCO is an equal opportunity employer, provider, and lender.

(Radio Iowa) – After nearly 50 years as a food desert, one of Waterloo’s predominantly black neighborhoods has opened its first grocery store alongside a community center. After seven years of socioeconomic hurdles, including push-back from groups within Waterloo, the black-owned All-In Grocers and attached Willie Mae Wright Community Center opened this week. Project leader Rodney Anderson says after all the work, he’s still amazed.  “I love it. It looks like Waterloo,” Anderson says, “it feels like Waterloo, and now we’re going to change the culture of Waterloo.”

Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart attended the opening and says the grocery store idea was a long time coming and he sees it as a huge victory for the neighborhood and the community. “It’s an incredible day for the City of Waterloo and an incredible day for the Walnut neighborhood,” Hart says. “I remember 12 years ago, them wanting a grocery store, and to be here today is such an inspiring vision.”

The community center will hold classes and after-school programs through Waterloo’s 1619 Freedom School Project, which is expected to start by the spring.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa [KETV]) — If your travels take you to Council Bluffs, frequently, you may have noticed the wear on the South Expressway bridge in the city. Bluffs Public Works Director Matt Cox, says there’s no safety threat, because while part of the reinforcing steel is exposed, the bridge is still performing as designed.

And whatever concrete that’s fallen off, he says, has no impact on the structural integrity. Cox said public works inspects these bridges regularly, and people do not need to be concerned with driving over the bridge.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – A man from Clarinda was arrested Wednesday evening on an assault charge, in Red Oak. Police say 36-year-old Bryce Michael McKinnon was taken into custody at around 6:34-p.m. in the 2300 block of Eastern Avenue, in Red Oak. He was charged with Assault on a person engaged in certain professions, causing bodily injury. McKinnon was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The historic Harlan-Lincoln House in Mount Pleasant is changing hands. The two-story yellow and white house is now a stand-alone Iowa non-profit corporation, Harlan-Lincoln House, Inc. The now-closed Iowa Wesleyan University transferred ownership of the house, which was built by former Iowa U-S Senator James Harlan in 1876.

He was a friend and political ally of President Abe Lincoln – and Harlan’s daughter, Mary, married Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln. More than 20 volunteers will give guided tours of the house – and care for the structure and grounds. A public re-opening event is planned for October 21st.

Federal agencies sent out a message to all radios, T-Vs and cellular phones Wednesday afternoon, as a test of the nation’s emergency alert systems. Tracey Bearden, 9-1-1 coordinator for the Polk County Emergency Management Agency, says at 1:20 P-M, all devices were sent the alert as a test of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System by the F-C-C and FEMA.

Bearden says the key takeaway should be that it’s a good drill to make sure that this nationwide system works and to practice for an actual incident. While some of us may have been annoyed by the distraction, Bearden hopes they consider the virtues of this unprecedented test as a way to be prepared.