COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Council Bluffs voters have approved a bond referendum for a new, $20 million police headquarters. Nearly 63 percent of the votes counted Tuesday approved the referendum for a bond issue. The unofficial turnout was nearly 3,900 voters, or about 11.6 percent.

Several city sites are under consideration for the new building. The current 19,000-square-foot headquarters was built in 1977. Police Chief Tim Carmody has said the department needs at least 58,000 square feet for current and future needs.

Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle reports five delegates and one alternate were seated at the Third District Democratic Convention, which started Saturday, April 30th, and ran thru early Sunday morning.

Cass County delegates attending the convention included Gerard O’Rourke, Don Sonntag, Mike Young, Cheryl Wessels, and Toelle; Melissa Warren, as an alternate, was seated as a delegate during the convention, after Sonntag had to leave.

Photo: Front: from left to right: Wessels, Toelle, and Warren. Rear: Young and O’Rourke. (Photo courtesy Sherry Toelle)

The five delegates will be attending the state convention to be held in Des Moines on June 18th.

Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department report their “Operation Medicine Cabinet” drug drop-off program was a huge success over the weekend. Lt. Dan Flores says on Saturday, April 30th, between 10:00 am. and 2:00 pm. Council Bluffs Police Department Officers, volunteers/partners, and City of Council Bluffs Recycling Center personnel, participated in the Drug Enforcement Agency’s sponsored National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

The event was located at the Walgreens at 535 East Broadway. Flores says despite a steady, light rain with colder temperatures, people in 239 vehicles drove through the designated drop off lane to surrender 561 pounds of prescription drugs. That weight is the highest total of prescription drugs in any of the previous 11 events since 2010. From 2010 through 2016, the prescription drug take-back events  in Council Bluffs have taken in over 3,900 pounds of prescription drugs with over 2,200 persons dropping off drugs anonymously, with no questions asked.

Lt. Flores says the Council Bluffs Police Department thanks its volunteers and partners who helped to make the event so successful. The Department would also like to extend its appreciation to the community for its willingness to take the time and effort to drop off their expired or unused prescription drugs. Flores says together, “We have helped to make Council Bluffs a safer community!”

(Updated 7:39-a.m.)

Police in Red Oak say a local teen was arrested early this (Wednesday) morning, on an assault charge. 17-year old Lyndon Daniel Bright, of Red Oak,  was taken into custody at around 12:22-a.m. in the 200 block of N. 8th Street and brought to the Montgomery County Jail. He was later released to his parents.

And, late Tuesday evening, Red Oak Police arrested 43-year old Lester Michael Ballard, of Red Oak, on a valid Pottawattamie County warrant for Driving While Barred. Ballard was brought to the Montgomery County Jail where he was being held on a $5,000 cash bond, pending extradition to Pott. County.