The Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department’s Board of Directors will meet in a special session today (Wednesday), beginning at Noon, in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. The only item on their agenda, is action on the use of Hotel/Motel Tax Fund money to make up a portion of the matching funds needed for a Vision Iowa CAT grant.

Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring told the City’s Personnel and Finance Committee during their meeting Tuesday evening, they’ve managed to raise $125,000 in committed funds to match 50-percent of the $180,000 needed to apply for a $360,000 CAT grant. 25-percent of the match can come in the form of in-kind contributions, such as labor, supplies and volunteer time.

Herring said there is a “Laundry list” of in-kind contributions committed so far, including those from Trees Forever and AMU. He and Assistant Parks Director Seth Staashelm, sat down and tried to figure out the best way to show the Vision Iowa Board in the City’s grant application, that there was enough in-kind support to warrant consideration of the full grant amount requested. He said they came up with the idea of asking the Parks and Rec Board for permission to commit $46,500 from the Hotel/Motel Tax, toward the match.

In addition, Herring said there is $19,000 of in-kind commitment from AMU and $5,000 for seeding from the Parks and Rec Department for seeding of the campground area. The  $360,000 Vision Iowa CAT grant, if approved in its entirety, would be used for improvements to the campground portion of the Schildberg Recreation Area, in Atlantic.

Herring said he spoke with Atlantic City Administrator John Lund about the possibility of using Hotel/Motel Tax funds, which are designated for the City’s Parks and Recreational improvements. He said the Hotel-Motel tax is “A replenishing type of fund because it generates between 30-and 36 thousand dollars a year for the Parks Department. We have money in there that we have not expended, we’ll be getting more coming in, and we really won’t be expending anything out of that if we were to take the $46,500 out of there, we won’t be tapping that for another six-to eight-months. And then it’d be a two-year process anyway…that won’t put a stress or strain on our budget [over their 5-year plan].”)

Herring asked for and received permission from, the Personnel and Finance Committee, for him to approach the Parks Board for their approval in using the Hotel-Motel Tax for the grant application, which must be submitted by this Friday.

The Atlantic City Council will be asked during their meeting next week to approve a commitment of $15,000 per year in operational support of the Ann W. Wickman Child Development Center. The Center, which is owned by Southwest Iowa Family Services (SWIFS) and operated by the Nishna Valley YMCA in Atlantic, has been running in the red for the last five-years, losing $141,417, or an average of $28,283 per year.

Dan Haynes, Executive Director at the Nishna Valley YMCA, said during a meeting Tuesday evening of the City’s Personnel and Finance Committee, that the situation was discussed during separate meetings of parents, the Rotary Club, and employers. He said the deficit looming over the Center is just one of the challenges they are facing

Others include: staff turnover due to a lack of competitive wages with other businesses; limited space; No repair or replacement fund for the building; and they have a hard time raising money because of the existing SWIFS debt. Scheduling and serving meals is an issue as well, with some employees working part-time, as well as the full-time/part-time staff ratios.

Haynes said 85-percent of their budget is for staff. Grants don’t fund operational expenses, so they have to find other ways to try and stay afloat, including raising fees, establishing contracts with parents for set child care times and penalties for not showing up,  and asking the City and businesses for financial help. He said “The Y obviously can’t afford to do this any longer.”

Haynes asked the Personnel and Finance Committee to consider a request for $15,000 per year in operational support. He mentioned he will also be asking the Cass County Board of Supervisors for $5,000 in additional support to help defray costs.

Atlantic Mayor Dave Jones was originally opposed to the idea of a City-supported daycare center when it first opened, simply because he was afraid of the impact it would have on local, in-home daycare providers. Kelsie Smith, with Child Care Resources and Referral of Southwest Iowa, said all of her family child care providers in the area are currently full. Jones acknowledged the Wickman Center has had a positive impact on the local economy.

Jones said if the City Council agrees to a $15,000 annual commitment for the child care center, it should be with the stipulation local businesses be asked to contribute matching funds. The City’s share could come out of the Local Option Sales Tax.

Sheriff’s Deputies in Montgomery County, Tuesday, arrested a man in Elliott who was wanted on a Cass County Bench Warrant. 25-year old Timothy Alan Brown, of Elliott, was arrested at around 9:50-p.m. on the warrant charging him with Failure to Appear in Court on original charges of Carrying Weapons and two counts of Assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. Brown was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $2,000 bond.

A chain-reaction accident in Mills County Tuesday evening resulted in one person being flown to a hospital in Omaha. The Iowa State Patrol says the accident happened at around 6:20-p.m. on Highway 34 at 288th Boulevard, as a 2007 Chevy pickup driven by 40-year old Jeremy Allen Marvel, of Glenwood, was stopped headed eastbound, and waiting to turn left at the intersection.

41-year old Julia Nelson, of Red Oak, who was traveling east in a 2014 VW Golf, took evasive action by braking and passing the pickup on the right. A 2003 Peterbilt semi, driven by 60-year old Keith Ratkovec, of Brainard, NE, was unable to stop, and struck the VW and pickup. The semi clipped the left rear of the VW, sending it into the south ditch. The semi continued east and hit the pickup, pushing it into the north ditch.

The Patrol says Jeremy Marvel, who was wearing his seat belt, was injured in the crash and transported by LifeNet helicopter to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in Omaha. No other injuries were reported.

The Iowa Transportation Commission yesterday (Tuesday) approved over five-point-seven million dollars ($5.7 million) in funding for 54 new transit vehicles. The buses and minivans will replace older transit vehicles in 20 cities across the state, including Carroll and Creston.

Randy Barton is the Transit Programs Manager with the DOT. “Iowa, unfortunately, has an aged fleet,” Barton says. “The FTA designates a useful life based on mileage and age of vehicles and Iowa, last I saw, was second in the nation for oldest fleet vehicles.” Iowa trails only South Dakota on that list.

The Federal Transit Administration defines the “useful life” for a light-duty bus, for example, as four years or 120,000 miles. “We’ve got around 1,600 (transit) vehicles in Iowa and over 1,000 of them are beyond the FTA described useful life,” Barton says. The $5.7 million for new transit vehicles approved Tuesday comes from federal funding. Barton says Iowa needs much more to bring it’s transit fleet up to par.

“Just to replace Iowa’s vehicles that are beyond the FTA’s definition of useful life would take $159 million,” Barton says. He’s quick to point out, however, that the older transit vehicles being used around the state are still well-maintained and safe. “They can rehabilitate — put in new engines, transmissions, drivetrains, whatever — but, usually what happens is the body itself gets too old and you can’t repair a frame,” Barton says. “You have to remember we’re in Iowa, so there’s a lot of salt on the roads and (that leads to) a lot of corrosion.”

Iowa has public transit vehicles in operation in all 99 counties. Some of the cities that are receiving funds for purchase of new transit buses include; Fort Dodge, Mason City, Marshalltown, Carroll, Creston, Spencer, Sioux City, Davenport, Burlington, Waterloo, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Decorah, and Des Moines.

(Radio Iowa) For more information, go to: www.iowadot.gov/transit/funding/FY2016TransitCapitalProgramsHandout.pdf