City leaders in Atlantic are continuing efforts to bring high-speed, fiber optic internet service to businesses in the community, in an effort to retain those businesses and bring more businesses to town. City Administrator John Lund, Wednesday, brought the City Council up-to-date on talks with internet vendors Mediacom, Century-Link and Marne Elk Horn Telephone Company. Lund said he and Mayor Dave Jones met with Mediacom officials on Tuesday.

He said the representative will put together some numbers on how much it would cost to bring fiber-optic service to Atlantic. Using those numbers, Lund will work with a consultant who will, in-turn, work with an engineer who has handled a vast majority of the municipal internet projects in Iowa. They hope to sit down with the Council to discuss the matter before the end of this month.

Lund says the consultant will help to determine the lowest cost option, “While at the same time making sure that such a critical service for our major industries is being met.” Mayor Dave Jones said last month they met with representatives from Century Link On Monday, they met with Marne-Elk Horn representatives, and Unity Point the week before that.

Jones said there are four different options, but the consultant will help to determine if the City’s current infrastructure and support a fiber optic system, or if it becomes a utility unto itself, the investment would cost millions of dollars. He said they’re trying to get something accomplished to help business and industry, but at the same time “Not bankrupt the City with it.”

Efforts to bring fiber optic internet service in Atlantic began in earnest after a bond referendum for City Hall renovations failed during a vote on Nov. 3rd. Local businessman Jim Tyler suggested the $100,000 that was already set aside for a part of the project be used instead to get the ball rolling on fiber optic lines for businesses, schools, the County and more.

The Library Director for the Atlantic Public Library made a presentation, Wednesday night before the City Council, with regard to Fiscal Year 2015 progress at the library, usage of materials, programs, and more. Natalie Struecker, who has held the position of Director for the past six-months, said the same statistical information (circulation, collection sizes, how many people use the computers and Wi-Fi, and much more) must be provided to the State Library of Iowa, and is also provided to the local Library Board.

Struecker said nationwide, 91-percent of people said libraries were important to their communities, even if they don’t use those facilities very often. 81-percent of those surveyed agreed public libraries provide many, valuable services that would otherwise not be affordable on an individual basis.

She said library users in Atlantic saved over $1-million dollars, just by checking out the facilities’ physical materials. There were 74,000 items (Physical and digital) that were checked-out. There were also nearly 35,000 visits to the library in the last Fiscal Year, with about 13,000 of those being computer sessions. There were also 2,600 Wi-Fi users.

Locally, Struecker said a community survey conducted at the library last Fall garnered 54 responses, with a majority of those respondent/users indicating they checked-out materials and/or used the library’s computers. E-books and downloadable audio books comprise most of the on-line usage at the library. She said there are also many online services people may not be aware of, that are available at the Atlantic Public Library.

There are genealogical and newspaper archive services, practice test-based services for ACT, SAT’s and more. Animated picture books for kids, a language learning program and program that lumps together several databases used for research on health, children’s issues and much, much more. She said at the end of the Fiscal Year in June, the library had a collection of 32,925 books, access to more than 20,000 E-books, and 2,700 audio books in the library. There also almost 2,200 DVD’s and VHS tapes.

Ninety-One different children’s programs were offered at the library last year. The library was open 2,574 hours last year. In October, the library started to increase its hours of operation.

Police in Red Oak arrested a woman on a Simple Assault charge, Wednesday night. 18-year old Isabella Dealanea Lewis, of Red Oak, was taken into custody at a residence in the 100 block of Oak Street, just before 8-p.m. She was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $300 cash bond.