(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, passed resolutions on two separate bids for two separate properties. Both bids were One-dollar, for properties located at 1014/1016 E. 3^rd Street Place, the other at 1310 Chestnut Street. The latter was sold to Jay and Kelsi Eden, who, as previously mentioned, will begin the process of gutting a decaying, unsafe for occupation, home. The couple intend to “flip” the house, once extensive work is completed. The Council chose to allow them one-year for construction. Councilman Pat McCurdy..

Dexter Dodson, with Atlantic High School, placed a bid for 1014/1016 3^rd Street Place. He intends to build a single family home on this lot using the students in the building trades program. McCurdy said he thinks it’s a wonderful idea.

Councilperson Elaine Otte, agreed, and said the project should benefit the school district’s Building Trades program.

The Council issued a recommendation to have City Administrator John Lund to proceed with making a request by City Attorney Dave Wiederstein to work with the Atlantic Community School District on the sale of the properties on E. 3^rd Street Place.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic, Wednesday, approved the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget. Their approval followed a public hearing, during which there were no comments received.

City Administrator John Lund has said the proposed budget for FY 2024 totals $14,794,803, an increase of 4.36% – or $618,676 – over the City’s FY 2023 budget. He noted however, that the budget “Should be considered [to be] a tentative budget that may receive a total amendment shortly after it begins in July, 2023.” That’s because, he says, of the legislature’s failure to send a final budget with an overhaul to the property tax system in Iowa. Lun

Lund says “While this may seem like a modest change in budget, however, the one-time American Rescue Plan funding of $488,970 and unusually high local option sales tax dollars of $1,337,372 in the FY 2023 budget, which are not present in the FY 2024 budget, disguise several new structural revenues, new structural revenue losses, and new structural expenditures.”

Under the City’s budget, the combined property tax levy will increase from $16.56 to $16.79, in order “to favorably position the City if the Iowa State Senate’s version of property tax reform is implemented.” Lund says “The overall budget accomplishes key priorities of the Mayor and Council in funding for community beautification, housing economic development, and code enforcement support.” A seven percent increase in compensation to all City employees is included, along with MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) “allowing unionized employees to see this benefit.” The Council also approved the FY24 Ten Year Capital Improvement Plan following a public hearing in which there were also no comments. In other business, the Atlantic City resolutions adopting wages for seasonal parks and recreation and pool employees, and, setting salaries for appointed officers and employees of the City of Atlantic.

At the end of the meeting, the Council surprised City Administrator John Lund, by presenting him with a Gold Star Award plaque, thanking him for all of his hard work. Councilman Dana Halder….

Lund thanked the Council, shook hands with Halder, and hugged the Mayor.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa received approval from the Board of Regents facilities committee to move ahead with work on two prominent buildings on campus. U-I Vice President, Rod Lehnertz, says they plan to remodel the seventh floor of the Van Allen building, which was built in the 1960s. Lehnertz says the space science and spaceflight hardware work done in the building is renowned nationwide. He says NASA expectations are high for research space and they need to keep up.

The other project involves expanding the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital into the empty seventh floor of the hospital. He says it would be a 40 to 49 million dollar proejct — with the actual cost pinned down through the construction. The Children’s Hospital has gotten nationwide attention for “The Wave,” where fans and players in nearby Kinnick Stadium turn and wave to the patients following the end of the first quarter of Hawkeye football games.

The full Board of Regents is expected to approve the proposals today (Thursday).

(Multiple area counties) – Large hail and heavy rain pummeled parts of western and southwest Iowa, Wednesday evening through late Wednesday night. Some areas also saw street flooding as the result of heavy rain. There was photographic evidence of funnel clouds spinning their way downward. Some reached the ground, officially becoming a tornado.

National Weather Service reports and posts on social media showed the extent of the hail damage, which was most severe in Mills, Crawford and Sac Counties, where hail ranging in size from quarters to tennis balls and baseballs, fell and caused heavy damage to vehicles, siding and other property. Widespread hail damage reports came in from Ricketts, Kiron, Schleswig and Charter Oak, inc Crawford County, while just pea-size hail was observed a little after 7:30-p.m., in Atlantic.

Street flooding was reported at some locations in Mills and Pottawattamie Counties. KETV in Omaha says the Classic Café in Malvern had its roof pounded by hail the size of golf balls, and was forced to deal with severe leaking. The restaurant’s owner said water came down so hard it seemed like it was raining inside, but when the storm hit, her staff sprung into action and used everything available to them to capture the leaks and mop-up.

Tornados were observed near Macedonia, Sidney and Thurman, while multiple funnels clouds were observed elsewhere, including as far north as Kiron, in Sac County.  There were no reports of injuries stemming from the recent storms. (Click on the images below to enlarge). Parts of eastern Nebraska also experienced damage from large hail.

Crawford County EMA Photo

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics received approval today (Wednesday) to lease a building in Sioux City as part of an effort to keep a program that produces doctors. David Kieft told the Board of Regents that the building houses the Siouxland Medical Education Foundation family medicine practice and its three-year residency program.”This is the only such search residency facility west of Des Moines,” Keift says. He says the program has been highly collaborative with the University of Iowa Family Medicine Residency.

“The program may be failing in its existing operations and so the University of Iowa has agreed to a 10-year lease agreement for the facility. It’s with Siouxland Medical Education Foundation,” he says. Keft says they hope the University of Iowa intervention will keep the Siouxland program from closing. Two other programs have closed in the past three years, resulting in 12 fewer family physicians in Iowa per year.

The U-I-H-C will pay all operating costs of the building and has the first option to buy it. The initial lease term would commence in June 2023 and end on June 30, 2033. There are two five-year renewal options.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate has confirmed former State Auditor Mary Mosiman as the state’s top tax official. Governor Kim Reynolds appointed her to be director of the Iowa Department of Revenue on March 29th. Mosiman, who is a C-P-A, has been the deputy director of the department for the past three years. Senator Pam Jochum, a Democrat from Dubuque, says as the chief deputy, Mosiman has had oversight of the agency’s tax division.

“That includes compliance, the call center and other important consumer related issues,” Jochum says, “and I can say that all of those things have seemed to improve immensely over the last couple of years.” Jochum and other Democrats in the Senate say they have concerns about staffing levels in the agency in its expanded role under the governor’s state government reorganization plan — but all Democrats and all Republicans in the Senate Wednesday, voted to confirm Mosiman as the Iowa Department of Reenue director.

Mosiman was a top administrator in the Iowa Secretary of State’s office when Governor Terry Branstad appointed her to be state auditor in 2013. Mosiman lost her bid for a second full term as state auditor in 2018. She was in charge of elections in Story County as that county’s auditor from 2001 through the end of 2010.

(Radio Iowa) – A New London man will spend two years in federal prison after admitting to using union funds for his personal expenses. Fifty-three-year-old Darin Boatman pleaded guilty to using a credit card from the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 617 in Fort Madison for his personal expenses.

He was the president of the union representing Conagra employees, and the expenses included vacations to Florida, work on his car, and attorney fees. He also admitted to writing checks from a union account for personal expenses. Boatman agreed to pay 74-thousand dollars in restitution

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Senate and House have approved competing property tax relief plans. The Senate approach is focused on eliminating some property tax levies, consolidating others and converting property tax credits for veterans and seniors to more lucrative exemptions. Senate Republicans say it would amount to a roughly 100 million dollars reduction in property taxes. Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee that drafts tax policy.

“Ultimately I think we’ve probably got the best dog that can hunt here in the Capitol than we’ve had in some time to start to tackle this system,” Dawson says. The House approach would provide 200 million dollars in state money each year to replace local property taxes that go to public schools. Republican Representative Bobby Kaufmann, of Wilton, is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He says lawmakers are listening to Iowans. “Property taxes are easily the most unpopular tax that exists,” Kaufmann says. The House bill would also limit increases in property tax BILLS to three percent.

“We are delivering significant, real, substantial property tax relief to Iowans,” Kaufmann says. Dawson calls the Senate bill phrase one of a long term effort to reform an unchecked property tax system. “Our system is broken. Taxpayers are scared and that is why we are here today,” Dawson says. Both bills passed with nearly unanimous support from Republians and Democrats. Just one Republican in the House and one Democrat in the Senate voted no. Democrats like Senator Pam Jochum say so far it’s been a bipartisan effort to find ways to simplify and streamline property taxes.

“Every one of us cares about this tax system and want to make it work better,” Jochum says. Representative Dave Jacoby, a Democrat from Coralville, says injecting certainty into the system is a priority.  “This, I believe, helps everyday Iowans,” Jacoby said, “and Democrats are happy to see that our ideals are being met in this bill.”

Governor Reynolds has said her focus is on eventually eliminating the state INCOME tax and she’s leaving it up to legislators to craft a property tax reduction plan.

(Radio Iowa) – A Spencer man faces drug trafficking charges after police found a large amount of methamphetamine in an apartment in downtown Spencer. According to the Clay County Attorney’s Office several law enforcement agencies, including an Iowa State Patrol tactical unit, participated in the investigation, finding more than 33 pounds of methamphetamine in the apartment. That’s more than half a million dollars worth of meth, according to the county attorney’s office, and several thousand dollars in cash was in the apartment, too.

Oscar Navarro-Zepeda was taken into custody at the scene and charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver. Navarro-Zepeda made his initial court appearance on Wednesday and is being held in the Clay County Jail on 750-thousand dollars bond.

If convicted, he faces up to fifty years behind bars and a one million dollar fine.