(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Tuesday), passed two separate proclamations. The first declared Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month, as encouraged by the Cass County Child Abuse Prevention Council. Council Member Lora Kanning read the proclamation, which in-part says….

They also passed a motion proclaiming this week (April 9-15) as National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, as we mentioned during Monday’s news on KJAN. Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon read from the proclamation.

Kennon reminded the Board and the public also, about a Storm Spotter training class that takes place Wednesday, April 12th at 7-p.m., in the Courthouse Courtroom. The Board then heard from Jared Wyman , member of the Noble Initiative Community Foundation (Which is separate from the Noble Initiative Daycare Foundation), who spoke about housing development in Griswold and storm water management projects, along with a request for ARPA Funds.

Jared Wyman address the Cass County BOS 4-11-23

The Board advised Wyman to stop at the Auditor’s Office and pickup an application for ARPA funding, so it may be taken under consideration at a future meeting. A Public Hearing was then held on the proposed Maximum Property Tax Levy, followed by approval of the levy for Fiscal Year 2024. They also set April 25th as the date for a Public Hearing on the proposed FY 24 Cass County Budget. The Supervisors discussed and passed a Resolution amending Cass County’s official publication as the Atlantic News Telegraph, and to use the Anita Tribune and Griswold American as information sources for constituents. Board Chair Steve Baier explains the logic in doing so.

The Board then discussed and acted to approve, a Resolution to support the present Local Option Sales Tax (LOST). Once again, here’s Board Chair Steve Baier on Senate File 550…

(Details on SF550 can be found here) Critics say of the bill say large cities would see the most benefit from the proposed change, while smaller communities could see less money. The Supervisors received a weekly report on the Cass County Secondary Roads Department, from Engineer Trent Wolken. And, they approved the appointment of Norma Hemphill to the Southwest Iowa Housing Committee.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled the state auditor does not have the authority to investigate an insurance risk pool for 75 counties as well as hundreds of other cities and taxpayer funded local government entities. The Iowa Communities Assurance Pool provides property and casualty insurance coverage. State Auditor Rob Sand had filed a subpoena seeking records about annual meetings the risk pool’s board of directors held at out of state resorts. The state’s highest court has ruled the risk pool was formed under a section of Iowa law that does not fall under the oversight of the state auditor’s office. Sand says the Supreme Court pointed out it might be good to subject local government risk pools that are entirely funded by tax dollars to some oversight and he is asking legislators to take that step.

Three Republican state senators say the ruling may show the auditor has abused his subpoena power and their bill to restrict what Sand can investigate is needed. Senator Mike Klimesh  is a Republican from Spillville. “He has subpoena power,” Klimesh says, “but we want to make sure that he’s not using it an an overarching method to, you know, unfairly reach out to Iowans that aren’t positioned in local government entities that would require them to provide him subpoenaed information.”

Klimesh and two other Republican senators have asked Sand to provide them with the records of all the subpoenas the state auditor’s office has issued since Sand took office in January of 2019.  “To ensure that his office is not going beyond his authority to execute subpoenas on private individuals and, if that if in fact happening, we have a right to know about it,” Klimesh says, “and I think Iowans have a right to know about it.”

Sand, the only Democrat holding statewide office, says the records request is a distraction from the bill Senators passed that outside analysts say would prevent his office from doing complete audits of state agencies and lead to the state government losing billions of dollars in federal funds. Sand has sent the senators a copy of the subpoena he issued to managers of the insurance risk pool for local governments.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowans may be anxious to clear the dry brush from their properties and get on with spring, but they’re warned not to set any fires. Outdoor burning is not recommended, and a dozen counties in northwest Iowa are under a Red Flag Warning until nine o’clock tonight. The warning means weather conditions are ideal for small brushfires to quickly get out of hand and spread and residents statewide are urged to heed the advisory.

Red Flag Warning for counties in pink https://www.weather.gov/dmx/

Forecasters say high temperatures today will climb into the 70s and 80s, while the humidity level is low, the winds are high with gusts up to 40 miles an hour, and the vegetation is very dry.

(Anita, Iowa) – The CAM School Board, Monday evening, received a recommendation from the District’s Facility Committee, with regard to the closing of a district campus. Superintendent Paul Croghan said Committee Chair Adam Akers made a presentation and recommendation for the Board to take action on during their meeting on May 10th. Their recommendation was to close the North Elementary School.

Mr. Croghan expresses his gratitude to the Committee for their hard work and diligence.

In other business, the CAM School Board, Monday, held a Public Hearing on the proposed 2023-24 School Calendar and 2023-24 Certified Budget (as published). There were no comments. The Board later voted to approve the Calendar, which Croghan says calls for school to begin August 23, 2023, barring any snow days.

The adjusted Calendar was approved also, with the last day of school for students being May 26th, right before Memorial Day. The CAM High School and Iowa Connections list of graduating seniors was approved. Other Board action includes…

The Board approved Senior Trip to Omaha will take place May 16th.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report a man was arrested Monday evening at 129 N. Pine (A sports bar & grill). Authorities say 26-year-old Adam Edward Lee Austin, of Creston, was taken into custody for Public Intoxication/1st offense. He was being held in the Union County Jail on a $300 bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – A Public Hearing with regard to the Atlantic Community School District’s (ACSD) Certified Budget, will be held 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, April 12th, in the High School Media Center. During the Board’s Special Meeting March 29th, Superintendent Steve Barber and Director of Finance Sarah Sheeder reviewed the proposed certified budget for the 2023-24 school year, with a total property tax rate of 13.00317 per $1,000 taxable valuation. That is a decrease from the 2022-23 property tax rate of 13.25506, or about 26-cents per thousand.

During the Board’s regular meeting to follow the Public Hearing, they will act on resignations, including: Lenzi Robinson, 5th Grade Teacher; Sarah Sheeder, School Business Official/Board Secretary, and Lori Hayes, Paraeducator. They will also act on approving Superintendent Barber’s contract recommendations for: Nathan Block – 6th Grade Science Teacher; Mikayla Stockhaus – HS Vocal Music Teacher; Brett Johnson and Caroline Pellett – MS Softball Coaches.

Action items on the Atlantic School Board Agenda include (but is not limited to) the following:

• Approving the 2023-24 Certified Budget
• Setting May 10th at 5:30-p.m. as the date/time for a Public Hearing on a Certified Budget Amendment (amounting to an increase of $793,569). School officials say the amendment will NOT result in an increase in taxes. A detailed statement of additional receipts, cash balances and proposed disbursements will be available for public viewing at the hearing.
• Approval of a 2023-24 Operational Sharing Agreement with the Griswold School District, w/regard to Transportation Director, and
• Approval of 2023-24 Activities Sharing Agreements for: boys swimming (Audubon, Clarinda, Red Oak & Riverside, w/Atlantic as host); girls and boys soccer (CAM & Exira-EHK, w/Atlantic as host); and girls wrestling (CAM, Nodaway Valley & Griswold). There is no change from last year, with the exception of Atlantic serving as the host for girls wrestling.
• The Board will act on approving 2023-24 Non-Certified Staff Master Contract Agreement (Which includes the following increases: $2.75/hour for Bus Route Drivers & Bus Asst. Mechanic; $0.90/hour for all other Support Staff).
• The School Board is expected to pass a Resolution approving the Plans, Specifications and Form of Contract for the H.S. Storage Shed (estimated cost $190,000), followed by the awarding of a contract for the shed. Bids are due by April 12th….and,
• A Resolution approving the Contracts and Bonds for the Washington Elementary School Playground Project. Last month, the School Board awarded the project to Caliber Concrete, LLC, of Adair. The project cost amounts to $579,422.58.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-O-T continues to see trends in rail traffic that show economic challenges. Stuart Anderson gave and update to the Transportation Commission. “The rail carloads continue to be down both on a monthly basis comparing March of this year with s March of last year — but also year to date. You can see it’s down point-three percent,” he says. Anderson says grains shipments are one area where things have been down. “Although I think there is some information from U-S-D-A that they do feel like there is with increased export agreements with China that they expect that trend to shift here in the coming month,” Anderson says. He says the intermodel shipments from ports into Iowa are also down. Anderson says there is one bright side on the rail shipping front.

“Motor vehicle shipment on rail cars continues to be higher than we’ve seen in the last year, which is is a good time that people are still buying cars,” Anderson says. His report also shows the drop in travel on the roadways in December and January was likely due to winter weather, as things have picked back up. “We would say overall the travel is generally back to the pre pandemic levels. But still with those shifts that we’ve talked about in the past — where municipal traffic continues to be a little down and rural traffic a little high, just reflecting the more teleworking that’s happening across workforce,” Anderson says.

Anderson made his comments in a work session prior to today’s (Tuesday) Transportation Commission meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – With the federal tax filing deadline now one week away, a University of Iowa accounting professor suggests America adopt what’s being done in many European countries, where the government prepares your taxes for you — for free. Professor Ryan Wilson says our current electronic filing process is automated, so it wouldn’t be a great stretch for the I-R-S to go the next step and prepare our taxes, too. Wilson says the government already has most of the information it needs to pre-populate tax returns, and those with more complex investments could always opt out. For the majority of Americans, Wilson says it would reduce anxiety while saving time and money.

He says a program called ReadyReturn is already being used in the U-K, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain, where the government prepares its citizens’ taxes. In some countries, you get a text from the government and if you text back ‘YES,’ then you’re done.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak arrested a man this (Tuesday) morning. 37-year-old Brian Paul Anderson, of Red Oak, was taken into custody in the vicinity of 1660 E. Summit Street, at around 4:22-a.m. He was charged with OWI/1st offense. Anderson was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has appointed a former Republican legislator to lead the Iowa Utilities Board. Current Iowa Utilities Board chair Jeri Huser will remain on the board, but the governor has appointed Erik Helland to take over as chair in May. Helland, who is an attorney, served two terms in the Iowa House representing the Des Moines suburb of Johnston. Helland will lead the Iowa Utilities Board as it considers applications for construction permits for three carbon pipelines.

A year ago, the governor appointed Helland to serve on the Iowa Employment Relations Board, but Democrats in the Senate blocked his nomination. Republicans won 34 seats in the state senate last November and that’s equal to the number of yes voted Helland would need for confirmation to this new role.