(Atlantic) The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday afternoon, agreed to Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall’s request to hire three new staffers for the Treasurer’s Office, following the loss of some staffers and the upcoming retirement of another. The Board agreed to pay those individuals $18-dollars per hour, with an increase to $19-dollars per hour after 90-days and a review of performance. After six-months, the new staff would be paid $20-dollars per hour.

Marshall said two of the new staff can start right away. The third person will be available in the coming week. As it stands currently, the office is closed all day on Tuesdays, for staff training. It’s open the rest of the week from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., closed from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., open from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Board Chairman Steve Baier asked Marshall how long she was anticipating having to run abbreviated service hours.

If there are any future changes to her office hours, Marshall said she would keep the public updated via the media and postings on the courthouse entrances, as well as the Treasurer’s Office doors.

(Union County, Iowa) – Storms that took place Tuesday evening made driving difficult in many areas. The Union County Sheriff’s Office, Wednesday, said a woman escaped injury during a rollover accident that occurred during a thunderstorm. Authorities say 20-year-old Jada Fife, from Washington, D-C, was driving a 2021 Jeep Compass SUV eastbound on 195th Street at around 8:10-p.m., and trying to get back to the local residence she was staying at.

Fife told a Deputy that because of the swirling, heavy rain, she couldn’t see the road. Her SUV entered a ditch and rolled onto its top. Fife admitted to not wearing a seat belt, but her side impact airbag deployed during the crash, saving her from likely injuries. No citations were issued. Damage to the SUV was estimated at $10,000 (a total loss).

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Board of Supervisors met Wednesday morning in the Council’s Chambers at the City Hall, in Harlan. In his minutes of the meeting, Shelby County Auditor Mark L. Maxwell, stated Supervisor Kenkel had reported that the Supervisors along with the Shelby County Attorney, the Assessor and County Engineer are presently working on draft ordinances for windmills, solar farms and hazardous pipelines. The plan is to finalize drafts and bring to BOS for approval within next couple of months.

In other business, the Supervisors held a public hearing on a proposed Urban Renewal Plan amendment. Hearing no public comments, and having received no related correspondence, the hearing was closed and a motion was made to suspend further readings of the ordinance and approve the Resolution to ” Declare Necessity and Establish an Urban Renewal Area,” and “Approve [the] Urban Renewal Plan Amendment for the Shelby County Urban Renewal Area.” They adopted the Resolution later in the meeting.

The amendment covers the addition of the Property to the Urban Renewal Area, and authorizes the undertaking of a new urban renewal project in the Urban Renewal Area consisting of using tax increment financing to pay the costs of constructing county road, bridge and culvert improvements for the betterment of transportation infrastructure and the promotion of economic development.  There are multiple bridge and/or culvert projects included in the plan. Mark Maxwell says “It is expected that the completed Road, Bridge and Culvert Projects will cause increased and improved ability of the County to provide adequate transportation infrastructure for the growth and retention of commercial, industrial and agri-business enterprises in the Urban Renewal Area.”

Description of Properties to be Acquired in Connection with the Project: The County will acquire such easement territory and right-of-way as are necessary to successfully undertake the Road, Bridge and Culvert Projects. Description of Use of TIF: It is anticipated that the County will pay for the Road, Bridge and Culvert Projects with either borrowed funds and/or the proceeds of an internal advance of County funds on-hand. In any case, the County’s obligations will be repaid with incremental property tax revenues. It is anticipated that the County’s use of incremental property tax revenues for the Road, Bridge and Culvert Projects will not exceed $2,000,000 plus any interest as may accrue on any credit facilities entered into by the County to finance the Road, Bridge and Culvert Projects.  For further details, please contact the Shelby County Auditor’s Office.

Kaylee Langrell from Turnkey Logistics along with Christopher Hill, representing Summit Pipeline solutions addressed the Supervisors during Wednesday’s meeting. Langrel and Hill were questioned about the claim of $867,390 estimated property tax to be collected by Shelby County annually. They informed the Board and audience, that it was an estimate produced by others. Many questions were ask of Summit Reps on their tax estimates, construction protocol, project benefits to the County, as well as expected communication with our inspector prior to construction. The Board stated they would like to Summit to attend the Board meetings at least every 90 days.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says the state is getting closer to the end of the bird flu outbreak. There are just a few commercial poultry sites left to release from quarantine and then they can bring in new birds. He says that’s not the only step in recovery. “There’s the financial piece of this as well, which is a significant disrupter, and it’s a financial hardship for these producers. And so, in terms of financial recovery, that could take time,” Naig says. The process for lifting the quarantine involves cleaning and disinfecting the sites and then testing for the virus.

“It takes some time for these things to happen. And we anticipate that by the end of June, all of the quarantines will have been lifted,” Naig says. The U-S Ag Department pays producers for their bird losses and for cleaning and disinfecting their barns, but Naig says these payments don’t make producers whole. More than 13 million birds in Iowa have died from the disease or been killed to stop it from spreading. The state had its last case of bird flu in early May.

(Radio Iowa) – With Iowa’s Primary Election over, both major political parties shift to General Election mode, with a lot of attention on the race between Republican Kim Reynolds and Democrat Deidre DeJear for governor. Neither had opposition in the primary. Reynolds, who’s been governor for five years, has been describing her platform as push back against President Biden. “When you take a look at what’s happening in this country today, it’s just so sad and unbelievable in 16 or 17 months how this economy has changed and what we’re facing,” Reynolds says.

Reynolds says the tax cuts she signed into law and the E-15 expansion plan she approved last month put Iowa in a position to withstand high inflation. “We’ve got a good message, a good contrast to run against what’s happening at the federal level, the national level, with the Biden Administration,” Reynolds says. DeJear says her focus is on state policy, not a national agenda.

“When we look at the data, the numbers, the rankings, when we look at the challenges that Iowans are facing, there are some fundamental flaws in how Governor Reynolds is leading,” DeJear says, “and the decisions that she’s making.” DeJear will soon be announcing a decision of her own — as she chooses a lieutenant governor as a running mate. DeJear has been asking for advice from people she meets on the campaign trail as well as elected officials and her campaign team. She says her pick will bring balance.

“So that our ticket will be stronger and greater and that’s what I’m looking for right now,” DeJear says. “I don’t need a replica of me…I need someone who’s willing to do the work and I can’t wait to share with the entire state who that individual is going to be.”

DeJear says her decision will be announced the latter part of next week. In Iowa, candidates for governor choose a running mate and their nominee for lieutenant governor is voted upon at their party’s state convention. Democrats will hold their state convention on Saturday, July 18th. The Republican Party’s state convention is THIS Saturday.

(Radio Iowa) – The C-E-O of the Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain talked today (Wednesday) about gas prices during the quarterly conference call for investors. Darren Rebelez says it is constantly changing. “This is an extremely volatile environment right now. When I was in the military, we would call this a VUCA environment, which is an acronym for volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous,” Rebelez says. “I think all of those words describe what we’re experiencing in fuel right now.”

The company reported that the number of gallons of gas sold in the fourth quarter was up one-point-five percent and the margin was 36-point-two cents a gallon despite the volatility of the gas pricing. Rebelez was asked if we might see gas prices at or above six dollars a gallon. “You know, it’s really hard to put predict where we’re going to see those prices ultimately peak out. And I would say it’s very geography specific — we have a pretty wide range from the most expensive areas in our geography to the least expensive,” he says. 

He says their stores in the Greater Chicago suburbs have prices well north of five dollars a gallon, while at the other end of the spectrum there are some that are just slightly above four dollars a gallon. Triple-A Iowa reports the average cost of a gallon of gas here is four dollars, 68 cents a gallon. Rebelez says people are backing off on purchases in the areas where the gas price is the highest. “We are starting to see some erosion in volume in the low single digits. In the middle two quartiles, we’re kind of flatish to maybe slightly down. And then in the bottom quartile, we’re still seeing gallon growth,” according to Rebellez. He says overall customers haven’t cut back on their visits.

“The average fill up is down about a gallon versus where it was the same time last year. So people are purchasing just a little bit less fuel than they had historically per visit,” he says. “But they’ll end up having to make more visits to the store over time, which we believe gives us a better opportunity to get people inside the store to buy more stuff.” He says customers are also shifting over to higher blends of ethanol. “The ethanol economics are actually working out pretty favorably right now from a consumer perspective. So they’ll shift over to an E-15 type of product versus what most of the fuel is blended at E-ten,” Rebellez says.

Rebelez says six dollars a gallon is uncharted water for everybody and he imagines people might cut back on their purchases at that point. The overall financial report for the quarter showed the company generated a record 340 million dollars in net income and gross profits were up 14 percent.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – This week brings a slow return to normal where the Atlantic Middle School is concerned. The school sustained heavy interior smoke and water damage during a fire that began on the roof of the building July, 27, 2021. Middle School students were re-located to the Achievement Center and the High School this past school year.

In his report to the Atlantic School Board Wednesday evening, Superintendent Steve Barber said a moving company began packing up the contents of the classrooms in preparation for the move on Thursday (June 8th). Barber said instructions were provided to the teachers that boxes needed to include room numbers to ensure the material and equipment are placed in the appropriate room. Some of the custodial staff will be onsite to help the movers put the contents in the appropriate room.

Mr. Barber said also, this week the carpet at the Achievement Center will be shampooed and they will be moving out of the temporary locations (IWCC, Catholic Church, and Early Learning Center). Boxes that have been stored in the Middle School will be taken back to the rooms written on the boxes. He said “Each week Mr. Peck and I will talk about what part of moving back and dealing with furniture will be accomplished each week. This will help us by breaking up the task into smaller pieces, so that we can assure that we are ready for the new school year.

“Another task that needs to be done is to see if additional furniture is available for other buildings. The Principals started a furniture list and once we know what is available we will start completing this portion of the move. If we replace old furniture with some used Middle School furniture, that old furniture will be discarded. Once we have met these demands, we will take inventory of what is available and develop a recommendation for the Board to discard school property.”

The Superintendent mentioned also, given the school tragedy in Texas and other mass casualty incidents, he thinks it is important to review the Atlantic School District’s procedures and look at appropriate actions that can be taken to focus on school safety. One of those actions is adding another SRO (School Resource Officer), as an element of operational sharing, which was approved by the legislature this past session.

“Next Monday,” he sad, “I am meeting with both the Sheriff and Chief to see if it would be possible to add a SRO that
could serve as a positive role model for our district and be a law presence. I feel adding this position to our team of other at risk positions is just another resource we would have available to help serve our students. To make this happen, it will need to fit as a partnership with one of our local law enforcement agencies.” There are other measures the District has taken in the past, as well, including adding secure entrances and active shooter exercises, to name a few.

In other business, the Atlantic School Board approved the resignation of Taylor Williams, Middle School Cross County Coach.

ATLANTIC, Iowa – June 8, 2022 – A bridge replacement project on Pottawattamie County Road G-12 over Interstate 29 near Loveland requires closing I-29 to traffic to allow crews to remove the existing bridge beginning on Friday night, June 17 at 8 p.m., until Monday, June 20 at 6 a.m., weather permitting, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s District 4 Office in Atlantic.

Portable message signs will direct traffic onto a detour route using U.S. 30, U.S. 75, I-29, and I-680.

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey the posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles, and wear seat belts.

(Radio Iowa) – Joel Miller, Linn County’s top election official, has easily won the Iowa Democratic Party’s nomination to face Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate in the General Election. “I plan to continue to give voters reasons why they should fire incumbent Paul Pate and hire me,” Miller says. “…The reasons are the negligence and incompetence and the things that he has done as secretary of state.”

Miller cites the failure of Pate’s office to file required paperwork, which delaying voter review of two proposed constitutional amendments and Miller says Pate should have stood with county auditors from both parties who opposed changes in Iowa’s absentee balloting process. Miller supports a return to 40 days of early voting — twice as long as allowed under the law passed by the Republican-led legislature.

Miller was involved in a high-profile stand-off with Pate in 2020. Miller’s office sent absentee ballot request forms to every eligible Linn County voters, with the voter’s name and other information filled out on the forms. Pate said the forms should have been blank and Republicans successfully sued, invalidating 50-thousand absentee ballot requests.

Pate, the former mayor of Cedar Rapids, is seeking a fourth term as secretary of state. Miller is the former mayor of Robins, which is also in Linn County.

(UPDATED 3:46-p.m.) The Cass and Montgomery County Board of Supervisors will hold separate special meetings Thursday. Both have to deal with Administrative Recounts of Tuesday’s Primary Election votes. The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office reported issues with the Unisyn voting equipment. Those issues included multiple instances of paper jams when voters inserted their ballots into the tabulator.

Montgomery County Auditor Stephanie Burke told KJAN News the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors will discuss ordering an Administrative Recount and possible action, when their meeting convenes at 8:15-a.m. in the Courthouse Boardroom in Red Oak. Burke said in her county, there were four precincts that were off by one vote, and one precinct that was off by three votes.

The Administrative recount is separate from the canvass of votes that will take place next week. Burke said several counties have experienced the same issue with their tabulation machines, including Cass.

In Cass County, the Board will gather in their courthouse Boardroom in Atlantic, at 3-pm. for the Administrative Recount.