(Atlantic, Iowa) – The Atlantic City Council breezed through most of their agenda during the first half of their meeting, this (Wednesday) evening at City Hall. The Council passed a Resolution “Designating distribution of Sales Tax Revenue to various funds for specific purposes,” followed by a Resolution Adjusting the Budgeted amounts in the LOST Progress Fund for FY 2024. (For more info. on this and other matters, see our April 30th Council Preview).

The Council also passed a Resolution “Approving the Updated Cass County Public Safety Commission Articles of Agreement.” City Administrator John Lund explained it is a “Governing document, a 28-E (cost sharing agreement)” between the City and County. The City has a representative on the Board that oversees the Communications Center, and “We are on the hook for a certain amount of that funding, and so is the County. The Board itself can’t just make any changes to their Articles of Agreement, without having both bodies accept it as well.”

The latest changes to the agreement makes it clear that this is not a County Law Enforcement consolidation, and that “The 911 Services Coordinator” will prepare the budget, due to some minor restructuring within the Communications Center. In other business, the Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, passed on the Second Reading, an Ordinance amending the provisions pertaining to the Sewer Service Charges. The first reading passed April 19, 2023. The current charges for the wastewater utility in Atlantic have not changed in nearly 10-years, according to John Lund, and “to  ensure the stability of the Wastewater Utility Fund, the City needs to adjust the rates, as population loss has reduced overall customers, and inflation has made sustaining the plant’s labor and equipment needs unsustainable in the 10-year horizon, without a rate adjustment.

If the amended Ordinance passes on the third and final reading, the new, scheduled rate changes will be phased-in over a period of two-years, beginning with July 1, 2024 and again on July 1, 2025. The Council held the first reading of an amendment to downtown “Special Parking permits.” That Ordinance, if approved after three readings, would change allowed parking hours reduced by two-hours, to 7-p.m., in order to reflect current business hours. It also deletes a subsection of the Ordinance referring to parking downtown being prohibited on the first Wednesday of the month from 5-p.m. until the next day at 8-a.m., for the purpose of street sweeping. Since the City does not have a street sweeping schedule, the Ordinance becomes a moot point.

Atlantic City Council meeting, 5-3-2023

The Council’s final order of regular business was setting the date for a Public Hearing on Amending the FY2023 Budget, as their next meeting on May 17, 2023. In his report to the Council, John Lund said recruitment of Lifeguards at the Sunnyside Pool, “Is going okay,” but “We’re not hitting the target for where we want to be at for staffing, and the clock is ticking toward Memorial Day (and the opening of the pool).”

He mentioned the Nishna Valley YMCA is doing a $1,000 sign-on bonus for their Lifeguards. After speaking with YMCA Director Dan Haynes, they agreed the City should pursue its own incentives to attract Lifeguards. He said if the Council has no objection (which they didn’t), he will take last year’s Resolution and bring it back with an increase of a $500 as a sign-on bonus, making it $1,000. “We need to make sure we have a full staff this Summer,” he said. The bonus would be divided-up, with the first $500 to be paid after the first 80-hours are worked, with the second $500 paid at the end of the season.The matter will be place on the Council’s agenda for approval during their next scheduled meeting.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa legislature has approved bill that sets up a state licensing process for midwives. Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton has led development of a midwife licensing bill. “It’s been 11 years,” Kaufmann says. “We’re getting it done this year.” Lawmakers say only a dozen certified professional midwives are practicing in Iowa today. Others left the state since without a license, they can’t order an ultrasound or lab work or prescribe medication while assisting in a birth. Senator Pam Jochum, a Democrat Dubuque, says at the same time, the number of home births is increasing in Iowa and midwives are assisting.

“I believe it is time to pull them out of the shadows,” Jochum says, “license them so that we know what is going on and to make sure that everything is going good.” Senator Scott Webster, a Republican from Bettendorf, says Iowa is only of only 14 states that don’t currently license midwives. “This is going to bring Iowa into a sitution where we don’t have people in the shadows,” Webster says. “We’re bringing them to the front door, letting them get licensed.”

Iowa’s maternal mortality rate in Iowa has nearly doubled in the past 20 years and supporters of the licensing plan say midwives can play a critical role in maternity care. The bill passed the House over a month ago. The Senate voted to make a few changes in the bill today (Wednesday) and the House has given it final approval. The 2023 legislative session appears to be winding down and may conclude this week.

[Council Bluffs, Iowa] – Pottawattamie County Emergency Management Director Doug Reed reports Conservation and Emergency Management officials would like the public to be aware of a series of controlled land management burns being conducted in Council Bluffs over the next couple of days. Today (Wednesday), controlled burns will be conducted at the Narrows River Park, and near St. Patrick Catholic Church and College View Elementary on Valley View Drive.

Tomorrow (Thursday), burns are planned for the Vincent Bluff area on Thallas St. and near the Broadway Viaduct.

Controlled burning, also known as prescribed fire, is a highly effective and significant tool for many purposes. In this instance, fire will be used to remove built up combustible fuels to reduce risk in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). “The WUI is the zone of transition where unoccupied land and human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels,” said Chad Graeve, a Natural Resource Specialist with the Pottawattamie County Conservation Department. Additionally, these series of burns will be conducted to invigorate the land by promoting new growth and strengthening the habitat and overall ecosystem in those areas.

Environmental and weather conditions are optimal to conduct these controlled burns and there is very minimal risk to the public around these burns. Burns are being conducted by trained and experienced professionals with operational and contingency plans in place.

The public is asked not to approach the immediate areas where active fire is being conducted. Smoke will be visible in the various areas in and around the city during and after the burns have been conducted.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports 41-year-old Damian Govig, of Glenwood, was arrested Tuesday, on an out of county warrant. He was being held in the Mills County Jail without bond.

(Radio Iowa/UPDATE) – The Iowa Democratic Party is proposing that its 2024 Caucuses be held on the same night as the Iowa G-O-P’s Caucuses. The Iowa Democratic Party’s plan calls for using a mail-in system to determine which presidential candidate gets the most backing from Iowa Democrats. The proposal does not indicate when the results would be announced, though. It could be a way for Iowa Democrats to avoid sanctions from the Democratic National Committee for holding Caucuses on the same night as Iowa Republicans. Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Rita Hart.

“We know that this draft delegate selection plan will raise a few questions,” Hart says, “but it’s designed to respond to this calendar chaos.” In early February, national Democratic Party leaders decided five other states would go first in voting for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination and the dates for two of those early state contests are still not set. Meanwhile, Republicans in the Iowa legislature have a bill that would require in-person participation in both parties’ Caucuses. Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, says New Hampshire may schedule its presidential primary before Iowa’s Caucuses if the Caucuses aren’t conducted in person.

“If we don’t do Caucuses the way Caucuses are actually defined, which is a collection of people coming together and deciding a candidate, they will move ahead of us as the first primary according to their own law,” Schultz says. The bill was approved by the Iowa House this week and is likely to be debated in the Iowa Senate Thursday. Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, says the First Amendment guarantees political parties the right to hold meetings and determine their own rules. “That’s what we’re doing when we have a Caucus,” Quirmbach says. “We bring our people together. We form a platform, at least our Democratic Party forms a platform, and we set a course for making changes in government.”

Former Iowa Democratic Party chairman Scott Brennan, of Des Moines — a member of the Democratic National Committee — suggests litigation is likely if the bill becomes law. “As a practicing lawyer, I would tell you that it raises serious constitutional issues that likely are going to have to be decided by a court,” Brennan says. Rita Hart, the Iowa Democratic Party’s chairwoman, says she wasn’t consulted about the bill and doesn’t know how it might impact the Caucus plan the party released today (Wednesday). “It’s curious to me that the Republicans are weighing in on a party process like this,” Hart says.

Iowa Democrats have held call-in and virtual Caucus gatherings in the past. They are proposing a mail-in system for 2024 as a way to address complaints that the Caucuses are inaccessible to workers who can’t get time off and others who cannot attend on Caucus night.

(Harrison County, Iowa) – Authorities in western Iowa are on the lookout for the suspect in a bank robbery that took place in Mondamin. Scanner traffic said an unknown male wearing a mask robbed a bank at around 9:27-a.m., and fled in a vehicle, traveling in an unknown direction.

Additional details are currently not availble.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors, today, Wednesday, set May 23rd at 9:15-a.m., as the date and time for a Public Hearing on a FY 2023 Budget Amendment. Adair County Auditor Mandy Berg explained what changes are being made to the Budget.

The amendments are the following departmental budgets: Sheriff; Recorder; General Services; Safety; Medical Examiner; Juvenile Detention; Home Care/COVID; DHS, and others.

In other business, the Adair County Supervisors acknowledge receipt of a Manure Management Plan Update, and DNR Waste Disposal letter. The also heard a report from County Engineer Nick Kauffman, who presented a final pay voucher with regard to a HMA (Hot Melt Asphalt) Project on Adair County Road G-61. Board Chair Jerry Walker signed the voucher authorizing a final amount of $87,902.95. Kauffman pointed out some of the work on the road was being done in Cass County, in accordance with an agreement between the Counties.

The Cass County Supervisors he said are expected to sign-off on their part of the project payment, next week. Kauffman also updated the Board on Secondary Roads Department Maintenance and Activities, including a Gus Construction box culvert project.

The Board wrapped-up their meeting in slightly less than 15-minutes.

(Radio Iowa) – Some activists are calling for Cedar Falls Mayor Rob Green to resign after he initially refused to sign a proclamation declaring June as L-G-B-T-Q Pride Month in the northeast Iowa college town. Green says such a proclamation goes against his beliefs. “There’s 40-thousand people in this town,” Green says. “There are at least hundreds of people who don’t understand — and I’m one of those.”

The mayor has never written in support or opposition to a city proclamation, but in a memo, he said he opposes same-sex marriage and therefore wouldn’t support the proclamation. Cedar Falls School Board member Nate Gruber was in the chamber during the discussion and says hearing the mayor’s opposition was “a slap in the face.” “I just really saw his refusal to sign or participate in the proclamation as really sending a message of exclusionment and intolerance,” Gruber says, “and not really the kind of leadership the Cedar Falls community needed.”

After 90 minutes of public comments and multiple emails, Green reversed course on his decision to sign the proclamation. He says his beliefs haven’t changed, but he did regret the memo. “I’d say to Cedar Falls residents, we don’t have to agree to support. We don’t have to agree to care. We don’t have to agree in order to love each other and to try and understand each other. So with that, I will sign the proclamation.”

Green said as a straight male, he learned he doesn’t see the same hostility or repression the L-G-B-T-Q community experiences. The mayor says he will not seek reelection.

(by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)

(Des Moines, Iowa) – State Treasurer Roby Smith is celebrating 529 Day with College Savings Iowa account giveaways throughout May. “I encourage all Iowa families to sign up for our five giveaways this month,” said Smith. “Each winner will receive a $529 contribution to a new or existing College Savings Iowa account. Now that’s an education savings boost!” The first giveaway opens May 1 and a new giveaway starts each Thursday in May. Giveaways end May 31. To register, visit Iowa529Contest.com.

As a nationwide celebration, 529 Day raises awareness about the value of using a 529 plan, such as College Savings Iowa, to save for future education expenses. “It’s no secret the cost of post-secondary education is rising,” Smith said. “By saving as early as you can, you are able to help reduce the amount your children have to borrow to chase their dreams. Every contribution makes an impact.”

College Savings Iowa allows anyone to save for education on behalf of a future scholar. Qualified withdrawals from an account can be used to pay for tuition, room and board, books and supplies at any eligible education institution in the U.S. and abroad. More than $5 billion has been invested in the Plan by current savers.

State Treasurer of Iowa, Roby Smith

There are also tax advantages for those saving with College Savings Iowa. Account assets grow deferred from federal and state income taxes, and Participants will not pay federal or state taxes on qualified withdrawals. Iowa taxpayers receive added tax benefits, including an annual state income tax deduction. In 2023, up to $3,785 per beneficiary account can be deducted.

To learn more about the Plan, visit CollegeSavingsIowa.com or call (888) 672-9116. Connect with College Savings Iowa on Facebook and Twitter to stay informed on current events and updates. For additional details about the Plan, read the Program Description.

(Lewis, Iowa) – The Cass County Conservation Board asks, “Have you ever wondered how the pioneers made their own rope or dipped their own candles?” Maybe you have even thought about trying your hand at spinning wool. If so, they invited you to the Hitchcock Pioneer Skills Festival this weekend. The Festival will be held on Saturday, May 6th at the Hitchcock House, which is located 6 miles south of Atlantic and 1.5 miles west of Lewis, IA. The festivities will begin at 1:00 p.m. and end at 4:00 p.m. You will have an opportunity to visit the historic Hitchcock House and see many of the skills and crafts that people of the late 1800’s used in daily living.

You could begin your visit with a tour of the Hitchcock House that is also a National Historic Landmark. This two-story home was built in 1856. It features thick sandstone walls, window seats, native hard wood trim and a secret room that hid the freedom seekers. The secret room is located in the basement where there is also a stone fireplace where the freedom seekers could cook food and keep warm. It is said that the famous John Brown preached around this fireplace.

Hitchcock House. (photo from Hitchcock House Facebook page.)

Head to the barn, where the hub of the festival activities will take place. Once you make it to the barn you will be able to observe the skills and crafts of the past and even try your hand at a few of them. There will be rope making, candle dipping, tin punching, and woodcarvings.

The festival will be held rain or shine. Families are encouraged to come and share the day together as they might have in the 1800’s. There is a $5 fee/adult for a tour of the Hitchcock House. All activities in the barn are free of charge; donations to the Hitchcock House will be accepted.