The City Council in Audubon held a regularly scheduled meeting Monday evening. During the session, the Council passed a resolution setting August 13th at 7-p.m., as the date and time for a Public Hearing to consider the sale of property at 118 East Division Street. They also approved the first consideration of an Ordinance setting sewer rates.

Audubon City Clerk Lora Hansen told KJAN News if approved on the third and final consideration, the minimum rate for the sewer charge would be $32.52 for the first zero-to 5,000 gallons of water usage, and $9.29 for each additional 1,000 gallons over 5,000. The rates would apply to both residential and commercial users.

Hansen said also, that the Council discussed a potential ban on excess use of water. She said the City will put a notice in the local paper, stating residents of Audubon “Need to conserve” water. She says they will be asked to “Be careful about how you’re using water. Try not to wash your car, try not to water your lawn.” Hansen says there is no “Official ban,” on how residents use their water supply, but “It may be coming,” especially in light of the lower water tables in the City’s wells, due to this Summer’s drought.

The bottom line, according to Hansen, is “To conserve as much as possible.”

w/ Ric Hanson

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The Adair County Board of Supervisors will hold their regular weekly this (Tuesday) morning, in Greenfield. During the meeting (Which is normally held Wednesday morning’s), the Board will discuss and possibly act on: a Sheriff’s Step Increase; a premium-only plan adoption agreement and Certificate of Resolution; and, an Emergency Preparedness Grant contract for Fiscal Year 2013. The Supervisors will also hear an annual report from the VA Administrator. The meeting begins at 9-a.m.

The Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) is conducting a statewide housing survey that includes several public hearings, one of which will be held in Atlantic. I-F-A spokesperson, Ashley Jared, says they’ve hired R-D-G Planning & Design firm to help gather as much information as they can on the housing situation statewide.
“Both the current housing stock as well as future needs for Iowans’ housing needs. This will include a lot of different elements, one of those is hearing from the public. A lot of different communities throughout Iowa have really different housing needs, anything from workforce housing to acquisition rehab improvement needs,” Jared says. 

Another part of the plan includes “expert roundtables.” Jared says R-D-G will meet with housing experts and organizations throughout the state to get their opinions on how things can be improved. “And then the last element is the use of data. R-D-G is compiling a lot of data on the current housing situation in Iowa that will be used in conjunction from what we hear from the public,” according to Jared. The I-F-A hopes to gain a better understanding of the things it does through the survey. “The Iowa Finance Authority is really going to take all of the information and help us in our strategic planning. So, if there are things that we can do differently in our current programs or if we can form new programs to best help Iowans housing needs, we will go ahead and take a look at that,” she says.

Jared says you can help by giving your input at the public meetings. “Really we are just hoping that they will be completely honest with us and tell us not only what is happening now in their communities — what needs to be addressed or what they have too much of or need more of — but also in the future, so looking ahead,” Jared says. The survey results should be completed and ready by this fall. The first public meeting on the issue was Monday.. Other meetings will be held in August at yet be determined locations in Mason City, Waterloo, Burlington, Ottumwa, Tama and Atlantic. For more information, go to:www.RDGUSA.com/IowaHousing.

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County say a Red Oak teen was arrested Monday afternoon on a burglary charge. 17-year old Eric Michael Chapin was taken into custody at around 3:25-p.m., on a Montgomery County warrant for Burglary in the 3rd Degree. Chapin was being held in the jail on $5,000 bond.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

COUNTIES: SAC-CALHOUN-WEBSTER-HAMILTON-HARDIN-GRUNDY-BLACK HAWK-CRAWFORD-CARROLL-GREENE-BOONE-STORY-MARSHALL-TAMA-AUDUBON-GUTHRIE-DALLAS-POLK-JASPER-POWESHIEK-CASS-ADAIR-MADISON-WARREN-MARION-MAHASKA-ADAMS-UNION-CLARKE-LUCAS-MONROE-WAPELLO-TAYLOR-RINGGOLD-DECATUR-WAYNE-APPANOOSE-DAVIS-

531 PM CDT MON JUL 23 2012

…WILD FIRE DANGER INCREASING ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA…

THE COMBINATION OF VERY DRY CONDITIONS…AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES FROM 95 TO 105 DEGREES…HUMIDITY FROM 20 TO 40 PERCENT AND A SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 10 TO 20 MPH HAVE COMBINED TO PRODUCE CONDITIONS FAVORABLE FOR WILD FIRES ACROSS MUCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA. THE SITUATION IS MOST DANGEROUS IN GRASSY AREAS AND RANGELAND. THE HOT AND DRY WEATHER PATTERN WILL REMAIN OVER THE AREA THROUGH MIDWEEK. DURING THIS TIME…REFRAIN FROM OUTDOOR BURNING AND BE VERY CAREFUL WITH SMOKING MATERIALS. SEVERAL COUNTIES HAVE BURN BANS IN EFFECT. PLEASE CHECK IN YOUR COUNTY BEFORE BURNING.

ANY OPEN FIRE COULD SPREAD EASILY. A COOL FRONT MOVING THROUGH THE UPPER MIDWEST WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY WILL PROVIDE THUNDERSTORM CHANCES AND COOLER TEMPERATURES SHOULD SHOULD DIMINISH THE FIRE THREAT.

A deer at a hunting preserve in south-central Iowa’s Davis County has tested positive for chronic wasting disease (CWD). The disease is fatal to deer and Iowa Department of Natural Resources spokesman, Kevin Baskins, says that’s why it’s important to keep on top of the situation. “Well there’s always a concern about the spread of it, but the good news is that this particular animal was contained. It’s not like it was just a deer that was just roaming wildly and had a lot of exposure to other wild deer,” according to Baskins. “I think at this point we’re just going to have to look at this particular facility and what can be done there to contain it as much as possible.”

It’s not know how long the deer had been at the facility and where it came from.  “No, I think that’s what we are going to be talking to the owner about, trying to trace back the history of this particular animal,” Baskins says. C-W-D can also be found in elk and deer and involves a protein in the brains of the animals, leading to symptoms that include weight loss and abnormal behavior. Baskins says tests are conducted on thousands of captive animals each year. “This particular facility, there’s been a hundred and 17 deer in the last five years tested – including 43 in the last year — and this was the first positive detection that we have had of Chronic Wasting Disease in that particular herd,” according to Baskins.

The state began taking samples from hunters in 2000 to test the wild population of deer after the disease was confirmed in surrounding states. The state tested just over 43-hundred deer during last year’s hunting seasons. “Nothing has turned up at all so far, but I think what you’ll also see too is that we’ll be increasing the number of deer tested in that immediate area to make sure that it didn’t get into the wild population,” Baskins says. while the disease is deadly to deer, the D-N-R says there is no evidence that C-W-D can spread to humans, pets or domestic livestock such as pork, beef, dairy, poultry, sheep or goats.

(Radio Iowa)