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The Adair County Public Safety Center and Jail in Greenfield is slated to open in about two-weeks. Sheriff Brad Newton says to celebrate the long-awaited event, they’re holding an open house for the public on Saturday, beginning at 1-p.m. The only thing holding back the Sheriff’s Office and Greenfield Police force from moving in right now, according to Newton, is the installation of new E-9-1-1 Communications equipment. He says Adair County is one of seven counties in the area that’s set to receive new E-9-1-1 equipment. Newton said if they were to move the existing communications equipment into the new facility, it would cost about $10,000. But if they wait, the new equipment is included in the contract price of the facility. Voters in Adair County approved a 3-million dollar bond referendum for the combination jail/Public Safety Center, in May, 2010. The facility is in a lot adjacent to the current, 110-year old jail. The new facility will serve as the jail, house the offices of the Greenfield Police and Sheriff’s Departments, dispatch, evidence room, and a file room. Officers with the Greenfield P.D. will be in an open area, called the “Squad Room,” with Sheriff’s deputies.  The Sheriff says persons who attend the open house on Saturday, from 1-to 3-pm, will be impressed by what their tax dollars have purchased.

He says it’s a modern facility, built to serve the needs of the County for years to come. Newton says it doesn’t have any extravagant features, but is much more secure than the old facility, from which at least three escapes have occurred over the past few years. He said they held the costs down as much as possible, and are currently under budget. Bids for the project came in at around $2.8-million dollars. The 3-million dollar bond covers other, non-construction related costs. Newton says they have enough in reserve to tear down the old jail, a plan that wasn’t included in the original project. He says the land on which the 110-year old jail sits, will be used in-part, for parking.

Escapes from the old jail often took place in an outdoor exercise area for inmates. Sheriff Newton says that won’t happen with the new jail. That’s because it’s totally indoors. No one can see in, and no one can see out. Newton said the old exercise area “Has been a pain in our side since it was built.”

w/ Ric Hanson

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Atlantic City Administrator Doug Harris says the City isn’t receiving its fair share of funds from the County for the Public Library. Harris said he’s been looking at how services the City pays for are used by Cass County residents and vice-versa. He says looking at the circulation numbers at the library, and the population numbers in comparing what Atlantic gets from the County in support of the library, as compare to the other cities in the County, the “Fair Share” from the rural customers would be almost $72,000. Harris says since the residents of Atlantic contribute to 30% of the County tax bill, the County would have to contribute almost $103,000 for the rural customers to pay their $72,000. The City receives just $13,000 from the County. He says looking at other cities in the County, based on circulation at their libraries, the County funds an average of $4.42 per capita, whereas in Atlantic, the County is only funding 73-cents.

Harris says if the county funded the City of Atlantic at $4.42, then the County would be contributing $78,526 to the City. Based on population, he says, the County has been funding at $15.57 per capita, but the City only gets $1.83. If Atlantic were to be funded on a per capita basis, that would amount to $110,703.  Doug Harris says it appears the County is funding what would be our fair share for the other cities in the County, but the Atlantic Public Library is being “Underfunded.” Harris says he’s not sure how that happened, or why, but the City provides a lot of services to rural residents, such as a subsidy for the Nishna Valley YMCA, which the County residents can use at the same price as City residents. Harris says “We’re getting to the point where the City residents really can’t shoulder all that burden. The costs need to be more fairly allocated between County and City residents.”

He says the issue will have to be discussed between the City Council and the County Commissioners and/or Board of Supervisors. Harris said the Supervisors may not even be aware of the disparity.

The Audubon County Sheriff’s Department says an Exira man was arrested late Wednesday morning. 19-year old Dilan Seth Olesen was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant out of Audubon County, and charged with Revocation of his Probation. Olesen posted a $5,000 bond that same day, and was released from the jail. Olesen had been sentenced to one-year of probation in July, 2011, after entering a written plea of guilty to a charge of OWI/2nd offense.

The City Council in Walnut will hold its first meeting of the year this evening. On their agenda, are two requests for possible business incentives, and discussion with regard to: Solid Waste Disposal; The Fire Department (including a review of the Fire and Ambulance Dept. budgets); the City’s Housing Rehabilitation Program; and, a recommendation for the replacement of a person on the Zoning Commission. The Walnut City Council will also hold a review of the State Audit Report,  hold discussion about the budget and a review of the Library budget, and act on other, annual administrative matters. The meeting begins at 5-p.m.

Food banks are already dealing with a rise in demand and a drop in donations but troubles are compounded for the Food Bank for the Heartland. The non-profit group, serving western Iowa and eastern Nebraska, was targeted by thieves. Spokesman Brian Barks says they recently moved to a new building in Omaha and discovered vandals ripping into the air conditioning and heat units at the old building. Barks says, “It was during the inspection, prior to the closing of the building, that it was discovered that all of the copper had been ripped out of a number of the units on the roof of the building.” Repairing the damage may cost 90-thousand dollars. Barks says they are hoping insurance will pay for the damage but have a back-up plan in place.

Barks says, “That money would be going into our endowment fund but if we do have to pay it out of pocket, that money will be going to pay for new units.” No arrests have been made. The Food Bank for the Heartland serves 93 counties in Nebraska and Iowa, distributing nine-million pounds of food a year though more than 300 food pantries, emergency shelters, after-school programs, senior housing sites and rehabilitation centers. Learn more about the charity at: “www.omahafoodbank.org”.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

Iowa Congressman Tom Latham today (Wednesday) commended the U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to award Iowa an emergency relief grant of more than $37.4-million to repair roads damaged by historic flooding in 2011 along the Missouri River. Latham, Chairman of the U.S. House Transportation/HUD Appropriations Subcommittee, announced the grant after Iowa officials filed a request for the emergency relief earlier in 2011.  

Latham said throughout the summer he saw firsthand the flood damage in western and southwestern Iowa and spoke with the Iowans whose lives were disrupted by the disaster. He says “The flood dealt serious damage to the transportation infrastructure that is critical to the flow of commerce in western Iowa.  This emergency relief funding is absolutely necessary to help repair and rebuild these roads and highways and restore certainty to Iowa’s local economies.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Michele Bachmann is quitting the Republican presidential campaign, saying she’s “decided to stand aside” in the wake of her sixth place finish in the Iowa precinct caucuses. Speaking deliberatively at a news conference in Des Moines, Bachmann said she had “no regrets” whatsoever and said she ran her race with integrity and will continue to fight for the causes she emphasized on the campaign trail.