Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon has announced that cooling centers have been set up in a few areas of the county to help those who may need to escape the oppressive heat today and Friday.  In Atlantic, the YMCA will be available both days to those non-members who go to the front desk and let the staff know you are there to beat the heat.  In Anita, the Health and Wellness Center will be available until 8:00 pm Thursday and until 6:0 pm Friday.  Also, the Griswold Library will be available Thursday evening until 6:30 pm and Friday until 5:00 pm.  Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 0’s both days with heat index readings well over 100 degrees.

A facility in Atlantic which provides licensed daycare service to as many as 75 children, is celebrating the first anniversary of its opening this week. The Ann W. Wickman Child Development Center opened on June 28^th, 2010. The facility employs 22 staffers, in addition to Executive Director Dianna Williams.

Williams says the Wickman Center averages between 48 and 65 kids per day. 27 of those students receive assistance from the Department of Human Services (DHS). The Center is licensed to hold 75. 138 children are enrolled at the facility. Six months ago, there were 90 children enrolled, and 19 staffers employed at the facility, which run by the Nishna Valley Family YMCA. Food for the center is made possible through an arrangement with Hy-Vee.

The Wickman Child Development Center recently received certification as a Natural Learning Environment Playground from Nature Resources, and a Community Impact Award from the YMCA.

Southwest Iowa Family Services (SWIFS) President Hal Gronewold says the first year’s results for the facility exceeded expectations. He attributes its success was attributed to the fact it is a state-of-the-art facility, and to the leadership provided by Williams and her staff, along with the expertise of the YMCA…the nation’s largest childcare provider.

Gronewold says also, their fundraising campaign had been completed for the facility. More than $1.15-million in grants and donations have been raised, covering over 70-percent of the construction costs. The remainder of the costs are covered by long-term mortgages from USDA Rural Development and First Whitney Bank and Trust.

ONAWA, Iowa – Lewis and Clark State Park, near Onawa, will be opened for day use only beginning at 8 a.m., July 1.  The campground, however, will remain closed.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will also re-open Blue Lake, the oxbow lake within the park, to boating under a no-wake restriction. The only open restroom facility will be the pit latrine near the boat ramp.

Kevin Szcodronski, chief of State Parks for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says “We intend to keep Lewis and Clark open for day use until the Missouri River forces us to close it again.  What we ask from the park visitors is to respect the flood protection measures we have in place.  We will not be opening any of the flush toilets or showers, or turning on the electricity.”
Park hours will be from 4:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. daily.  Lewis and Clark State Park joins Lake Manawa as the second state park operating as day use only while under the threat of flooding from the Missouri River.
“We will have a dock in for boaters to use, but the restriction is that boaters must operate at no-wake speed,” Szcodronski said.

PERCIVAL, Iowa (AP) – Authorities are reporting that a Missouri River levee has failed near Percival in southwest Iowa. The National Weather Service says the breach occurred Thursday morning a mile northwest of Percival in Fremont County.

Local emergency officials told the weather service that the breach is expected to flood only previously evacuated areas between Interstate 29 and the river. Percival sits just east of the interstate.

National Weather Service forecaster Josh Boustead says the breach was discovered after the river level downstream at Nebraska City dropped about 6 inches this morning to 27.6 feet. The breach occurred shortly before 4 a.m. Boustead says the breach was roughly 100-to-150-feet-wide Thursday morning.

Percival is about 16 miles northwest of Hamburg, which had to build a secondary levee earlier this month after earlier breaches.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors have adopted a resolution relating to the financing of proposed water and sewer projects to be undertaken by the County. The action came during their meeting this (Thursday) morning, in Atlantic. Auditor Dale Sunderman said the resolution was drafted and approved by bonding attorney Bob Josten.

He says in order for the county to maintain its tax exempt status and be able to repay some of the upfront financing costs associated with the mobilization of the project before the General Obligation bonds are issued and the cash is in-hand, the Resolution maintains the county can repay the fund monies are borrowed from.

The maximum amount of bonds the county can issue for the water and sewer improvement project northwest of Atlantic is $560,000, but the actual amount has not yet been determined, and may be as much as $30,000 less.

To date, no County funds have been allocated on a long-term basis or otherwise set aside to provide permanent financing for expenditures associated with the project, which would connect the City of Atlantic’s water and sewer system to a 50-acre area owned by CADCO (The Cass-Atlantic Development Corporation), near where the defunct Amaizing Energy ethanol plant was to have been located.

In other business, the Cass County Supervisors voted to re-appoint Terry Rutherford, of Atlantic, to the Cass County Commission of Veterans Affairs for a term of three-years, based on a recommendation by the Commission and the fact Rutherford has served on the Commission for several years.

The Cass County Board of Supervisor’s today (Thursday) approved a wage adjustment for one county department assistant and denied raises to two others. The board approved a request proposed in December by County Attorney Dan Feistner, for Assistant Stacey Platt. Platt has been with his office for nearly three-years.

Monies for her wage increase will come from the Delinquent Fines and Fees account, and will not affect his budget or what the tax payers contribute to her salary. Her pay will increase $260 per pay period.

The board denied a request by General Assistance/Mental Health Coordinator Teresa Kanning, for wage adjustments to the salaries of her assistants Debbie Schuler and Vicki Adams. If approved, Schuler’s pay would have increased $102 per pay period, while Adams’ would have increased slightly more than $196 per pay period.

Supervisor Chuck Kinen said he was opposed to the wage adjustment because the board had already approved a two-percent across the board increase earlier in the year, and because the board had agreed not to provide middle of the year increases in salaries.

Kanning told Kinen the issue was discussed during a budget work session, and she was instructed to present her proposal at the beginning of the Fiscal year. Kinen said the increases are “completely out of line.” Kanning said the increase would have brought her staff up to the same rate of pay as others who perform similar tasks in the courthouse are receiving.

Kanning said she has approached the board many times over the past few years asking for an increase in her assistant’s pay, especially for Schuler, who was required to have, and does hold, a college degree. Schuler has worked for Kanning for the past seven-years.

Kinen said people should be more concerned about having a job than how much they are going to make, to which Kanning replied neither of her assistants were aware she was making the request on their behalf. Because a motion to approved the wage increase for Adams died for lack of a second, Kanning left the Board room. The supervisors then failed to approve an increase for Schuler when there was no second to the motion.

Supervisor Mark Wedemeyer said the board should make note of the pay requests and have them equalized by January 1^st. Kinen said later, it doesn’t make sense for the assistants to be paid more than their director, in any department.