The Harlan City Council, Tuesday, welcomed a group of Shelby County citizens to discuss the Shelby County DevelopSource and Chamber merger along with the Hotel/Motel tax. During the Council’s regular session, Citizens for Betterment of Shelby County, led by business owners Ruth Ann Grimsley, Teresa Coenen and Judy Schroeder presented the council with a petition signed by current chamber members, non-members and other business owners supporting the merger. Schroeder read the letter to the board, which included comments about the merger.

The letter said the group applauds efforts to combine DevelopSource and Chamber. It said while the two organizations have different short term goals, the long term goal is to grow the county’s economy, and to that end, a pooling of resources and ideas, they said, would result in many positive outcomes on projects that are undertaken. Marty Burchett, another Shelby County business owner and current Chamber board member issued a rebuttal to the council. She said he didn’t think it’s a decision that should be rushed into. Burchett said that’s because DevelopSource has a new person and there are new board members that are not up to speed on the topic. Another reason he said was that “Some of the people that are pushing for this thought it was okay to split it up 10 years ago.”

Shelby County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Dawn Cundiff reported that the Hotel/Motel Tax was being used for projects such as signage, vision Iowa and brochures. She also said the tourism committee has been working hard. The discussion then drifted from the merger and hotel/motel tax to discussion about Chamber ambassador visits, dues from members and other topics.  At a previous City Council meeting, it was suggested an audit should be completed on the Hotel/Motel tax. Since that time, an audit has been done and will be reported to the council at the next meeting on Tuesday, November 20^th.

(Joel McCall/KNOD)

Elsewhere in area election results, Cheryl R. Christensen was selected as the Clerk for the Union Township in Cass County. She received 80 votes to challenger Bill Gerlock’ 31. There were mixed results in the County for four Public Measures. Voters in the Benton and Victoria Townships agreed the Cass County Board of Supervisors should appoint township Trustees and Clerks when the incumbents’ terms expire, while Edna and Union Township voters said they wanted those positions to remain on the ballot. Chase Wheatley, Curt Behrends and Clarke Gerlock were nominated to the Soil and Water Conservation Board, and, Atlantic Parks and Rec Department Director Roger Herring had an overwhelming win over Michael J. Collins, to take the Trustee’s position on the County Public Hospital Board, in the Northwest District.

In Montgomery County, Karen Klock, Michael J. Olson, Carroll Freeman, Timothy Kammerer and Bill Drey were elected to serve on the Agricultural Extension Council. In Guthrie County, Bret Hodges, Karen Kennedy, Carol Cain and Barbara Gigar were elected to serve on the County Agricultural Council. Pamela Chance defeated two other challengers for a vacant seat on the Jamaica City Council, and Michael Moore beat Steve Baker for a vacant seat on the Panora City Council.

You can view other results on the Iowa Secretary of State’s website on a County-by-County basis, at sos.iowa.gov.