The Iowa Department of Transportation’s Creston construction office reports a bridge replacement project on Iowa 92 1 mile west of Iowa 148, near Massena, will require closing the roadway for nine days beginning 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, weather permitting.

The Iowa 92 closure is necessary as work crews remove the existing bridge and slide the new bridge into place. Traffic will be detoured around the construction zone as follows….

Eastbound Iowa 92 traffic will be detoured on Cass County Road N-28 north to Cass County Road G-48, east to Iowa 148, and then back south to Iowa 92.

Westbound Iowa 92 traffic will be detoured north on Iowa 148, west on Cass County Road G-48, and then south on Cass County Road N-28 to Iowa 92.

The new bridge has already been partially constructed just north of the existing bridge. Once the road is closed, the existing bridge will be demolished, new steel piling supports driven into the ground, new concrete abutments placed, and the new bridge slid into place.Additional work to place the new bridge rail, approach paving, and guardrail will be completed before the road is reopened.The work is all part of the Iowa DOT’s accelerated bridge construction (ABC) program.

The $1.3 million project is being constructed by Herberger Construction Co., of Indianola. Work is scheduled to be complete by late fall. Additional information may be found at the Iowa DOT website: www.iowadot.gov/MassenaBridge/index.html

The Iowa DOT reminds motorists to drive with caution, obey posted speed limit and other signs in the work area, and be aware that traffic fines for moving violations are at least double in work zones. As in all work zones, drivers should stay alert, allow ample space between vehicles and wear seat belts.

Police in Atlantic report one person was arrested Tuesday on alcohol-related charges, and one person was cited following an accident. Officials say 38-year old Christopher Harper, of Atlantic, was taken into custody on a charge of Public Intoxication. He was booked into the Cass County Jail and held pending an appearance before the magistrate.

And, a Creston man was cited for Failure to Obey a Traffic Control Signal Tuesday morning, following an accident at 7th and Plum Streets. Shamus Brown, of Creston, was traveling east on 7th Street at around 10:05-a.m., when he allegedly ran the red light and was hit by  a vehicle driven by Todd Friesleben, of Atlantic. The accident happened as Friesleben was traveling north on Plum and had the green light. Damage from the accident amounted to $3,250. No injuries were reported.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors met Wednesday morning during a brief session that included approval of a subcontract between the County Board of Health and the Nishna Valley YMCA. Auditor Dale Sunderman said the contract with Iowa Department of Human Services is for the continuation of a Community Transformation Grant. The YMCA has been working with the grant for a number of years. The County serves as the flow-through agency for the grant funds.

The Board also approved a change in employment status from part-time County Treasurer’s Office employee/Drivers License Examiner, Brandi Wittrock, to a full-time, retroactive to September 1^st. Wittrock has been with the Treasurer’s Office since October 24, 2012. She will receive a nearly $2.30/hour raise plus benefits, for a total package of $37,000 per year.

Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall said the change is needed to an increase in the number of drives the County will be offering as tests for persons seeking their driver’s licenses. Her office currently only offers driving tests on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s, but more opportunities will be made available now that Wittrock is being made a full-time employee. Wittrock will handle other tasks at the office as well, including filling-in for other Treasurer’s Office employees, who are on vacation.

And, in his report to the Board, County Engineer Charles Marker provided updates on various on-going and future roads projects. Marker said deck work was completed last week on the Hoppley Bridge and are currently working on the bridge approaches. Marker said also a culvert pipe has been put in under Yankton Road over Bridge #43 in Edna Township. Supervisor Chuck Rieken said persons who use that road for transporting their harvest are grateful it was done ahead of time (work had been scheduled to take place on the project next year).

And, Marker said work on the M-56 Bridge over Interstate 80 won’t be completed this year as previously announced. Marker said the Iowa DOT discovered they have two projects very close together. That includes a nearby Interstate bridge over Indian Creek. That creates a conflict with the contractors, and the need to postpone the M-56 project until next season. When work does begin on the M-56 bridge, it will only mean a resurfacing of the bridge deck, and not the replacement of the substructure.

Members of the City of Atlantic’s Planning and Zoning Commission gathered Tuesday evening at City Hall, and expressed their displeasure with the way Poet Bio-refining, LLC began construction of a ethanol transfer station near the downtown area. When finished, the station will allow semi tanker trucks full of ethanol to transfer their loads derived from a processing facility in Coon Rapids, into railroad cars.

Zoning Administrator John Lund said the City wasn’t notified about the company’s intentions until well after work had begun on the project. Word about the project came on or about August 22^nd, and it was from a citizen, not from officials with Poet.

When City officials met with representatives from Poet last week, they were left with more questions than answers, and the answers themselves conflicted with what the Iowa DNR was told would be in-place at the site, located just north of the Atlantic Depot/Chamber of Commerce, on north Chestnut Street. Lund said City Attorney says the P&Z has no authority to do anything about the situation.

Lund said Dave Wierstein told Lund he can’t force Poet to obtain a building permit. Lund said it should have been a P&Z issue “from the get go.” He says if Poet had come to the City first, as a professional courtesy, the City might have been more supportive of the plan, but that didn’t happen.

Among the Commissioners expressing their dismay with the way Poet went about the project, was Roger Herring, who said Poet displayed a “Blatant disregard for the City of Atlantic,” in building a facility in “The very heart and center” of the information and downtown district. Herring said he’s not against Poet and what there business is, but the manner of how they went about constituted a blatant disregard for the City and its citizens, and it shouldn’t work that way.

John Lund says there will be a follow-up report during next week’s City Council meeting. Mayor Dave Jones, who along with Councilman Steve Livengood and Shawn Shouse, were in attendance at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, Tuesday, said the City isn’t done exploring its options on how to best deal with the situation. The Commission Tuesday passed a Resolution for the record, expressing their frustration at the lack of communication Poet had with the City, that the matter was not brought before them in a timely manner, that an engineering study was not conducted about the location and possible risks, and that the Commission was not aware of the project before construction began.

In other business, the Commission tabled until its meeting in October, discussion pertaining to multiple families occupying Single-family properties. The issue was brought to the Commission’s attention after a citizen expressed her concerns about numerous, extended family members staying in a home in Atlantic, and how that affects property values, along with other, related concerns.