(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Board of Supervisors held their weekly meeting at the Adair County Courthouse, this (Friday) morning, during which they acknowledged receipt of the 5^th Judicial District Report, and a Manure Management Plan update from Prestage Farms applicant Cory Polk. The Board passed a Resolution to extend the City of Stuart LOST/TIF ordinance, with no changes to the ordinance. And, in their COVID-19 discussion, Supervisor John Twombly announced he had tested positive for COVID, but was not experiencing any symptoms.

The Adair County Supervisors received a semi-annual report from County Treasurer Brenda Wallace…

Wallace said her office will have to reprint a section of their report due to an error, prior to publishing.

And, they heard from County Auditor Mandy Berg, who discussed an agreement for the combination of a rural township and City Precinct.

The Board approved the agreement as presented. Berg said also, the County received a report on the LSA Redistricting Plan, and some good news, with regard to the reprecincting plan the County filed.

At Berg’s request, the Board set Feb. 16^th at 9:15-a.m., as the date and time for a public hearing on the plan. In other business, County Engineer Nick Kauffman reported on various pavement, asphalt and/or granular surfacing projects**, a concrete box culvert project on Eureka Road, and a right-of-way contract.Bids on most of those projects will be let on Feb. 28^th. He also discussed his FY ’23 construction program.

The Board approved a “Morning Light Repower” Road Use Agreement (in the Canby area), which is an extension of the agreement that’s been in effect for the past three-years or so, and a longevity raise for a Secondary Roads Dept. Employee Ray Palmer.

The Supervisors finished their meeting with a Fiscal Year 2023 Work Session.

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** Airport Road Asphalt pavement; Iowa Street Extension, Lake View Drive & Adair/Cass County line Asphalt resurfacing projects; American Rescue Plan Act granular surfacing.

SIOUX CENTER – Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has announced $38 million through Iowa’s Water Infrastructure Fund (WIF) to support three water quality and infrastructure projects across the state.  The WIF grants are being awarded to three projects in western, central and eastern Iowa and include the creation of new water system infrastructure, expansion of current infrastructure, and dam mitigation efforts for safer water recreation.

Reynolds says the announcement “Demonstrates our commitment to water quality in Iowa. Our goal…” she says…”is to build and nurture our communities by investing in infrastructure that promotes healthy and welcoming areas to live, work, and raise a family.  Not only will these three grants enhance our state’s water infrastructure, but they will make significant contributions to economic development.”

In December, Gov. Reynolds announced a historic $100M investment in water infrastructure and water quality efforts for the State of Iowa aimed at reducing excess nutrients, improving public health, promoting reuse of water and wastewater, and providing significant economic benefits to communities and the state.  The grants announced today (Friday) are a part of that investment.

The awarded projects are listed below:

• Lewis & Clark Regional Water System – Sioux Center:
  Up to $12 million will be awarded for the expansion of the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System. A first-of-its-kind, tri-state drinking water system estimated to benefit 350,000 people living in northwest Iowa, southeast South Dakota and southwest Minnesota, the project broke ground in 2003. Nearly 20 years later, the system is 86% complete and is awaiting full completion with federal funds. This investment will significantly expand the system’s ability to provide an additional 15 million gallons of water per day to its member communities.
• Dyersville East Road Utilities Project – Dyersville:Up to $11 million will be awarded to the Dyersville East Road Utilities Project at the Field of Dreams site for water distribution and wastewater collection infrastructure. This project will serve 114,000 Iowans across two counties and create approximately 350 jobs.
• ICON Water Trails Project – Des Moines: Up to $15 million will be awarded to the Iowa Confluence (ICON) Water Trails Project in downtown Des Moines to mitigate the dam on Fleur Drive. In addition to removing safety hazards associated with the dam, the mitigation will allow Iowans to enjoy a river run experience on the Raccoon River and lay the groundwork for a recreational destination in the area. The project is expected to create more than 150 jobs and more than $100 million in increased local revenue.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Southwest Iowa Republican Representative Tom Moore, from Griswold, says this third week of the legislative session saw a huge uptick in committee and sub-committee work. Moore, who represents District 21, says the Human Resources Committee…

• Passed three House Study Bills (HSB’s) he says will continue an attempt to put tools in the tool belt of child care providers by allowing the negotiating of pricing between CCA recipients and providers, increasing 2-year-old ratios by 1 child and 3-year-old ratios by 2 children thus providing more child care slots in Iowa, and allowing 16 and 17 year-olds to provide childcare for school-age children.
• House File 210, he says, allows for an individual on who is on a ventilator the “right-to-try” an off label use of a drug.

Moore said also, the week was packed full of Sub-committee meetings. Among the list of bills he worked on throughout week, was

• A bill for an act relating to the adoption and use of certain general permits issued by the department of natural resources.
• A bill for an act relating to the release of nursing facility reimbursement rates under the Medicaid program.
• A bill for an act relating to the membership, procedures, and functions of the Iowa council on homelessness.
• A bill for an act relating to the beginning date of the school calendar for school districts and accredited nonpublic schools.
• A bill for an act relating to the composition of a county zoning commission.

Moore says also, this week, he chaired a sub-committee for a bill (House File 656) that Moore has worked on for five years. The basic premise of this bill is that once a patient is stable on a medication their insurance company can’t switch them to a similar but often less expensive drug. This doesn’t happen often, he says, but when it does the outcome can have grave circumstances for the patient. The major issue comes from the insurance industry who says it hampers their ability to control costs. Moore says “For me it comes down to where our priorities lie, with the costs and profits of the insurance companies or the care of the individual patient.”

After working on this for so long, Moore says it was great to see House File 656 pass both sub-committee and the Human Resources committee unanimously. He said also, “It will be exciting to continue working on this as it moves to the House Floor and eventually through the Senate.”

Representative Moore can be reached for questions and comments at tom.moore@legis.iowa.gov and (712) 789-9954.