The Atlantic City Council will act on several matters during their meeting 5:30-p.m. Wednesday, at City Hall. The first order of business is a Public Hearing on the sale of City-owned property at 101 Cedar Street. That will be followed by action on passing a Resolution (#47-21) selling the property to Cook Sanitation for the sum of $2,000, with stipulations regarding the demolishing of a home on the lot, and the construction of an industrial building within a period of five-years.

The Council will act on an Order to close 8th Street, between Chestnut and Poplar Streets, on Sunday, Aug. 22nd, from Noon until 5-p.m.  The area will be closed-off for the First United Methodist Church’s “Back-to-School” block party. Action will follow on passing the third and final reading of an amended Ordinance (#1009) pertaining to how Elections are held (from Winner takes All, to Primary/Run-off.

Under the current (Plurality) system, for instance in a Mayoral Election, if there five candidates, with a percentage of votes spanning from 16% to 25%, the person with 25% is the winner. Under the proposed “Primary/Runoff” system, a True Majority of the vote (50% plus 1) is needed in order for a candidate to win. Where that fails, a run-off election would be held within 30-days.

The Council will also act on passing the third and final reading of an amended Ordinance (#1010), which changes the term for Parks and Rec Board members from every six-years, to every four-years. The Parks and Rec Board recommends the change take place to allow for staggered elected positions and senior board members who can helping the incoming Board adjust to their responsibilities.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council will act on orders to:

• Appoint MacKenzie Bandow and Anne Quist to the Housing Committee. Both have expressed an interest in becoming part of the City’s Housing Committee. Bandow is the Co-Founder of SHIFT ATL.
• Re-Appoint Jack Jensen and Ruth Glines to the Community Foundation Commission. Both have agreed to the Mayor’s request to continue their service to the Commission.

(Atlantic) – The Cass County Board of Supervisors will hold their regular weekly meeting 9-a.m. Tuesday, in their Courthouse Boardroom (& electronically via Zoom). On their light agenda, is a quarterly report from Cass County Conservation Executive Director Micah Lee, along with a weekly report from County Engineer Trent Wolken. The Board will discuss and take action on a final Paid Time-Off schedule for FY2022, with regard to personal days, etc.

And, they will discuss use of funding and other matters with regard to American Rescue Plan funds.

(Radio Iowa) – A Cedar Rapids-based nonprofit that served 40-thousand local homeless people last year will be the beneficiary of a community service project this week called Circle the City with Mercy. Volunteers will be creating at least 500 pairs of protective foot coverings that will be donated to the Olivet Neighborhood Mission. Olivet director Julie Palmer says those hand-sewn galoshes will be a godsend. “It rains during the summer and people’s socks get wet,” Palmer says, “and during the winter, being able to take these coverings and put them on the shoes that they actually have on and be able to keep people’s feet dry so they don’t get sick.”

The elastic-lined foot coverings will be made from “blue wraps,” a strong material that’s used to wrap sterile instrument trays at Mercy Medical Center.  “It’s weather-proof and it’s very multi-layered,” Palmer says. “They were originally just throwing them away and in the past, Mercy has done a couple of different things for us and for the homeless people. One of the things they’ve done is made mats out of them — homeless mats — so they can sleep on the ground or whatever and not get wet.” It’s the ultimate recycling project as a product that was used in the healing process — which had traditionally been tossed in the trash — will have a second life providing comfort to the less fortunate.

“Yes, it is absolutely a great use,” Palmer says, laughing. “They always surprise me over there. They come up with these great ideas and I’m like, ‘Yeah!'” The Olivet Mission hosts a clothing closet and a food pantry that distributed almost a million pounds of food in 2020. “There’s more homeless people here in Cedar Rapids since COVID and the derecho than a lot of people want to imagine,” Palmer says. “What we have been trying to do is find out what some of their needs are. The reality that we also know about the homeless, you’ll talk to some of them and they have no intention of wanting housing.”

The annual one-day volunteer effort will be held Thursday. Circle the City with Mercy is a tradition among three sister organizations: Mount Mercy University, the Catherine McAuley Center and Mercy Medical Center. The project marks the anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy in Cedar Rapids in July of 1875.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has hired two companies to do socio-economic studies of the gambling industry. Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko says they will take a look at several social issues. “Does it increase bankruptcies, divorce rates, crime rates? That is the socio-economic piece that will be studied as part of this,” he says. “The other piece is a market component that looks at the overall health of the industry.” Ohorilko says the study is required by the legislature every eight years.

“We’ll look at both parts and really try to give Iowans a good view of how gambling is impacting our state,” he says. Ohorilko says they decided a couple of different reviews were the best way to get the information.  “The two companies that were selected, they both are independent companies, they do different things. The commission felt like it was important to get two separate opinions,” according to Ohorilko. Ohorilko says the two companies will present their findings at the I-R-G-C’s January meeting. The are paying 245-thousand dollars for both studies.