(Des Moines, Iowa) – Auditor of State Rob Sand today (Thursday), released an audit report on City of Massena, Iowa. A summary of the report follows:

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:
The City’s receipts totaled $3,780,006 for the year ended June 30, 2021. Disbursements for the year ended June 30, 2021 totaled $3,177,796.

AUDIT FINDINGS:
Sand reported thirteen findings related to the receipt and disbursement of taxpayer funds. The findings address issues such as a lack of segregation of duties, the lack of review of monthly bank reconciliations, the lack of reconciliations of utility billings, collections and delinquent accounts, disbursements exceeding budgeted amounts and a deficit fund balance. Sand provided the City with recommendations to address each of the findings.

The City Council has a fiduciary responsibility to provide oversight of the City’s operations and financial transactions. Oversight is typically defined as the “watchful and responsible care” a governing body exercises in its fiduciary capacity.

A copy of the audit report is available for review on the Auditor of State’s website at Audit Reports – Auditor of State.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Applications are now being accepted for the 15th Annual Trevor Frederickson Memorial Scholarship. Trevor’s mom and Fund spokesperson Melanie Petty, says applications may be obtained from the Atlantic High School guidance office at 1201 E. 14th Street or the Atlantic High School website: www.atlanticiaschools.org.

Up to two $750 scholarships are available to those graduating from Atlantic High School in the spring of 2024. Applicants must plan to attend a college or vocational school, show involvement in school and/or community activities, supply a copy of their college acceptance letter, provide two letters of reference along with their 7 semester transcripts, and maintain academic achievement of 2.5 or better. The scholarships will be awarded at the Atlantic High School Class Night held in May.

Trevor Frederickson graduated from Atlantic High School in 2006. He went on to further his education at Southwestern Community College in Creston where he studied automotive mechanics and played baseball for the Southwestern Spartans. Two additional $750 scholarships will be available for Southwestern Community College students this fall. Trevor, who passed away in 2009, had plans of pursuing a career in law enforcement and returning to his hometown of Atlantic. Melanie Petty said “Anyone who knew Trevor, knew he valued family, life and community. Trevor continues to live on in our hearts and minds. To this day, Trevor is still giving back to the community he loved to be a part of.”

Trevor Frederickson

Funds for the scholarships are raised at an annual golf tournament. Plans are already in the works for the 16th Annual TFred Memorial Golf Tournament to be held on Saturday, June 15th, 2024. Organizers look forward to another successful tournament so they can continue to grant scholarships for many years to come.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police Officers in Red Oak were called at around 4:25-a.m. today (Thursday) to the 2400 block of N. 8th Street in Red Oak, following a report of a possible assault and criminal mischief. Upon further investigation, authorities say Officers went to the 1000 block of Cherry Street, as part of a follow-up. At that location, 42-year-old Troy Scott Williams was arrested for Harassment in the 2nd Degree, Interference with Official Acts, and Accessory after the Fact, for his involvement in the incident.

Williams was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has approved a bill that sets up a state school safety grant program and, if a companion bill becomes law, it could provide extra pay to school staff who get a professional permit to carry a gun on school grounds. Representative Carter Nordman of Adel says it’s part of House Republicans’ response to the fatal shooting at Perry High School in January.

“This bill will make our students safer by investing in infrastructure and technology that we know will make our school buildings more secure. It will make our students safer by requiring school districts to prioritize safety before they prioritize flashy sports facilities,”Nordman says. “Democrats would pass restrictive gun laws, but none of the gun control bills that we’ve heard from Democrats would have prevented what happened in Perry, Des Moines East, Parkersburg or Starts Right Here.”

That’s a list of shootings in school facilities in Iowa. Democrats say the grants in this bill could be used to buy guns if school boards get authority to let employees be armed at school. Representative Ross Wilburn, a Democrat from Ames, says the bill’s a disappointment. “It’s important to point out that we all are in favor of keeping our schools safe, of keeping our communities safe,” Wilburn said. “We differ about how to go about doing that.”

Another Democrat said the legislature should be making it harder for a would-be school shooter to get a gun rather than making it easier to have more guns in schools. Since it is an appropriations bill, it is NOT subject to Friday’s deadline for committee action on policy bills.

(Radio Iowa) – A Republican senator is using his authority to block consideration of a bill that critics say could make in vitro fertilization illegal in Iowa. Under current law, there are criminal penalties for terminating a human pregnancy without consent. A bill approved by the House last Thursday increases those penalties, but for the crime of “causing the death of an unborn person” without consent. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Brad Zaun of Urbandale refused to bring the bill up for a vote in his committee.

“There was some definite concerns about In Vitro fertilization and the negative effects and unintended consequences with that and that was very problematic for myself,” Zaun says, “and so that’s why I pulled the bill.” Zaun blocked consideration of another bill that would create a new crime of “human smuggling” of undocumented immigrants, with a possible 10 year prison sentence for a conviction. House Republicans passed the bill last Thursday, saying it’s needed to give Iowa law enforcement authority to arrest those they suspect of illegally transporting migrants into Iowa.

“In the language, it was my interpretation as well as some of the people on the committee that there was some unintended consequences,” Zaun says. Relatives and religious organizations providing assistance to asylum seekers had urged senators to defeat the bill, arguing they could be arrested for driving someone to school or work. Zaun says the bill needed work and his committee didn’t have time to make adjustments.

“The House has passed over 250 bills and we have passed only 43 I have heard,” Zaun says. “The workload, obviously the volume is obviously quite a bit coming from the House and I probably shouldn’t even say this, but it is frustrating to me that we get these bills with a one-day, two-day (turn around), with the expectation that we keep it alive.” Friday is the deadline for policy bills like this one to have passed the House and cleared a Senate committee. The deadline works in reverse, too, and a couple of Senate passed bills have failed to make it out of House committees this week.