The Cass County Board of Supervisors met Wednesday morning, at the courthouse in Atlantic. During their session, the Board passed a motion by Supervisor Duance McFadden to approve an “Application for Industrial Property Tax Exemption (per Iowa Code( of A. M. Cohron & Son, Inc for reconstruction of an existing building due to economic obsolescence. The board also approved the portion of the project that is “new construction” with the understanding that this project is eligible for the five year sliding scale tax abatement.

Jeremy Middents, Housing Director with SWIPCO met with the county, the local government CDBG disaster recovery recipient for the flow through of grant funds. He reported that some funding was still available from the 2008 disaster recovery efforts after the 5th round. SWIPCO is the lead agency for the western Iowa ‘super region’. Six projects to construct housing in six cities have been presented and board approval is needed before applications may be submitted for consideration.

Supervisor Gaylord Schelling made the motion for the Board to certify that it has reviewed all six applications for Multi-family Construction Program-Round 6 CDBG funding and gives its approval for submission of the six applications. The Projects include: in Atlantic, a 24 unit apartment building; in Dunlap, 7 upper story apartments; in Avoca, a 20 unit apartment complex; in Woodbine, reconstruction of 3 apartments; in Perry, 20 townhomes; and in Guthrie Center, 10 upper story
apartments.

The Board also approved an  application for the Renewal of a Class C Beer Permit and Sunday Sales Privilege (effective 10/18/2014) for 21st Century Cooperative, in Massena. Their next meeting is Friday, August 29th.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Internal emails show Iowa’s workforce agency provided unemployment benefits earlier this year to people who didn’t seek them and that staff was urged to stay quiet about what had happened.

Iowa Workforce Development spokeswoman Kerry Koonce confirmed Wednesday that 85 people received excess unemployment payments in early March. Officials issued benefits to everyone who got them the previous week after a system malfunction meant they couldn’t process updated information from recipients. Koonce stressed that about 30,000 received accurate payments.

Agency emails provided to the Iowa Senate Government Oversight Committee show that after the malfunction, a manager emailed some staffers instructing them to provide no information about what happened and to blame “technical difficulties.”

The Oversight Committee is set to review what happened at hearings next week.

The Montgomery County Sheriffs Department has arrested a Corning woman. Storm Armstrong was arrested on a Montgomery County Warrant for narcotic violations. Armstrong was transported to the Montgomery County Jail from Adams County and was being held on a 10-thousand dollar bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state Department of Human Services says someone left a baby at an Iowa medical center under Iowa’s safe haven law. The agency announced Wednesday that someone brought the boy to a medical center Aug. 13 and asked that he be declared a safe haven baby. State law allows parents or their authorized representatives to leave a baby who is 14 days or younger at a health care facility and remain anonymous.

The state withholds details about such infants. A court will terminate parental rights within a month. This is the 20th time the law has been used since its passage following a case in 2001, when a teen mother in eastern Iowa killed her home-delivered infant.

In all the previous cases, the babies have been adopted.

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials say a boil advisory has been issued for the city of Adel’s water system. The state Department of Natural Resources says one of Adel’s water towers was being serviced when the city lost electrical service Wednesday morning. This created a pressure loss in the distribution system.

The pressure has been restored, but water must be tested for bacteria before the boil advisory can be lifted. City officials and the DNR recommend that residents boil their water for drinking and cooking. They’re also encouraged to use bottled water.