(Atlantic, Iowa) – Cass County Engineer Trent Wolken says work on the Olive Street and Boston Road bridge replacement projects continues. Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, he says they’ll be pouring the concrete deck for the Olive Street Bridge and then allowing that to cure.

(Next week they’ll begin pouring the Boston Road bridge decking next Tuesday)

He said also, work on a box culvert project for Indian Creek Road north of Highway 6 continues. Old beams off the old bridge at that site will be repurposed, according to Wolken. They were being moved Tuesday to a site just north of Griswold, with the intent to use them as bridge beams for the Seattle Road Project. Another project that begins Wednesday, is with regard to a box culvert on Victoria Road.

(A grading and box culvert project is set to begin Wednesday (Aug. 11^th), on Victoria Road/G-61, on the Cass-Adair line.)

The road is expected to re-open no later than Oct. 15^th. In other business, the Cass County Board of Supervisors voted appoint Mary Robinson to the Cass County Board of Health, for the remainder of the term ending Dec. 31, 2023. And, they voted to re-appoint Kip Harris to serve on the County Compensation Board (representing the Supervisors). One position is left to fill on the Compensation Board. The Board meets once annually. There were no candidates who expressed interest in serving on the County Board for Condemnation in Eminent Domain proceedings. Persons interested much live in and own property in, Cass County. There was no action taken on filling the County Conservation Board opening, and the position remains open. The term ends Dec. 31, 2022.

The Board also discussed how funds the County received from the American Rescue Plan for COVID recovery, could be used. Board Chair Steve Baier said their booth at the Cass County Fair received suggestions. Unfortunately, the rules don’t allow for the way most people want the funds to be used.

Supervisor Mark O’Brien said another idea was to enhance our local and community food systems to enhance our self sufficiency. It came from the Healthy Cass Organization.

Board Chair Steve Baier says as someone with experience in selling beef to meat lockers, he understands the difficulty producers have in getting their product to market.

But he said the question remains, how does a producer find a market when the lockers are full and keep the food supply flowing smoothly. In the meantime, the Board is still seeking suggestions for ARP funding. Contact your local Supervisor or attend one of their weekly meetings in the Cass County Courthouse Supervisors’ Board Room.

Members of the Atlantic School District’s Board of Education will meet in a regular session Wednesday evening, in the High School Media Center. The session begins at 6-p.m. and will be broadcast live via YouTube. Among the action items on their Consent agenda is –

• Approving the resignations of: Kassidy Edwards, Middle School Special Ed Teacher; Katy Christianson, Freshman Girls Basketball; Bus Mechanic Nathan Renz, and Food service workers Stephanie Kloewer and Angela Hillhouse.
• Approval of contract recommendations for the following:
  • Michaelin Julh and Stephanie Kloewer, HS Spec. Ed Paraeducators (internal transfers)
  • Kerry Jepsen, HS Spec. Ed Para; Trena Page,Audrey Stewart, Jen Renz and Aliyah Jordan as Washington Spec. Ed. Para’s
  • Emily Hansen, Melissa Smith and Lindsey Mitchell, Food Service.
  • Scott Dickerson, HS Night Custodian
  • Sarah Rose, HS Student Council Sponsor, and Angela Sieh, MS Student Council Sponsor.
  • Clint Roland, Asst. MS Football Coach
  • Katy Christensen, Vol. Volleyball Coach
  • Abby Becker & Don Pobanz, Vol. Cross Country Coaches.

The Board will also act on 2021-22 TLC Mentor Contracts for: Stacy Johnson; Tracy Daugherty; DeLana Harris; Jenny Madsen; Chelsey Lee; Angela Oglesbee; Liz Reid; Allison Berryhill; Kathy Hobson; Mandi Brauer and Rhonda Hawkins. Each Mentor receives a $2,500 stipend, for a total cost of $32,199.75. In other business, the Atlantic School Board will act on a Middle School Classrooms Construction Plan for the Achievement Center (alternate education site while the Middle School is being cleaned-up and reconstructed, following the July 27th fire).

Officials with the Danish Villages Improvement Organization (DVIO) aim to change the so called “Food desert” for the Danish Villages of Elk Horn and Kimballton. A “food desert is an area where access to affordable, healthy food options are limited or nonexistent because grocery stores are too far away. DVIO Board Member Klare Chapman says the need became obvious, after results of a survey confirmed it was a top issue for the community.

Theo Ramsey of Ramsey’s Market/Fresh Out of the Box will be speaking at a meeting of the Danish Villages Improvement Organization (DVIO) on Wednesday, August 18th, 7pm at the Kimballton Town Hall. The public is encouraged to attend and learn more. Theo will be discussing his innovative grocery locker system which brings groceries and hardware to small towns across Southwest Iowa. They are a rural company focused 100% on rural needs. Theo and Bonnie Ramsey currently own and operate brick and mortar grocery stores serving Lennox & Manning and are now expanding to serve communities throughout the region by providing next day grocery and hardware delivery, 7 days a week, to refrigerated and frozen lockers located in each participating community. Currently, Shelby and Walnut have the lockers in place, with Griswold adding theirs in November.

DVIO, which serves both Elk Horn & Kimballton is considering whether or not the Fresh Out of the Box locker system would be a good fit for the Danish Villages.

The locker will work like this:

• You place your grocery order online.
• You will get a notification your delivery is ready and a code.
• You punch in your code into the screen on the locker and the lights above the doors your order is in will light up.
• You open the doors and take your groceries.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’ll be voting in favor of the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill when it comes up for a vote this (Tuesday) morning. Grassley, a Republican, says the bill is truly a bipartisan measure which he says will make a “significant investment” in Iowa’s future. “I often hear from Iowans in my 85 county meetings I’ve been in so far this year about the need to fix Iowa’s aging infrastructure,” Grassley says. “We finally have a bipartisan package that delivers critical improvement for Iowa’s roads and bridges, locks and dams, and airports.” The legislation includes 65-billion dollars for improvements to broadband and Grassley says many Iowans in rural corners of the state are in dire need of better access to high-speed internet service.

“I think the emphasis upon broadband is because telehealth has come into vogue because of the pandemic,” Grassley says, “and distant learning and a lot of families haven’t been able to access this.” Before he decided to vote “yes” on the 2,700-page bill, Grassley said he had concerns that it might include new social programs and not enough “traditional, physical infrastructure,” things like roads and bridges. He says he no longer has those worries about “liberal priorities” being contained in the massive measure.

“There’s no mileage tax, no Green New Deal, no amnesty for undocumented immigrants in this bill,” Grassley says, “and the only reason I emphasize that is because there’s a lot of talk about that stuff being in this bill.” After the infrastructure bill is passed, Democrats will move on to the three-point-five trillion dollar budget bill, which he says is sure to contain some of those social programs. Grassley says he and the rest of the Republicans will likely vote against the budget, which he says will “further feed the fires of inflation.”