(Atlantic, Iowa) [Correction] – Members of the Atlantic Community School District’s Board of Education met in-person and by streaming live on YouTube,today (Friday, April 23, 2023) to discuss the process the District could take in selecting a replacement for Superintendent Steve Barber. Mr. Barber announced earlier this month his resignation, effect June 30, 2023. Board President Laura McClean opened the conversation with asking if the position should be interim or long-term?

Board member Josh McLaren…

Board Vice-President Kristy Pellett agreed, an interim position is a good option.

Superintendent Steve Barber said interim positions are desirable by some individuals who may not be ready to take-on a full-time role.

Jenny Williams said…

Laura McLean said she likes the idea of an Interim Superintendent, with the search for a full-time individual to begin early next year.

Jenny Williams said her one concern, though, is there is no SBO (School Business Official) to replace Sarah Sheeder, who has resigned to take a position with the AC/GC School District.

Nick Hunt said the process of hiring an SBO should begin first. Someone with a strong background in finances is preferred. The general consensus of the Board was to search for an Interim Superintendent. Sarah Sheeder provided McLean and the Board with a template for an Interim Superintendent search from the Dallas Center/Grimes Community (DC/GC) School District, that Atlantic could use as a place to start.

The timeline currently includes posting of the Superintendent’s position on Monday, April 17 2023. After two-weeks, the Board will gather to review the applications and narrow the list of finalists before setting-up interviews the first week of May. Ideally, the Superintendent will be offered a contract by no later than the middle of May. McLean said once that’s done, if the Board desires, a professional headhunter (Search firm) can compile the information necessary to hire a full-time Superintendent. That would likely include interviews with stakeholders and gathering potential candidates, along with conducting background checks.

Prior adjourning the meeting, the Board acted to approve disciplinary action against two students, referred to a “Student A” and “Student B.”

(Creston, Iowa) – A collision between two cars Thursday evening in Creston, caused about $3,500 damage and resulted in one citation. Police in Creston say the accident happened at around 5:45-p.m., at the intersection of Adams and Sumner Streets. A 2013 KIA Optima driven by 19-year-old Laura Jessica Roybal, of Osceola, was coming to a stop at the stop light, as the light turned yellow. A 2018 Chevy Cruz driven by 18-year-old Lucas Michael Lynch, of Creston, was behind the KIA.

Authorities say Lynch thought Roybal was proceeding through the intersection before the light turned red, but the KIA came to a stop. Lynch didn’t have time to stop before his vehicle struck the KIA. He was cited for Failure to Stop in a clear and assured distance.

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports the arrest at around 3:34-p.m. Thursday, of 21-year-old Myles James Koontz, of Creston, on a warrant for Driving While Barred. Koontz was also arrested for Driving While Barred. He later posted a $2,000 bond, and was released.

And, a man from Creston reported to Police late Thursday morning, that several items belonging to him, were stolen from his property at 202 S. Sumner Avenue. The items include:

1. A green Kawasaki 4-wheeler
2. A black & red Snowco trailer
3. A custom blue motorcycle, and
4. An orange Harley Davidson XR-750.

The items were valued at $43,000 altogether.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Natural Resources Commission has approved an agreement that moves oversight of the Honey Creek Resort in south-central Iowa from the D-N-R to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS).

D-A-S director Adam Steen told the Commission they started talking about the issue with the D-N-R as his agency sought a contract for a new company to operate the resort.”Essentially, D-N-R delegating its management authority to DAS. D-N-R will still own the property, it’s still obviously a state park, all that good stuff. It’s just from an operations perspective, DAS,” he says. Steen says it the agreement doesn’t make any big changes for the state.

“In my mind this shifts a lot of the workload from D-N-R to DAS. And in my view from DAS’s perspective is if they could just be available for questions along the way, we’ll try to stay out of their road and let them sort of remove themselves from any operation going forward. So the goal is to ease the burden on D-N-R here,” Steen says. He says the transition from Delaware North to the new concessionaire, Achieva Enterprises went well, and they have a multi-year contract.

“So it’s structured right now for six years, with then three, three-year potential extension. So it could go up to 15 years. But right now, the first portion of the contract would go for six years,” he says.

The resort along Rathbun Lake has had financial issues since it opened in 2008 and the D-N-R had sought a buyer before making the announcement it was hiring a new company to run the facility. Steen says the long-term goal is to sell. “The goal is not to hold on to the property for six or even 15 years. The goal is to work with the Army Corps to get the lease changed, privatized, if you will, so that ultimately we could we could sell the property,” Steen says. “We’re not there yet, we’ve got a ways to go on that.” Steen says the new operator will address something that has been an issue.

“The main difference is that the resort will be open year round. I know that was a point of contention, certainly down in Appanoose County that it was shut down. You know, obviously you had the anomaly with COVID, but then over the winter months it was never reopened,” he says. Steen says the new operator gives them a chance to rethink the promotion of the resort. “I think this provides us an opportunity to do marketing and a little different way than Delaware North. And that’s not a knock on Delaware North. It’s just we can do things a little differently,” Steen says.

He says things are ramping up for this year and the courtesy dock and camping will be available along with the hotel. Steen says the inflatable water park on the lake had about 20-thousand dollars in damage and they assessing whether they can get that fixed and have the park back open.