Rohe Offers Supervisors Year-end Construction Report
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County engineer Tom Rohe gave an end of the year report regarding the road and bridge construction projects that were completed during this past construction season. All total, the county worked on and completed 28
different construction projects. Rohe mentioned there were two road projects, the first consisting of three miles of paving on county road K-42 from County road C-38 to Highway 3. The second was a grading project on County road C-60
from Highway 140 heading west. Plymouth County installed one concrete bridge this past summer, and three steel beam bridges. There were ten different locations throughout the county where either contractors, or county employees, installed a pre-cast box culvert. Corrigated Metal Pipes were installed at 12 locations. Rohe says contractors worked on 13 county construction projects, while county employees did the work on 15 separate projects. The grand total for road and bridge repair projects in Plymouth County during 2016 was listed at $5,141,256.83. Rohe says contractor roadway repairs amounted to more than $2.6
million dollars. While contractor constructed bridge and culvert repairs totaled nearly $2.1 million dollars. The amount spent for projects that were completed by county employees was listed at $421,172. Rohe admitted to the county board of supervisors that both the Local Options Sales Tax money, and the new revenue from the increase in fuel tax, allowed work crews to complete more construction projects.
School Board Discusses Parent-Teacher Conferences
(Le Mars) — The topic of parent-teacher conferences was brought up during Monday evening’s Le Mars Community Board of Education meeting. Middle School principal Steven Shanks informed the school board that the numbers reflect more parents are meeting with teachers to discuss the student’s academic performance, than in past years. However, Shanks would still like to see more parents attend a conference.
The Le Mars Community Middle School principal informed the school board that teachers would reach out to those parents that were unable to attend the parent-teacher conferences, either through email messages, or by telephone calls. He says the teachers were then able to have discussions with some of the
absent parents.
School board president Pat Murphy asked Shanks if the teachers were getting a response to the email messages that were sent to the absent parents.
Shanks informed the school board that many parents participate in the “power school” which allows parents to view a student’s progress via the computer internet, which may be one explanation why parents don’t attend parent-teacher
conferences.
Deere and Company Manufactures Its 2 Millionth Engine
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – A John Deere plant in Waterloo is celebrating the milestone of building 2 million engines.
The plant built engine number 2 million last month and marked the achievement Monday as it completed the assembly of a tractor powered by the engine.
Deere’s Waterloo engine plant began production 40 years ago.
Kenny Hager, a Cedar Falls resident who has worked at Deere for 20 years, says the milestone is as important to his union, the United Auto Workers Local 838, as it is to the company.
Hager called it “a really neat thing, because it’s big for the community.”
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Election Activist Organization Plans To Move To Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A political nonprofit group dedicated to providing voters with unbiased facts about candidates is moving to Iowa.
Vote Smart plans to trade its ranch in Montana for offices at Drake University.
The group’s national director Walter McKusick says Vote Smart has an annual budget of nearly $1 million. Its workers build a database of information on candidates and issues nationwide.
Vote Smart hopes that moving to Iowa will help make it more prominent.
The group is expected to bring 23 jobs and up to 70 part-time college internships to Des Moines.
The nonprofit, which used to known as Project Vote Smart, was founded in 1992 by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford and a bipartisan group of politicians.
