Home News Thursday Afternoon News February 9th

Thursday Afternoon News February 9th

(Le Mars) — During Tuesday’s city council meeting, city council members again discussed a measure to increase the salaries of council members and the mayor. A first reading of the proposal was passed during a January council meeting. City councilman Rex Knapp suggested a change to the original proposal.

Knapp says under his proposal none of the council members, nor the mayor, would receive an increase of salary until the start of the year 2020. He says at that time, the new salary increases would then go into effect. Councilman John Rexwinkle says he believes the mayor should be given a pay increase, but he
doesn’t believe the council should see an increase, saying the council’s responsibilities have remained the same.

Rexwinkle then offered a motion to amend the original reading proposal that would eliminate the paragraph pertaining to the city council compensation. Councilman Ken Nelson says he favors the increase in council members salaries, claiming
among other reasons is that by being a council member, it has cost him some business.

Councilman Clark Goodchild says he opposes the measure because of its provision that allows salary increases based on time of service on the council. Goodchild says he favors term limits.

Goodchild then recommended another proposal for the council to consider.

Currently, the mayor’s salary is at $12,000 per year, and the council receives an annual salary of $6,000 per year. The first reading of the proposed salary change would increase the mayor’s salary to $18,000 per year, and the council
members would receive a salary of $9,000 which would go into effect after the council member and mayor would serve at least two consecutive terms. The city council decided to discuss the salary proposal in future meetings.

 

Sioux City Electronic Recycling Center Told To Clean Up Area

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – State regulators have suspended a Sioux City electronics recycler’s permit to accept some items until it can reduce a pile of materials sitting outside at its site.
The Iowa Natural Resources Department told former Sioux City Councilman Aaron Rochester that his stockpile of cathode ray tubes must be trimmed back. The tubes are found in televisions and computer monitors.
Rochester, who sits on the city’s environmental advisory board, says his Recycletronics company is still open and is working with regulators as it reduces the tube stockpile.
Rochester also says he’s working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which executed search warrants Tuesday at the site and at a storage site in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Federal authorities declined to provide any details about the EPA’s apparent investigation.

 

Escaped Inmate Is Captured

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Authorities have captured an inmate who’d been listed as escaped from the state work release facility in Council Bluffs.
Twenty-six-year-old Colton Benson-Blaine was taken into custody Wednesday morning at a convenience store in Avoca. The Iowa Corrections Department says Benson-Blaine didn’t return as scheduled from his job Sunday.
Benson-Blaine was transferred to the facility on Jan. 24. He’s been imprisoned since Aug. 5, 2011, following his convictions for voluntary manslaughter and other crimes.

 

Medicaid Insurer To Make Budget Cuts

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – One of the companies involved in Iowa’s privately managed Medicaid system intends to reduce payments to agencies that serve thousands of people with disabilities, which is raising concerns that some of the organizations could go out of business.
The Des Moines Register (https://dmreg.co/2kqBzuC ) reports that letters sent this week show AmeriHealth Caritas plans to cut the rates to the minimum.
AmeriHealth is one of three national insurance companies that took over management of Iowa’s Medicaid program last April. The program covers about 600,000 Iowa residents, including tens of thousands with serious disabilities.
The company negotiated higher rates than Iowa required it to pay community agencies for services given to residents with disabilities. But contracts with the agencies allow the management company to cut those rates at any time.

 

Iowa Secretary of State Requesting Voter Registrations To Be Filed Earlier

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s top elections official is proposing a law to require organizers to turn in voter registration forms they collect within a week, accusing the Iowa Democratic Party of delays that jeopardized voting rights for some people. The measure backed by Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate would authorize prosecutors to file election misconduct charges against parties that delay their submission. It’s a direct response to Democrats’ handling of incomplete forms in Johnson County last fall.