WINTER STORM
Another winter storm is cranking up over northwest Iowa.
A Winter Storm Warning covers all of northwest Iowa this afternoon and evening.
Samantha Trellinger at the National Weather Service Office in Sioux Falls says this storm system is going to generate mostly snow today and tonight.
The snow will begin to affect Plymouth County late this afternoon.
This is a fast-moving system, affecting us mainly in the overnight hours.
The storm will create difficult driving conditions.
A slight thaw earlier this week will lessen the impact of the heavy snow expected tonight.
Once the storm leaves, temperatures will moderate somewhat.
A Winter Storm Warning is in effect this afternoon through 9 a.m.Thursday
PLYWOOD TRAIL PHASE 1B
The Le Mars City Council adopted a resolution setting plans specifications and construction estimate for the PlyWood Trail project, Phase 1B.
This work includes extending recreation trail from just north of Merrill, along West Branch Creek, to the south city limits of Le Mars, along county road C-38
This is a joint project with Woodbury County to connect recreation trail from Le Mars to Sergeant Bluff. This phase of the project will be carried out by the city of LeMars.
The project’s estimated cost – 1.5 million dollars – will be funded by the PlyWood Trail Foundation, Le Mars Area Betterment Foundation, and a Destination Iowa Grant.
Bids will be opened April 18, and a contract awarded May 2.
STORM SEWER PROJECT
A public hearing will be held February 7 to consider a storm sewer improvement project in Le Mars. The city council is considering phase 2 of a 4-phase project to place storm sewer pipe where there is now a drainage ditch between 12th Street SW and Prospect Street SW. The estimated cost of installing a storm sewer line is 335-thousand dollars. The city plans to use American Rescue Plan Act Funds to pay for construction. The public hearing in February would establish plans and specifications for the project. Bids will be opened in March, and a contract awarded. Construction is to be completed by July 15.
LE MARS PROPERTY ISSUES
The Le Mars city council Tuesday hired a consulting firm for design and plat of the Le Mars Industrial Park Fourth Addition. The city wants to make industrial lots available, and extend the city’s rail line south of 27th Street SW. This property is currently not within the Le Mars City Limits, and will need to be annexed. The area is 30 acres of farmland. If approved, work would not begin on this plat until late this fall.
The City council also set a public hearing for February 7, to consider the sale of the old Public Works property at 331 1st Streert NE. The city has already taken bids on the property – six were received, offering anywhere from 100-thousand to 305-thousand dollars. The city intends to sell the property, but first needs to receive clearance from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Iowa DNR.
IOWA #1 FOR DRIVING
A survey by the credit reporting website Wallethub says Iowa is the best state in the nation for driving, while Hawaii came in last. The study is based on 31 different criteria, things like rush hour traffic, road conditions, safety records, and the cost to maintain a car, including gas prices. Iowa ranked seventh for ownership costs and ninth for its infrastructure. Full car insurance coverage in Iowa averages 12-hundred-60 dollars a year, more than 400-dollars below the national average. Commute times for Iowans average about 19 minutes, one of the lowest in the country, while New York’s commute is longest at more than 33 minutes.
PLYMOUTH COUNTY SUPERVISORS
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors approved a project to carry out a drainage project at Hinton. The County Drainage Board, comprised of the Supervisors, held a discussion on the project with county Engineer Tom Rohe and Hinton Mayor Kelly Kreber. Construction includes locating a box culvert on North 1st Ave. in Hinton. The estimated cost of the project is 481-thousand dollars. The city’s share of the project’s cost is 291-thousand dollars, or 60%, and Plymouth County 190-thousand dollars, or 40%. The costs will be assessed to some 490 parcel holders within the drainage district. A special levy of 50 dollars per parcel per year for five years. The Drainage Board accepted the levy. The Hinton City Council approves of the project in principle, but has not taken formal action on it. The project and the levy will be considered at the next city council meeting.
The Supervisors Tuesday passed a motion which sets salary increases for elected officials. This action sets a standard for shaping department budgets for the next fiscal year. Department budgets are based, in part, on recommendations of the county compensation board, which recommended salary increases of 8% for the Supervisors, and 9% for the rest of the county’s elected officials. In their discussion, the Supervisors considered a motion that the Supervisors take a 4.5% increase, and the rest of the elected officials 6.5%. The motion passed on a voice vote. Chairman Don Kass said he supports the motion, but wants to make sure department heads can set employee pay increases at their discretion.
SCHOOL CHOICE HEARING
Parents, educators, school board members and a couple of students testified at Tuesday night’s public hearing on the governor’s plan to give parents state money to cover private school expenses. Bill backer Jennifer Sulgrove told lawmakers she objected to the curriculum at Pleasant Valley high school in Bettendorf and is now teaching her daughter at home.
Bernie Scolaro, a retired educator who’s now a member of the Sioux City School Board, says the governor’s bill will chip away at public schools.
Patty Alexander of Indianola, a retired teacher, says public schools are now a monopoly that needs to be broken up.
Several parents and teachers told lawmakers private schools won’t accept all students as public schools are required to do. Kerry Lust, the mother of three children who attend Ankeny public schools, has a 15 year old son who has been diagnosed with autism and other disabilities.
More than 50 people testified at last night’s hearing and large crowds gathered around video screens in the Capitol that were broadcasting the hearing. More than 12-hundred people submitted written statements opposing the legislation, with about 430 writing they supported it.
DROUGHT AFFECTS MISSOURI RIVER
The U-S Army Corps of Engineers predicts -no- relief from dry conditions in the Missouri River basin during the year ahead, what’s forecast to be the fourth straight year of drought for the region. Last year was the 30th-lowest annual runoff for the basin in 125 years of recordkeeping. A National Weather Service hydrologist says that’s the result of around 63-percent of the basin being in drought. More than three-fourths of Iowa is facing dry or drought conditions, according to the U-S Drought Monitor, with patches of northwest Iowa in extreme drought. A Corps of Engineers official says run-off levels for 2023 may only be a slight improvement on last year. The years 2020 through 2022 comprised the eighth-driest three-year period on record for the basin.
MOTION PICTURE MONEY
Three members of the Iowa House have voted to advance a bill that would make it a felony to use fake “movie money” to buy things in Iowa. Representative Megan Jones of Sioux Rapids says the motion picture money looks a lot like real money and people are using it to purchase goods and services. A business owner in northwest Iowa contacted Jones after an employee mistakenly accepted fake “movie prop money” for a large purchase. If the bill becomes law, someone convicted of using “movie prop money” to buy goods or services could be sentenced to up to five years in an Iowa prison — and the fine could be as high as 75-hundred dollars. The bill doesn’t make “movie prop money” illegal because Jones says it does have a legitimate use on the stage and screen.
