LE MARS COUNCIL
The Le Mars city council approved several items under their consent agenda today. The council approved Fire-Rescue Personnel Salaries for Fiscal Year 2024. The change increases the hourly rate from 15.25 to 15.50 per hour. The increased rates include pay for EMS transfer in-town and out of town transfer calls. This change in pay scale also includes Haz-Mat techs, holiday supplemental pay, and retirement pay.
The council also approved two Urban Revitalization Tax Exemption requests for properties downtown.
DRAINAGE HEARING
Residents of the Hinton Drainage District came to a public hearing this morning, to learn more about a proposed expansion of the District, and the project it will fund. The informational hearing explained how the Drainage District Board, which consists of the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors, will consider an expansion of the drainage district, from the current 490 parcels to an additional 369 parcels. The Supervisors are considering an expansion in order to spread out the assessments for two drainage projects across more parcel holders. There will be a culvert replacement project in Hinton, and a bridge replacement project just outside of Hinton, both in the drainage district. Total cost of the culvert project is 430-thousand dollars, and the bridge replacement, which affects one farmstead, will cost 100-thousand dollars. 60% of the cost would be covered by the city of Hinton, and 40% to the drainage district. If approved, parcel holders in the expanded drainage district would be assessed 50 dollars per year for three years, in order to raise their share of the project. Hinton is one of three drainage districts in Plymouth County. The others are in Merrill, Akron and Westfield. They were established in 1920. The Supervisors will hold a public hearing to consider the expansion at their meeting on June 22.
PROVIDER AGREEMENTS
A list of Provider agreements for the new fiscal year were approved by the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors this morning. A total of 55-thousand dollars will be used to support several county entities. These include So Safe Place, Family Crisis Center, Mid-Sioux Opportunity, CAASA, and Wet Nose pet rescue. The Supervisors also held a public hearing on a proposed Class C Road designation in Plymouth County. Class C roads will be designated as minimum maintenance, restricted access roads in the county. A public hearing for final approval of the ordinance will take place at the Board’s meeting on July 8.
PATROL TALLY
Monday, June 5 was a busy day for Le Mars Police Department and the Plymouth County Sheriffs Office. Both law enforcement agencies combined for enhanced patrols, looking for impaired, distracted and speeding drivers and those not wearing seat belts. The Sheriffs office says for the day, the enhanced patrols took place from mid afternoon to mid evening., and resulted in 2 OWI or drugged arrests, 2 arrested for possession of controlled substances…3 speeding violations and nine warnings, and 6 other citations or warnings.
IOWA CONCERN HOTLINE
The Iowa Concerns Hotline has seen a nearly 25 percent increase in calls over the past 12 months. Anyone in Iowa may call the hotline, but the round-the-clock service is primarily meant to answer questions about farm and agribusiness finances. Tammy Jacobs oversees the hotline for Iowa State University Extension. She says many of them involve people who are stressed out about their financial situation and their ability to keep a family farm operation in the family. The conversations are kept confidential. Trained people answer the calls and make referrals to services that might help. An attorney is available to provide free legal education. The hotline was launched in 1985, during the Farm Crisis.
STORM LAKE TEEN CHARGED
A Storm Lake teenager was charged Friday with solicitation to commit murder. Police say she attempted to hire a hitman on the parody website rent a hitman.com. The website’s webmaster reported that someone had visited the site on two occasions and had attempted to solicit the murder of a seven year old child in Storm Lake. Several details about the child were included in the solicitation request. On Friday morning an undercover police officer posed as a hitman and made contact with the suspect. The undercover officer confirmed with the suspect that the suspect wanted the target killed. Based on evidence obtained throughout the investigation, police believe the solicitation was a credible threat to the victim. The victim and the victim’s family were not harmed and were unaware of the potential threat.
BLUNDERING BOSSES
A University of Iowa study finds people who have a blundering boss will give them a pass if that boss is older, but they’ll judge more harshly if the boss is younger. Michele Williams, a U-I professor of management and entrepreneurship, co-authored the study that surveyed hundreds of professionals. It found workers are more willing to accept an incompetent boss who’s older and more experienced, but they’re less likely to tolerate incompetence if the boss is younger.
Those working under an older supervisor may convince themselves their employer’s promotion system is fair and their boss isn’t so bad. Williams says that worker is likely justifying a system that’s -not- fair, just to avoid the mental conflict that could result from acknowledging an unfair system.
The study found that workers who think their younger, less experienced boss is incompetent will begin to question the fairness of their employers’ promotion system. Williams says that can have a negative impact on their behavior, their morale, and their productivity.
Williams says people need to remember to judge a person by their actions, not their appearance, and give the new boss an opportunity to prove him or herself.
The study is being published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
IOWA DEMOCRAT CAUCUSES
Iowa Democratic Party leaders have unanimously approved a plan to hold Caucuses on the same night as Iowa Republicans, but have Iowa Democrats use a mail in card to express their presidential preference. The plan is being presented to the Democratic National Committee, which has already voted to deny Iowa Democrats the first go at voting in the 2024 presidential campaign.
Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart says the new schedule of early voting states is still in flux, however, and the mail-in plan offers new flexibility. Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann says the mail-in idea is a charade and will do nothing to ensure both parties retain first-in-the-nation status for their Caucuses
Governor Reynolds has signed a law that makes it illegal to use a mail-in system for the presidential delegate selection that starts with the Caucuses. Iowa Democratic Party chair Hart says Democrats are united in conducting the most inclusive Caucuses in history with mail-in participation — no matter what.
DEBATE RULES
A presidential candidate who campaigned in Iowa Monday blasted the rules that could prevent him from being in the first televised debate for G-O-P candidates. Perry Johnson is a Michigan businessman who’s sending his book — “Two Cents to Save America” — to thousands of likely Iowa Caucus goers. Johnson says it’s ridiculous to require that candidates must have at least 40-thousand donors in order to be invited on the debate stage, but he plans to ask 40-thousand people to donate two cents each to his campaign in order to qualify. In 2022, Johnson launched a campaign for governor in Michigan, but Michigan election officials ruled over 94-hundred signatures on his nominating petitions were invalid and he did not have enough signatures left to get his name on the primary ballot. Courts in Michigan and a federal judge denied Johnson’s appeal of that decision.
HIV INFECTIONS
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the estimated new H-I-V infections have fallen nationwide from 2017 to 2021, while Iowa’s new infection rate has remained virtually unchanged. State medical director Robert Kruse says about 14-percent of Iowans with H-I-V are unaware they’re living with the virus. Kruse says the rate of new HIV diagnoses have increased among many vulnerable groups, including Iowans born outside the U-S. Kruse says Iowa has historically had a low H-I-V rate as compared to the rest of the country.
