WATER TOWER CONTRACTS
Maintenance contracts for Le Mars’ two water towers were approved by the city council. The city received two proposals from two firms. The lowest bid came from Viking Painting LLC of La Vista, Nebraska. The contracts are one one year agreements, renewable every July. The costs in the next fiscal year will be 5-thousand dollars for the newer tower and 26,750 for the older water tower. Under Viking’s payment schedule, maintenance costs will increase each year through 2029, to 34-thousand dollars. Then they will jump to 111-thousand dollars. This is due to expected repainting of the inside and outside of the water tower.
SEWER RATES
The Le Mars city council approved higher sewer rates at their meeting Tuesday. Third reading was approved, and the amended ordinance was adopted. Sewer rates will increase 10%, effective when the new ordinance is published. Residential minimum rates will rise from $8.51 to $9.36 per month.Inflation, higher debt service, and maintenance costs caused a deficit in the water fund. The new rates will remove the deficit.
DROUGHT CONDITIONS
The latest U-S-D-A crop report shows only 30 percent of the subsoil moisture was rated adequate and there is a zero soil with a surplus. The percentage of topsoil moisture considered short to very short has gone from 25 percent 70 percent in the last month. Iowa State Extension crop systems specialist, Mark Licht (licked), says southeast and northwest Iowa are the driest areas — though the entire state needs more rain. Licht says the one concern is corn or bean plants that haven’t fully established themselves yet, as their root systems just haven’t had time to develop and any moisture that we have is already been taken up or evaporated out of the soil. The U-S-D-A found the corn condition continued to decline — with 59 percent rated good to excellent — down from 70 percent last week. The soybean condition dropped to 56 percent in good to excellent shape — compared to 66 percent last week.
BACKYARD FLOCKS
The Le Mars city council Tuesday turned down a request from a resident to raise poultry in her backyard, but wants more discussion on the issue. Katie Lochner requested permission to raise her flock at her residence at 820 2nd St SE. The flock of 17 birds. The council by voice vote, denied Lochner’s request. She said she expected that result.
Lochner is encouraged by the council’s decision to seek more public comment.
While Lochner will have to move the flock out of town, she will work toward generating a change in the city ordinance
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She’s going to distribute a petition, urging the council to change the zoning rules to allow backyard flocks. The city code prohibits any livestock in the city limits. The consensus of the council was that a flock the size of Lochner’s is too large to be raised within the city limits. But they also agreed that they might consider approving smaller flocks. That would require a change in the city ordinance. The item will be on the next council agenda for discussion, and they welcome public input.
SIOUX CITY SHELTER REOPENS
Sioux City’s homeless shelter is now back open after a series of disturbances and calls to police this weekend forced it to close. It’s called the “warming shelter” because it was originally opened to give people a place to go in the winter — but is now open year round. Police Sergeant Tom Gill says they’ve been getting an increase in calls to the shelter in June, and then Sunday things got started with a call about two women fighting over a phone.
Gill says police received reports of homeless people from around the region being dropped off in Sioux City because the shelter is open year-round. He says officers determined some of the issues there were caused by illegal activity in a nearby building.
He says officers got ahold of the owner of that building who helped clean up around the building and boarded it up.
CARBON PIPELINE HEARING
A group of landowners, lawmakers, and environmentalists are speaking out after the Iowa Utilities Board announced it would move the hearing on the proposed Summit Carbon pipeline from October to August. Anna Ryon, a former attorney with the Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate, says the landowner testimony was moved to first in the hearing along with the change in the date.
Ryon spoke during a conference call hosted by the Sierra Club, and says the new schedule puts the issue on the fast track and will make it tough for landowners to find the help they need.
Ryon says landowners are forced to sort of defend their land against eminent domain before actually hearing the pipeline company’s case.
To date, Summit has signed more than 2,000 easement agreements with Iowa landowners accounting for 475 miles of our proposed project route in the state.
BIDEN PLEA DEAL
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says the plea deal President Biden’s son has struck with a federal prosecutor cannot be the final word on the investigation of Hunter Biden’s finances. Court records indicate Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanors for failing to pay his taxes and he struck a deal on a felony gun charge that lets him enter a diversion program. It means Hunter Biden probably won’t be sentenced to prison. Republican Senator Joni Ernst says obviously, if he pled guilty, there’s something there. Senator Grassley says he’s uncovered records and gotten information from whistleblowers about Hunter Biden’s finances that in any other circumstance would raise serious criminal and counterintelligence concerns. President Biden and his wife issued a short statement saying they love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life.
