TAYLOR SAYS BUDGETS NEARING COMPLETION
State Representative Jeff Taylor of Sioux Center says the Senate is working hard to complete their proposed budgets for the new fiscal year. Sen. Taylor says what’s holding up consideration are reaching final overall targets.
Once spending targets are set, funds will be distributed to each of the major budget areas, for adjustment by the chamber.
There is a large budget surplus, and Sen. Taylor says the temptation is to spend more money.
Taylor says most of these budgets carry over into the following fiscal year, so lawmakers must be careful to be disciplined with their budget plans.
REC TRAIL SAFETY PATROL
The Le Mars Police Department is forming a Trail Safety Patrol. Police Chief Kevin Vande Vegte says they are outfitting a golf cart to use as a patrol vehicle on the trails.
Chief Vande Vegte says the recreation trails in Le Mars are very popular.
Chief Vande Vegte says he’s looking for a certain type of person to serve on the Safety Patrol…..
Volunteers will patrol all of the city’s 12 miles of trails. They will be asked to serve two hours per week, and they can set their own schedule. If you would like to volunteer, contact the police department by phone, or find the link on the Le Mars Police Department web page.
BUILDING PERMITS
March was a busy month for building permits in Plymouth County. Projects worth a total of 4.3 million dollars were permitted. There were seven farm building permits, including four machine sheds, two grain bins and a house, with a value of just over a million dollars. Non-farm construction includes a 2.2 million dollars water tower near Craig, as well as a pole barn, garage additions, and two structures at the Plymouth County road department.
NORTHWESTERN HIRES
Northwestern College announced that Jackie Davis has been named their vice president for advancement. Davis is currently the director of advancement at Northwestern. Davis has been a fundraising professional for 23 years, the past 14 years at Northwestern. She begins work at her new post in July.
Last week, Northwestern announced that Russ Adams has been named to serve as director of the Master of Education program in educational administration, and as assistant director of Northwestern’s Center for Innovation and Leadership. Adams has been the Superintendent at MOC-Floyd Valley schools for 11 years, and will retire from that post in June. He begins his new duties at Northwestern in August.
STATE COURT OVERTURNS LARGE AWARD TO STATE EMPLOYEE
The Iowa Supreme Court has unanimously reversed a 790-thousand dollar verdict awarded a state employee in a hostile-work-environment lawsuit. Tracy White filed the lawsuit in 2019 against her supervisor Mike McInroy at the Department of Human Services. The state appealed saying several so-called “me-too” reports of harassment by others against McInroy should not have been allowed in the case. The Iowa Supreme Court agreed, saying White failed to establish she personally experienced sufficiently severe or pervasive conduct. It says merely having a bad boss does not create a hostile-work-environment claim, nor does a personality conflict with a supervisor. The High Court says affirming the judgment would undermine well-established precedent-setting a high bar for proof of objectively severe or pervasive harassment, and it would expose Iowa employers to costly liability for sporadic vulgarities and common personality conflicts.
