PLYMOUTH COUNTY RISK POOL
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors heard information on renewal of the county’s insurance coverage. Rob Bixenman with Perspective Insurance presented the quotes. The county is covered through risk pooling through the Iowa Communities Assurance Pool, or ICAP. Plymouth County was one of the earlier members of this group. Coverage includes Property, Casualty, Auto, and bonding. Rates are called premiums, but are actually membership fees in ICAP. ICAP has not been profitable of late, because of a high number of claims from members. That’s due to weather disasters which struck Iowa in the past couple of years..The renewal fee to Plymouth County for 2024-25 is 468-thousand dollars, up 25% from last year. Bixenman said that’s a much lower increase than other local governments, where 40 and 50% increases are common. He also presented an alternative quote of 434-thousand dollars, a 16% increase. This includes a higher deductable for property claims, and a deductable of 10-thousand dollars for casualty claims, which the county has never had. While no decisions were made by the Board, they discussed keeping the lower deductible on property claims, and a higher deductible for casualty claims.
BRIDGE REMOVAL
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors approved a demolition contract for a bridge that collapsed last August. Out of four bids, the low bid of 17-thousand dollars from Richardson Construction of Sac City was approved by the Supervisors, pending review by the county engineer. Engineer Tom Rohe says the truck drivers insurance should pay for removal of the structure. Rohe says the county will salvage some of the usable construction materials in the bridge. It is to be removed by December 15, weather permitting. The bridge is located on 120th Street, a mile south of Struble. A truck, loaded with hay bales to heavy for the structure, rolled onto the bridge, and caused it to collapse.
PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ON VOTING REQUIREMENTS
Iowa voters are being presented with a three-part proposal about who is eligible to vote in Iowa. The amendment proposed for Iowa’s constitution says 17 year olds may vote in a Primary if they’ll be 18 by the General Election. That’s already state law. Another part of the proposed amendment says –only– U-S citizens may vote in Iowa elections, a change from current language in the document that says –every– U-S citizen may vote. Some Democrats say the proposal would prevent legal U-S residents from being allowed to vote in local city or school board elections at some point in the future. Bill Brauch is chair of Polk County Democrats.
Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann predicts the proposed amendment will pass easily.
The third part of this proposed amendment aligns Iowa’s Constitution with the 26th amendment to the U-S Constitution that lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 nationally — back in 1971. The OTHER proposed state constitutional amendment on Iowa ballots this year deals with the line of succession in state government.
INJURY ACCIDENTS
One person was injured Tuesday morning in a two vehicle accident south of Hawarden on Iowa Highway 12. The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office says a vehicle driven by 29 year old Brandon Sjaarda of Hawarden ran a stop sign at 480th Street, into the path of a northbound vehicle driven by 49 year old Abul Shaifullah of Vemillion, South Dakota. Shaifullah received minor injury, and was transported to Hawarden Regional Hospital for treatment. He was charged with no valid drivers license and an expired registration. Sjaarda was cited for failure to obey a stop sign.
Monday afternoon, an Orange City resident was injured when she lost control and rolled her vehicle on 410th Street, three miles northwest of Orange City. 23 year old Svanna Borchers lost control and went into a ditch. She was transported to Orange City Area Health for treatment of her injuries. She was cited for failure to maintain control.
SOUTH-CENTRAL IOWA LAGS BEHIND IN HARVEST
The U-S-D-A crop report shows more than 95 percent of the soybeans are harvested statewide. The northwest, north-central, and central areas have all their beans in the bin. The southwest and south-central regions lag behind at 90 percent complete. The overall corn harvest is 12 days ahead of the five-year average at 84 percent. Northwest and northcentral Iowa lead the way at 90 percent complete, while south-central Iowa reports just 65 percent of their corn is in.
WORLD FOOD PRIZE EVENTS UNDERWAY IN DES MOINES
Researchers, business executives, and government officials from around the globe are in Iowa this week for the World Food Prize symposium. It’s an annual gathering to discuss food security and innovation. Geoffrey Hawtin and Cary Fowler are this year’s World Food Prize laureates. They were instrumental in establishing the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway two decades ago. The two men says it’s an important backup for seedbanks that could be hit by natural disasters, wars or a loss of funding. Hawtin and Fowler spoke Monday night at Iowa State University. The Des Moines-based World Food Prize is hosting three days of events, culminating with a banquet and closing ceremony in the Iowa Capitol on Thursday evening.
NORTHWEST IOWA MAN SENTENCED FOR SHOOTING THAT WOUNDED HIS FATHER
A 19-year-old northwest Iowa man who pleaded guilty to first-degree willful injury has been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for shooting and seriously wounding his father in early May. Caleb Crosby of Spirit Lake was scheduled to go on trial for attempted murder on October 15th, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of willful injury as well as first-degree theft for stealing two vehicles as he fled after the shooting. A judge has sentenced Crosby to two terms of 10 years each to be served consecutively. Crosby also pleaded guilty to escaping from the Dickinson County jail for a short time in June and will be sentenced on that charge later. Before the shooting, Crosby was arrested in March after allegedly trying to interfere at the scene of a fire in the small, unincorporated community of Montgomery. That’s also where he shot his father in May and authorities issued a shelter in place advisory to residents in the area as they searched for Crosby.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ON GUBERNATORIAL SUCCESSION
A proposed constitutional amendment on this year’s Iowa ballot would clarify the line of succession at the top of state government. Seven years ago, Kim Reynolds became governor when Terry Branstad resigned, but Iowa’s attorney general at the time said his reading of the constitution indicated Reynolds was becoming acting governor and didn’t have the power to select a new lieutenant governor. State Treasurer Roby Smith was a state senator the following year, touting the proposal to give Iowa governors in similar situations authority to name a new lieutenant governor. Mary Wolfe of Clinton was a member of the Iowa House who raised concerns in 2022 about the proposed amendment that Iowa voters are seeing on their 2024 ballots. Wolfe and other Democrats say the proposed amendment is flawed. They say the House and Senate should vote to confirm a lieutenant governor picked by a new governor who takes over in the middle of an elected governor’s term. Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann supports the amendment.
