PLYMOUTH COUNTY SHERIFF ASKS FOR ADDITIONAL JAIL HIRE
The Plymouth County Sheriff and jail staff came before the county Board of Supervisors this morning to request the hire of an additional full time jailer.
Sheriff Jeff Te Brink, Chief Deputy Rick Singer, and Sgt. Adam Heitritter and Sgt. Jill Holtzman, came to discuss the request with the Supervisors.
Sheriff Te Brink said there are currently 13 full-time and 5 part-time staff. Te Brink says some of the full-time staff are nearing retirement, and the situation among part-time staff is that they are not always available. One is enlisting in the armed forces, another is a full-time student and athlete. It’s difficult to cover shifts, and full-time employees accumulate a lot of overtime pay because of extended shifts.
Meanwhile, there’s been an increase in law enforcement activity in the county, and that creates a higher safety risk on the jail staff. It’s also more difficult to comply with state and federal safety regulations. Transporting federal prisoners to other jurisdictions creates staffing issues, too.
Te Brink says the responsibility of a jailer is big, but they are not seen by the public. The Sheriffs Office has advertised for part-time jailers, but its not inviting to the general public, as they work nights and weekends.
The proposal was brought forward today in an information session. It will come forward as an action item at the next Supervisors meeting.
COLD WEATHER ADVISORY
National Weather Service has issued a Cold Weather Advisory for 11 northwest Iowa counties, including Plymouth, until 9 a.m. Very cold wind chills as low as 30 below zero are forecast. The wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin, and could lead to hypothermia with prolonged exposure.
SITZMANN ON SUPPLEMENTAL SCHOOL AID
The biggest issue before the Iowa House this week is approval of a level of supplemental aid to schools. 13th District Representative Travis Sitzmann says lawmakers want to agree on a funding level, so that school districts can formulate their budgets.
This is in contrast to the funding level recommended by the Governor and approved by the State Senate.
The House will also consider additional transportation funding for schools.
GRASSLEY WELCOMES MUSK’S PENTAGON AUDIT
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he looks forwad to Elon Musk’s review of the military’s budget.
President Trump has said he expects Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency effort to find hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse in the military. Musk’s Space X was awarded about five billion dollars in Defense Department contracts last year, much of it to launch satellites for military intelligence and communications. Grassley says a recent case involving Amazon’s disputed and rejected bid for a military contract sends an important message about conflicts of interest.
The Department of Defense is the largest agency in the federal budget and has an annual budget of 800 billion dollars. Grassley has been a critic of Pentagon spending since he joined the Senate in the early 1980s, raising concerns then about the price the military had paid for common items, like a 400 dollar hammer and a 600 dollar toilet seat. In 2018, Grassley called attention to the 10-thousand dollars the Pentagon paid for toilet set lids.
GOVERNOR CREATES DOGE TASK FORCE
Governor Kim Reynolds signed an executive order late this (Monday) morning creating an Iowa “Department of Government Efficiency” task force. The Governor says the task force’s work will be organized around three broad goals: maximizing return on taxpayer investment, further refining our workforce and job training programs, and leveraging technology, such as artificial intelligence. Reynolds plans to appoint up to 20 business executives and local government officials to the task force. She’s already named the leader of the group. It’s Emily Schmitt, the chief administrative officer and general counsel for Sukup (SOOK-up) Manufacturing in Sheffield. Reynolds will review the report from the Iowa DOGE task force and compile a package of recommendations for the legislature NEXT year.
CONGRESSMAN FEENSTRA SAYS EXTENDING 2017 TAX CUTS IS IMPORTANT
Iowa Fourth District Congressman Randy Feenstra says extending the tax cuts from Donald Trump’s first term is one key in restoring the economy. He says those 2017 cuts doubled the standard tax deduction, made sure that our businesses got a 20 percent reduction, corporate got 21 percent baseline tax, and included the Child Tax Credit. Feenstra says all these things will sunset if they aren’t extended. The Republican from Hull is on the House Ways and Means Committee and says a group of Ways and Means members had a meeting with the administration on how we move forward without creating any more debt.
SURVEY FINDS FOUR PERCENT OF IOWA’S WATER LINES ARE LEAD
A federally mandated survey finds a majority of the water lines serving Iowa homes do NOT contain lead. D-N-R Drinking Water Program coordinator Heidi Cline says there are 51-thousand-918 lead service lines reported, which is just under four percent of the total service lines. The inventories found 81 percent of the lines were not lead, almost 14 percent were undetermined, and less than two percent were galvanized lines that need to be replaced. Cline says a federal lead water pipes ban went into effect in 1988, so most of the homes with lead pipes tend to be older. Cline says the E-P-A said this fall that the compliance date to identify all of the unknown pipes is November 1st of 2027, and systems have to find out that information within seven years of the compliance date. They then have 10 years from the compliance date to remove all of the lead service lines. Cline says the rule does not specify who is responsible for the cost of removing lead lines.
