Plymouth County Budget Amendment, and Right of Way Purchases
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors today approved an amendment to the current county budget. This amendment relates to damages incurred in a hailstorm at Hillview Park. The amendment reflects 27-thousand dollars in revenue from the insurance payment for the damages, and 32-thousand dollars in expenses for repairs.
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors approved right of way purchases for a local bridge project on Roosevelt Avenue in Garfield Township, northeast of Kingsley. The project, which includes construction of a bridge over the Little Sioux River, was bid two weeks ago, and the low bid was 424-thousand dollars. The Supervisors Tuesday approved the purchase of parcels from two landowners, at a cost of 6262 dollars. A construction schedule has not been set.
Le Mars Receives EPA Grant for Site Assessments
Le Mars is one of five Iowa cities receiving a share of nearly $5.5 million in Brownfields grants from the Environmental Protection Agency. The grants are intended to clean up communities across Iowa. The city of Le Mars has been selected to receive $400,000.
City Economic Development Director Mark Gaul said the city applied for the grant last year.
The grant will fund assessments of properties along the Business 75 corridor in Le Mars.
This does not mean there is contamination on those properties.
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The city will use the 400-thousand dollars grant to carry out around two dozen environmental assessments.
The community-wide grant funds will be used to conduct 18 phase I and seven phase II environmental site assessments.
Grant funds also will be used to carry out asbestos checks.
Gaul says the grant requires the assessments to be done in four years.
The assessments will not slow down the city’s Vision 2045 development plan.
Le Mars Mayor Rob Bixenman stated. “it will help Le Mars accelerate implementation of our community development plan by providing due diligence needed to prepare strategic redevelopment sites.develop three cleanup plans and support community engagement activities.
Governor Comments on Roundup Bill
This year the Iowa House failed to pass a bill to grant liability protection from lawsuits to the maker of the herbicide Roundup.
Governor Kim Reynolds says it’s a common sense bill and she wishes she could sign it into law. A plant in Muscatine makes most of the Roundup used in North America.
Reynolds says federal officials have determined the weed killer is not a carcinogen.
Monsanto developed Roundup and Bayer bought Monsanto in 2018. As of this month, Bayer has paid about 11 BILLION dollars to settle 100-thousand Roundup lawsuits. Roundup has been a federally registered pesticide since 1974 and it’s used today on 70 percent of Iowa soybean fields and 63 percent of corn fields in the state.
In 2020 the E-P-A reviewed the product and said there are no risks to human health if customers use Roundup according to the instructions on its label.
Reynolds says the company shouldn’t be sued, then, for failing to warn customers there are health risks.
Reynolds made her comments during an appearance this past weekend on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. The bill passed the Senate this year — as it did in 2023. Opponents of the bill say Iowans who believe they’ve been harmed from the use of Roundup should be able to court and make their case for damages.
Search for body of boater on the Missouri River
Recovery efforts continued Monday to find the body of a boater out of the Missouri River near Blencoe in Monona County.
Authorities say on Saturday the victim’s boat struck a barge west of Blencoe.
Witnesses told authorities they saw the boat’s occupant jump into the river just before the collision.
Authorities have used sonar in the search, and may have located the missing person’s body, but have been unable to start recovery because of the fast current and depth of the river.
The victim’s name has not been released.
Street Closing Downtown
Starting Tuesday May 27th thru Thursday May 29th from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. part of Central Ave north of Plymouth St. will be closed downtown. This will be 30 ft north and 30 ft south of the overhead banner sign that spans Central Ave. They will be doing some improvements to that sign. The street will be reopened to traffic after 6 p.m. and then closed again the next morning at 6 a.m.
Plymouth County Budget Amendment
A public hearing will take place today before the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors. At issue is approval of a budget amendment for the current fiscal year. The public hearing is at 10 am.
Also on today’s Supervisors’ agenda are right of way purchases for two local bridge projects, and a closed session to discuss pending litigation.
Governor Reynolds’ focus next year is on property taxes
Governor Kim Reynolds says she will meet with Iowans over the next several months and develop a property tax reform plan that could include changes in other taxes.
Reynolds has until June 14 to sign or veto the bills passed by the 2025 legislature, then she plans to spend the rest of the year working on property tax reform.
One of the main elements of a property tax reform plan key Republican legislators developed over the past two years calls for sending another $400 million in state tax dollars to public school districts, to replace local property taxes. Reynolds seems reluctant to do that.
And the governor said it’s too soon to say a firm limit on how much city and county budgets may grow should be part of the final plan. Reynolds hinted an even broader tax discussion could be ahead.
Drought situation improves in most of the state
The most recent rains do not figure into the U.S. Drought Monitor report this week, which shows nearly 47% of Iowa was drought-free.
The Iowa DNR’s Jessica Reese-McIntyre says things have been heading in the right direction. Reese-McIntyre says this week’s rains will help build up groundwater as we enter a time when the crops are growing and water use overall increases with warmer temperatures.
She says it’s not certain if the wetter trend will continue. One issue looming is the amount of rain the driest areas of the state in western Iowa will get. She says that is just a forecast for now, and she is hopeful those areas will get rain to help with their deficits.
