May 21, 2012

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Flu shut down for Marshalltown classes will end Thursday

May 6, 2009 By

The shut down of classes at the Marshalltown School district by the H-one-N-one virus will last only three days. District officials had originally said they would cancel classes for this entire week, but Marshalltown Superintendent, Marvin Wade, says the Center for Disease Control changed its recommendations on the issue.

Wade says, “It was not as serious, I guess, as they thought it would be so that schools that, schools should not close if there’s identified cases and that schools that had closed could reopen.” Wade says they consulted with Marshalltown health officials, and decided to resume classes.

“Tomorrow all schools in Marshalltown Community School District, the Marshalltown Area Catholic Schools, and the Marshalltown Christian School, all will reopen and resume activities tomorrow,” Wade says. Since Marshall County has reported the highest number of probable cases, Wade reminds parents to not take the flu lightly.

Wade says: “We still want to treat this seriously. That’s a concern we have, from the public health standpoint, and from the school district standpoint, that, regardless of what C.D.C., the Iowa Department of Public Health or I say about it, it doesn’t impact how miserable that person is who has the flu.”

Wade stressed people should still take care of themselves to avoid getting the flu, take the precautions of washing hands and covering coughs. The district has not decided yet how to make up the three days missed because of the outbreak.

Marshalltown was the only district in the state to close over the virus. As for the other schools in Marshall County, the East Marshall , G-M-G and West Marshall school districts have been taking precautions, but so far no H-one-N-one cases have been reported by them. The Marshalltown Medical and Surgical Center is still restricting entrance to their facilities, with a limit of one visitor per patient.

Filed Under: Education, Health & Medicine

Audit: Fort Dodge library board put sizable donation "at risk"

May 6, 2009 By

A state audit concludes the Fort Dodge Library’s board of directors has put a sizable donation "at risk" by turning it over to a private foundation.

State Auditor Dave Vaudt says his staff couldn’t accurately determine the exact amount a local woman left the library in her will, as the money trail is so twisted.

"With the transfers of money and so forth, it’s been pretty hard to follow," Vaudt says.

However, the auditor believes Gwendolyn Scharfenberg’s bequest was in the seven-figure range. "From the documentation that we saw, yes, we thought it was probably in the range of $1.3 million," Vaudt says.

The Fort Dodge city attorney advised the city’s library board back in January of 2003 that they needed to directly oversee the investment, but that advice was ignored.

"What the library board of trustees did was decide to donate (the money) or transfer it to a foundation outside their control and even back at the time they were doing that, the city attorney told them that was not proper and they still have not made corrective action several years later," Vaudt says.

The auditor’s report is being turned over to the Webster County Attorney, who will determine whether to file misconduct charges against the members of the library board.

The state auditor calls it a "concerning" case. "Just because the library board of trustees has continued to not follow the advice of the legal experts," Vaudt says.

The report Vaudt released today also covers other matters involving the City of Fort Dodge. Citizens in Fort Dodge complained there were conflicts of interest in city work being done by two local engineering firms. The city’s mayor works for one of the firms and a man who had served as the interim city engineer works for the other.

Vaudt says the city council had taken some steps, but not enough.

"If you take a look at the details on the engineering contracts, the big thing was they were not going through a competitive bidding process that would help avoid conflicts of interest," Vaudt says. "…We made some recommendations based on the attorney general’s advice."

According to Vaudt, the City of Fort Dodge has agreed to abide by those competitive bidding rules when awarding contracts to engineering firms.

Finally, the audit report released today concludes the City of Fort Dodge was "not in compliance" with state law when it comes to Tax Increment Financing or "TIF" Districts which are designated to spur development in an area.

"What we’ve tried to do over the last several years is work with the legislature to clarify some of the TIF laws, but in this case, clearly, the process that they were used was collecting more in TIF revenue than they should have and so our recommendation was to review the balances and return to the county the appropriate amounts that they shouldn’t have received," Vaudt says. "And obviously the benefit to the rest of the county is that those taxes will be shared amongst those other entities rather than all going to the City of Fort Dodge."

Counties collect property taxes in Iowa and divide the money among public schools, community colleges, cities and other taxing districts in the county. In "TIF" districts, however, all the property taxes collected are turned over to the city in which the district is located and not shared with other taxing districts in that area.

 

Filed Under: Crime & Courts, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Iowa Court system cancels Friday’s furlough

May 6, 2009 By

It’ll be business as usual this week in the Iowa Court system. The courts were supposed to be closed for a "furlough day" on Friday due to the ailing state budget, but last-minute legislation passed by lawmakers will allow the courts to remain open that day.

Steve Davis, a spokesman for the Iowa courts, says they may be able to cancel two more planned furlough days. Davis says, "Being able to open them back up would provide more accessibility to the courts for the citizens of Iowa."

Nearly $4-million was cut from the judicial branch and officials ordered court closures. Four days were planned before the end of the fiscal year, but the one scheduled for Friday was canceled after Governor Culver signed a bill freeing up funds by letting the courts order unpaid leave for judges.

Davis says if the governor signs another budget bill, even more days can be restored to the court calendar. Davis says, "If we get the supplemental appropriation, that’ll give us the opportunity to eliminate two more of the court closure days. We’re waiting to find out what the governor’s gonna’ do."

The second bill appropriates an additional $760,000 for the courts. If it becomes law, May 22 will be the only remaining day when courthouses will be closed. As it stands now, court furloughs are still scheduled to take place May 22nd, June 5th and June 19th.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With: ,

Iowa dealer hopeful despite Chrysler’s bankruptcy

May 6, 2009 By

Chrysler dealers in Iowa hope for positive results after the automaker filed for bankruptcy last week. The judge overseeing Chrysler’s Chapter 11 proceedings ruled Tuesday the automaker can start working to sell most of its assets to Italy-based Fiat Group.

Bruce Shimkat, owner of the Chrysler dealership in Fort Dodge, says he’s staying optimistic. "Chrysler is honoring warranty claims and it’s honoring factory incentives to the dealer, so really, we are marching forward, business as usual," Shimkat says. "We’re selling cars and have been selling new cars. It really has not affected us real directly at this point."

He remains confident the brand and its products will remain solid. He’s heard the bankruptcy will last 30 to 60 days "and when they come out of bankruptcy, Chrysler should be a leaner, a far more viable company than it was going into bankruptcy along with the merger with Fiat."

Fiat Group also plans to buy G.M. Europe and create a new company. If successful, the proposed Fiat-Opel would be the world’s second-largest automaker, behind Toyota.

 

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: ,

Company choses Kansas over Sioux City for turbine plant

May 6, 2009 By

Officials with Siemens Energy have selected Hutchinson, Kansas over Sioux City, Iowa for the site of a new wind turbine production plant. Sioux City Economic Development Director Marty Dougherty says it sounds like Siemens wanted a location in the central U.S.

“We know from working with them for almost a year that we had the kind of incentive package and the kind of site that they wanted…we met all the requirements,” Dougherty said. “But, in this particular case, they made a decision based on geography.”

Last month, nearly 5,000 residents of the Siouxland region submitted responses to a labor survey as city leaders sought to ease the company’s concerns about the available labor pool. Dougherty says that information won’t go to waste.

“We will use that information with the other companies that we’re dealing with,” Dougherty said. “It’s a very positive indicator of the workforce that we have here in Sioux City and the metro area.” The Siemens plant is expected to employ around 400 people. Construction on the facility in Reno County, Kansas is scheduled to begin in August.

Dougherty says Sioux City worked closely with the state to create tax credits and incentives for Siemens – and that work could pay off down the road. “We’ve positioned ourselves very well and gotten ourselves on the map,” Dougherty said. “We’re continuing to get a lot of interest and leads from other wind energy companies, so we’re very encouraged by that.”

According to information from Governor Culver’s office, Iowa has nine wind turbine manufacturing plants that employ 2,300 people.

Filed Under: Business, Environment & Conservation Tagged With:

EPA proposed renewable fuel rule raises concern

May 6, 2009 By

Federal officials, including former Iowa Governor and current Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, released plans Tuesday for developing renewable fuels. That included the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to revise the standards used to determine the impact of renewable fuels on the environment.

Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) executive director, Monte Shaw, says they’re concerned about the methods used by the E.P.A. to calculate the "indirect impact" of renewable fuels on the amount of greenhouse gases.

Shaw says,"Based on the this theory, and I use that loosely of indirect land use change. In other words the more commodities we use to produce fuels here, it means someone has to go burn down the Brazilian or Indonesian rain forest to produce food crops." Shaw says association doesn’t back the idea of "indirect land use change."

He says they don’t believe the science supports the idea as the last five years there’s been a dramatic increase in biofuel production, but there has been a reduction in the destruction of the rainforests. Shaw says the good news is that the E.P.A. is open to discuss the issue. Shaw says the current ethanol plants are exempt from the greenhouse gas rules.

Shaw says those who are currently involved in ethanol production, don’t have to worry, but he says it’s going to be very important as we move forward with new ethanol production. The E.P.A. will be taking public comment on the proposed rule changes, and Shaw says that’s important for getting Iowa’s side of the story.

He says it’s important for Iowans to comment, even though it may not be a very technical comment. Federal officials also announce the creation of the "Biofuels Interagency Working Group" that’ll be led by Ag Secretary Vilsack. That group will use federal funds to help improve biofuel production and marketing.

Shaw says they are excited about that as there needs to be a more coordinated approach on how to produce the feedstocks and convert them into biofuels. He says there also needs to be a combined effort in creating use for the biofuels. Part of the plan includes using Ag bill money to help shore up the ethanol plants that have had economic troubles.

Shaw says that’s something the I.R.F.A. likes because much of the focus has been on the next generation of biofuels, but he says they first need to shore up the current producers.

"It’s kind of like you’re standing out in front of your house with an architect trying to build a nice new addition onto your existing house, but it’s on fire. And maybe you ought stop and call the fire department and keep what you’ve got to begin with so it serves as the base for that addition," Shaw says, "and that’s what we need to do right now with today’s biodiesel and ethanol producers."

Shaw says it will be good to have Vilsack leading the biofuels working group, but he would feel better if Vilsack was the head of the E.P.A. and overseeing the rules there.

 

Filed Under: Agriculture, Environment & Conservation, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

Local option sales tax vote in Iowa City, Coralville unclear

May 6, 2009 By

It’s not clear yet whether voters in Iowa City and Coraville have approved or rejected a one-cent local option sales tax to help finance flood repairs, while voters in five Linn County cities reversed course on a similar issue.

According to preliminary results available last night, the local option sales tax passed in Iowa City by just six votes. It failed in Coralville by seven votes.

But there are about 12 dozen absentee ballots which hadn’t been returned last night from residents in those two cities. Those votes may still be counted if they bear a postmark of May 4th. In addition, there may be a recount because the results were so close in both cities.

The local option sales tax passed in eight smaller cities in Johnson County and was rejected in North Liberty and West Branch.

Meanwhile, residents in five Linn County cities who had voted down a local option sales tax March 3rd voted again yesterday and approved the one-percent sales tax. It means the sales tax goes into effect July 1st in Center Point, Hiawatha, Marion, Robins and Walford.

The one percent sales tax is already being collected in other nine other Linn County cities, including Cedar Rapids, as voters in those areas approved the local option sales tax in March.

Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,
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