Month: August 2023

Mount Pleasant Community School District residents should mark down their calendars for September 12th after the school board approved a resolution to call for an election on their revenue purpose statement.

The revenue purpose statement governs how the district can utilize the statewide penny sales tax for school infrastructure. The money collected from this pre-existing statewide tax is divided up by the Department of Revenue on a per people statewide basis then given to the school districts.

Some examples of what the money is used for are the elementary air conditioning, school bus purchases, the parking lot at the middle school, and the general upkeep of the schools.

John Henriksen, Superintendent of the Mt. Pleasant Community School District, stated that right now the district has the “broadest use that is available.” Moreover, the state legislature extended the statewide penny sales tax until 2049.

The election is looking to renew their revenue purpose statement to still allow for the flexibility that the school district has right now for the future. According to Mr. Henriksen, this is important in that the penny sales tax allocates about 2 million dollars a year for the district.

The school district will be asking the community to participate in the election on September 12th. KILJ will have more information as the date draws closer.

Big Hollow Lake
The water temperature is 83 degrees. Thermocline is bottoming out at 6 feet. Water clarity is 30 inches. Black Crappie – Slow: Crappies remain in 6 feet of water in the flooded timber. Vertical jigging works best. Slip bobber and minnows are also picking up a few fish. Bluegill – Slow: Look for bluegill in 5-6 feet of water. Some of the bigger brush piles at the upper end of the lake are good for that depth. Worm and bobber works best in the dense cover. Channel Catfish – Fair: Look for catfish along the face of the dam and in the old creek channel, especially out from the boat ramp bay where the old bridge was.  Largemouth Bass – Slow: Look for bass down at about 6 feet, no deeper. Flip soft plastics and jigs back into the flooded timber at 4-6 feet down to find them.

Lake Belva Deer
Water clarity is a couple of feet. Thermocline is at 5 to 7 feet. Water temperature is 83 degrees. Black Crappie – Slow: A few anglers early in the morning are still picking up a few in about 6 to 7 feet along the trees out from the beach. Bluegill – Slow: Try vertically jigging around the trees to a depth of about 6-7 feet.  Drift quietly from spot to spot; use a 1/64 oz jig tipped with a waxworm. Try the bays on the south side where there is more shade on the water. Channel Catfish – Fair: Along the face of the dam is always a good place to catch nice catfish. Don’t forget to try the “Old Pond”. Largemouth Bass – Slow: Bass are suspended down about 6-7 feet out in the trees. Try soft plastic or weedless jigs early in the morning.

Lake Darling
Water temperature is 82 degrees. Water clarity is about 20 inches. Water remains a green color. The thermocline bottoms out at 9 feet. Most fish are hanging out at between 6.5 and 7.5 feet to stay cool. Bluegill – Slow: Try slow trolling a small (1/64 oz) jig tipped with a waxworm over tops of the rock piles. Channel Catfish – Fair: Use chicken liver just off where the rip-rap ends underwater. Catfish like to cruise along this edge looking for food. It also keeps them in 6-7 feet of water. Largemouth Bass – Slow: Water is fairly clear below the phytoplankton layer (about 2.5 feet). Run a shallow diving crankbait (0-4 feet) just below that in the morning or a medium diver (5-9 feet) trolled a little later in the day.

Lake Geode
The water temperature is 85-86 degrees. Water clarity is down to 24 inches with the phytoplankton. The bottom of the thermocline is holding out at 9 feet. Black Crappie – Slow: Crappies are out in deeper water for the summer. Try slow trolling in 8 to 10 feet of water along the drop-offs. Bluegill – Slow: Work the rock piles and flats in 8-9 feet of water or try slow trolling along the drop-offs with a small jig tipped with a waxworm. Largemouth Bass – Slow: Bass are out at the drop-offs; they have slid down the slope a little to cooler water to avoid the heat. They have decent oxygen at about 8-9 feet of water. Best bite is early or just as the sun goes down.

Lost Grove Lake
Water clarity has remained fairly good this summer at 7 1/2 feet. Water temperature is in the low 80s. The thermocline starts at 7 feet and bottoms out at 12 feet. Lost Grove Lake has Eurasian Watermilfoil; be sure to clean all vegetation off your boat and trailer before leaving the boat ramp area. Black Crappie – Slow: Crappies are out along the edge of the flooded timber in 8 to 10 feet of water. Try vertical jigging or slow trolling until you find them. Bluegill – Fair: Try slip bobbers and worms off the jetties in 5-6 feet of water. Channel Catfish – Fair: A few anglers are catching catfish along the face of the dam down along the rocks in about 10 feet of water using cut bait or stink bait. Largemouth Bass – Slow: Try vertically jigging in or along the outer edge of the flooded timber in 10-12 feet of water. Water temperature down there is about 5 to 6 degrees cooler. Weedless rigged soft plastics can help you keep out of the snags.

Skunk River (Rose Hill to Coppock)
Water levels continue to drop. The riffle above Brighton is visible above the water. The water temperature was up to 86 at the end of last week. Channel Catfish – Fair: With the drop in water levels, find the deeper water and the fish will be there. Use stink baits and chicken livers.

For more information on the above lakes and rivers call the Lake Darling Fisheries Office at 319- 694-2430.

After concluding its investigation into the Ottumwa Fire Department, the city of Ottumwa has fired three firefighters. Firefighters Derek Fye, Dillon McPherson, along with Captain Bill Keith have all been relieved of their responsibilities.

The city reports that McPherson has chosen to resign rather than be fired. His and Fye’s dismissal was the result of their actions and behaviors that violated department rules, safe practices, and the values and standards of the City of Ottumwa.

Keith was fired for what the city describes as his “failure to adequately lead those under his command and displaying an attitude of indifference toward holding employees accountable to the values and standards of the department and the city of Ottumwa.”

The city says it would try to temporarily divide the duties among the remaining employees as it searches for long-term replacements for the three departing workers.

Today, Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announced the awardees of Iowa’s Centers of Excellence Program grant totaling more than $2.2 million in funding to support and improve health care delivery in rural Iowa.

Centers of Excellence increase access to specialized multi-disciplinary care and are devoted to tackling the major health needs and disparities confronting rural Iowans. The awarded funds will help regional and local health systems build and enhance systems to ensure rural Iowans have the same access to specialized care as those living in metro areas.

“The Centers of Excellence grants not only support health care providers in improving access to specialty care in rural communities, but sustaining it long term,” stated Governor Reynolds. “I’m thrilled that this program will help three more regional health systems address the specific needs of their surrounding communities, and I’m committed to growing legislative support for these efforts.”

Iowa was recently ranked second in the nation among all states for the best health systems based on cost, access, and outcomes.

The awardees are:

Cass Health

Cass Health’s Centers of Excellence will offer services in Adams, Adair, Audubon, Cass, and Montgomery counties. Their program aims to improve rural maternal health services in southwest Iowa. This regional partnership will provide women in these communities with maternal health services, including prenatal and postnatal care that they would not have access to otherwise. Sustaining and growing OB outreach clinics in this rural region aims to reduce transportation and financial resource barriers. This will increase routine access to prenatal and postnatal care.

Mahaska Health

Mahaska Health’s Centers of Excellence will offer services in the fourteen-county region of Jefferson, Appanoose, Davis, Iowa, Jasper, Keokuk, Lucas, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Poweshiek, Van Buren, Wapello, and Washington. This project aims to improve access to high quality, specialty health care by creating regional hubs of medical expertise. Regional alliances exist in maternal care, obstetrics, and general surgery. This project will build upon these partnerships and expand them to cardiology and oncology.

Van Buren County Hospital

Van Buren County Hospital’s Centers of Excellence will offer services in Van Buren, Davis, Jefferson and Lee counties. Local partners came together to form the Southeast Iowa Complex Care Network, which will focus on the needs of geriatric patients and will offer an innovative system of collaboration and managed care that will guide patients with complex care needs to all available resources, while simplifying access to services and delivering improved health outcomes.

Each awardee will receive up to $250,000 per year for three years. Contracts will be established with each awardee later this month to begin this work.

Thursday morning following the county department head meeting, 9 residents joined the party requesting rezoning of the North 8 acres in the Southeast of Southeast section 7, township 71, range 6.

The Henry County Supervisors previously denied the request for conditional rezoning after concern was raised at the July 25^th Henry County Supervisor meeting. Ebeling’s attorney requested the opportunity to bring the rezoning request to a second hearing due to procedural questions as well as the lack of a written objection before the meeting on July 25^th. Henry County Assistant Attorney Steven Giebelhausen acted as advising council for the county to the supervisors where he agreed Ebeling’s request was valid. The supervisors voted to resend the denial and set a second public hearing for Tuesday, August 15^th at 9:30.

Chad Ebeling purchased the 24-acre property January 20^th, 2023 with the hopes to build a concrete plant in the very northeast corner of the property. The proposed site plan given to the Henry County Supervisors show the batch plant 400 feet from Hickory Avenue, and 270 feet from the edge of Gregory Knight’s property. This would place the batch plant a little over 400 feet from Knight’s home.

A work session followed the vote to resend the original denial where the supervisors, Ebeling, Ebeling’s attorney, as well as the Henry County Assistant Attorney Steven Giebelhausen went over the proposed Land Use Agreement. A land use agreement is a legal document that governs the terms and conditions of a property owner leasing out their property for use by a tenant or development by a company. The county has decided to move forward with a Land Use Agreement in this instance to attempt to find even ground for all parties involved.

Supervisor Lindeen requested interior dust control for all travel ways on the property be added to the Land Use Agreement, which was accepted by Ebeling. Ebeling also provided more information about his site plan and the process he underwent to choose the property for his project. When asked why the plant could not be located further from the road Ebeling answered the cost to run utilities to the batch plant would double. Ebeling also explained the function of the bag house that will be located on the property to ensure as little dust as possible is created. There will also be about 400 feet of trees planted between the concrete plant and the neighboring property which will help with noise and dust control as well. The other 18 acres to the south and west of the concrete company also owned by Ebeling will be rented to farmers to continue crop rotations. The point was also raised that the land directly across the street from the property Ebeling purchased is already zoned industrial, but the owner was unable to sell the land at the time Ebeling was looking for property.

Both parties affected by the rezoning will have the chance to voice their concerns at the public hearing set for Tuesday, August 15^th at 9:30 a.m. in the Henry County Supervisors’ meeting room on the 1^st floor of the Henry County Courthouse.