The City of Mount Pleasant is continuously looking for better, more effective ways to provide services to our citizens. With rising costs, staffing issues, and newer, more expensive equipment in garbage collection the City believes private haulers are better equipped to provide this service.

The City Council has signed a contract with Wemiga Waste and Lance Refuse to provide residential curbside trash collection beginning February 7th, 2024. Contracting with Wemiga Waste and Lance Refuse will lower our overhead costs, provide more consistency, and allow for fewer trucks on the roadway. It will also discontinue the current sticker system.

Each residential dwelling will automatically receive a 95-gallon bin from one of the contracted companies free of charge. The amended Solid Waste Collection fees will be shown on their monthly utility bill (starting March 2024). Below is a breakdown of the current fees and amended fees.

Residents will have the option for a 65-gallon bin. To change from the auto-selection of the 95gallon to the 65-gallon, residents must fill out the form on The City of Mount Pleasant’s website (located in the announcement section) or call City Hall by January 22nd to change bin sizes free of charge. Residents will be able to change their bin size anytime during the year by paying a $20 fee which will be charged to their utility bill.

Curbside collection will take place on Wednesdays and Thursdays depending on the address. A map can be found on The City of Mount Pleasant’s website in the announcements section. All questions should be directed to City Hall by emailing solidwaste@citymtpia.com or by calling (319) 385-1470.

The letter will be sent out to residents next week.

Brent Schleisman

City Administrator

The 2023 KILJ Humanitarian Awards go to Karen Brimhall and Philip Geiser. Station owner, Paul Dennison, and manager Kadie Johannson introduced the two recipients of this prestigious award. These special moments were captured on Generation Gap, a weekly program on KILJ, which you can find on our Spotify page. Each winner was given a special engraved award and a check for $1000 which they may donate to their favorite organization. Paul said that this was a really easy choice.

Karen spoke about the past 51 years of her life, which she has spent in Mt. Pleasant. She believes everyone should learn how to give back. Speaking of parents, she mentioned how children should be taught that special value. Karen then dove into her personal life. As the wife of long-time mayor, Steve Brimhall, it would be easy to go with the flow and follow what her husband does, fading into the background. That’s not Karen. She is involved in a multitude of volunteer organizations, even spending Christmas volunteering for the Festival of Lights. She listed off the volunteer organizations that individuals can get involved in to make a difference, such as Rotary, Kiwanis, P.E.O., T.T.T., church, and multiple others.

Her husband, Steve spoke kind words to his better half, highlighting that her favorite memories volunteering are the ones that she can help a family.

For Philip, he has certainly seen a different life than many. Working in Illinois as a teacher and then principal, it was difficult for him to get involved with the Mt. Pleasant community due to his long commute. After retiring, he settled down and got involved with Kiwanis. One major project they worked on this year was the support of nearly 60 kids this Christmas. Kiwanis provided close to $6,000 of needs for children and families that have fallen on hard times.

Philip believes that, in order to be true humanitarians, we must be proactive and look for ways to help. It is not enough to just sit back, but rather we should step up and always take the opportunity to help our neighbors.

Congratulations to the 2023 KILJ Humanitarian of the Year recipients, Karen Brimhall and Philip Geiser. We all ought to take a page out of their book and recognize the needs in the community and ask ourselves how we can help.

In an effort to preserve our workforce and protect our employees, associates, volunteers, and patients, Great River Health will implement clinical masking *effective Friday, December 22, 2023*. Face masks will be required in all clinical care areas for any individual entering the clinical care area.  Face masks will not be required in non-clinical areas.

• Clinical areas: Places where patients receive care, including testing. This includes inpatient units (including nurses’ stations and hallways), Outpatient Laboratory, Day Hospital, Diagnostic Imaging, and clinic spaces (including the registration areas and waiting rooms).
• Non-Clinical areas: Hallways that are not in inpatient units, offices, conference rooms and the cafeteria.

This decision will be re-evaluated on Monday, January 8, 2024.

Effective Friday, December 22, clinical masking is required for all employees in patient care areas. Eyewear is strongly recommended and encouraged.

Airborne Precautions continue to be followed for the below scenarios:

• Patients under investigation for COVID-19, and present with COVID-19 symptoms
• While performing an aerosol-generating procedure on patients under investigation for COVID-19 or COVID-positive patients
• Responding in emergency situations
• Patients with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis

Requirements for Airborne precautions are in the Isolation and Standard Precautions Plan. Please review this plan in PolicyStat if you need to become more familiar with the practices required for Airborne Precautions.

The organization will not refuse care to individuals refusing to wear face masks.

Another political candidate came to Mt. Pleasant, as Vivek Ramaswamy met with citizens at Pizza Ranch on Thursday afternoon. With the republican caucus less than one month away, Ramaswamy is not slowing down his pursuit through the state, but rather multiplying it. By January 15^th, he plans to complete his 2^nd “full Grassley” which is visiting all 99 counties in Iowa.

The former Iowa Secretary of State, Matt Schultz, started things off introducing the candidate. He has previously worked for both Santorum and Cruz, who both won the Iowa caucus in 2012 and 2016 respectively. Ramaswamy then commented on the republican party as a whole, saying that they have “grown lazy.” He believes that the party gets angry about all things the other party stands for, yet fails to stand for what they believe in.

After mentioning that he plans to use the United States military to secure both the southern and norther border, he was met by loud applause. He also said that election day needs to be a national holiday.

“Every politician dances to the tune of their greatest donor… I am my biggest donor.”

Ramaswamy opened the room up for questions, in which he was asked about cutting the price of drugs, and what his thoughts are on the Department of Justice. He also spoke openly of his Hindu faith, saying that he is the best candidate to uphold the values of faith. He mentioned how he is not running to become a pastor, but rather to be president.

He finished the event at Pizza Ranch by telling the people that our country’s best days can be ahead of us. He doesn’t believe we need to strive to be like the great generations in the past, but rather we can exceed them.

This certainly won’t be the last time a presidential candidate visits Mt. Pleasant in the next few weeks. Iowa is a crucial state to these candidates, and you can expect to see them traveling through our communities in order to drum up support.

The Iowa State Patrol initiated a traffic stop on a white 2022 Lexus on December 20^th. The vehicle fled the traffic stop and a pursuit would take place across Highway 2 and County Road X23 in Lee County. The subject abandoned the vehicle around Hillcrest Road and 227^th Street just off Highway 2, and then fled into the wooded area. At that time, the subject was known to be a black male wearing a light gray top with dreadlocks.

Members from the Iowa State Patrol, Lee County Sheriff’s Department, Fort Madison Police Department, Lee County Conservation, and the Keokuk Police Department, were among the agencies that established a perimeter shortly before 11 am and deployed personnel on foot as well as K-9’s and aerial drones.

Authorities were alerted by residents within the search perimeter that they had observed a subject matching the suspect description moving through a field and a creek area. As law enforcement approached around 2:30pm, the subject made an unsuccessful attempt to flee. He was taken into custody.

He then indicated that he was a minor and provided a name and identifying information that could not be confirmed. John Doe was the name given to him at the time of the arrest, as he was charged with felony eluding.

Through facial recognition software, the Lee County Sheriff’s Department was able to identify the subject as 20-year-old Kaylin Lashun Dorsey of Texas. Kaylin Dorsey has multiple warrants out of Texas and is listed as a missing person in New York. The matter continues to be under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol, with additional charges to follow.