News

Foreign exchange students Amany Wahba, foreground, of Egypt and Nikolina Sevcenko, seated, of Montenegro gave presentations to the Mid-Prairie Board of Education Monday. Both are in the United States as part of the World Link Foreign Exchange Student program of which Sherry Nisly is coordinator.

By Mary Zielinski

Mid-Prairie and the other schools in the Cedar Valley Conference (CVC) will be looking at considerably more travel time if the CVC is joined by Comanche (108 miles away) and Northeast (121 miles).  The change is contemplated by the Iowa Department of Education who set a mediation meeting for November 15 in Monticello.

“We never received notice of the meeting,” Superintendent Mark Schneider told the Mid-Prairie Board Monday.  However, Mid-Prairie’s Activities Director Steve Holan and High School Principal Gerry Beeler were to attend the meeting.

Schneider said that there are basically three steps to the realignment: the mediation meeting, recommendations and then a hearing regarding those recommendations.

Regina Junior-Senior High School in Iowa City and a CVC member already has raised concerns and said it believes “…our conference should be allowed to maintain its integrity.”  The Mid-Prairie also voiced concerns at its meeting not only about the added travel costs but also possible limitation on teams getting to play as well as an impact on academic classes.  The latter reflects having coaches who also are teachers and the greater distance means earlier departure times and the use of substitute teachers to fill in, noted the Regina Principal David E. Krummel in his letter to the DE.  The CVC members have taken a standing opposing any change in the conference.

Th CVC was formed after the dissolution of the Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference in 2008 and also to keep a fairly close geographic region for the teams.  Currently, the CVC consists of Mid-Prairie, Durant, North Cedar, Tipton, Regina a, West Branch, West Liberty and Wilton.  CVC adjoins the Tri-Rivers Conference with ten teams and the Big East Conference with nine.  Indications are that Tri-Rivers and Big East have been discussing forming a possible new super-conference.

In other business, the board:

•heard brief presentations from foreign exchange students Nikolina Sevcenko of Montenegro and Amany Wahba of Egypt, both part of the World Link Foreign Exchange Student program whose local representative is Sherry Nislh;

•learned that the November 28 meeting in Keota will be the superintendent evaluation and mainly a closed session;

•discussed briefly the board policy regarding community use of school district buildings, especially on Sundays.  However, the Sunday is never for a school sponsored activity, noted Schneider.  The non school groups assume all responsibility for custodian services, he said.  The board did not move to make an changes in the existing policy;

•accepted the bus bid of $85,149 each for two buses from School Bus Sales of Waterloo, but declined the trade-in of $875 for two buses with the district handling the sale.  The lowest total bid from Hoglund Bus was disallowed because it came in 27 minutes after deadline.  Hoglund’s per unit cost was $85,968, but offered a total of $11,000 in trade-in;

•learned that the district’s certified enrollment as of October 3 is 1,178; however, there are 152 students opened enrolled into the district for its Home School Assistance Program and another 131 K-12 full-time open enrolled students which this year has brought the district $1,003,901 in funding for 2011-12 comapred to $844,435 in 2010-11; and

•held a work session to discuss options for the Central Office project that likely will result in a new building of some kind.  The board discussed hiring an engineering/design consult to review options and costs.  Action probably will be gtaken at the December 12 meeting.

Washington County Communications Center personnel are getting into the Christmas spirit again with the eighth year of the “Everyone’s an Elf” project.

Employees will be donating toys and raising money to buy gifts for needy families this Christmas with their annual bake sale and blue jean Fridays. The previous seven year’s responses have been tremendous and we hope to sponsor five or more families this year.

Families will provide information about the children and their wish list for Santa Claus. “Elves” at the safety center will be shopping and wrapping from now until December 22 getting ready for delivery. Volunteers have once again stepped up to help Santa and deliver the presents and packages before Christmas Eve.

The Elf Project has been so successful that we have also started delivering gift baskets to shut ins and elderly persons identified as having no family this holiday season.

Anyone seeking more information about the project or with an interest in donating to the “Elf” project please contact Teresa Todd or Cara Sorrells at 653-2107, 800-TIPS-492 or feel free to email ttodd@wps.co.washington.ia.us or csorrells@wps.co.washington.ia.us.

Come one come all for free cocoa and cider at the Festival of Trees in downtown Wellman beginning at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, November 26. A variety of musical entertainment will be there to spark the holiday spirit, including Iowa Mennonite School (IMS) graduates who were in madrigals in high school, the Kalona Mennonite Group and more.

At 4 p.m., ten live decorated Christmas trees on display in local Wellman businesses will be auctioned off along with wreaths and garlands. The trees will be on display starting November 19 until the auction. Free delivery of the trees within 10 miles of Wellman will be provided.

By Gloria Williams
Larry Thurman recalls how long and ineffective city council meetings in Wellman used to be before they started the public access channel seven years ago.

“Since we started broadcasting the city council meetings, the transparency within city government has been absolutely wonderful,” says Thurman, who says meetings would sometimes go on for three hours, even with only six items on the agenda. “Talk, talk, talk and nothing would get done or they make a decision and why did they make that decision? They have no idea why that decision got made. Or they just do something and then somebody would say, ‘No, you can’t do that,’ and they’d break the rules and they’d get away with it. With public access, they’re held accountable.”

Thurman started the access channel by asking questions when he joined the Wellman Improvement Group. As city clerk Donna Wade came to explain how the city budget process works, Thurman noticed a franchise fee of $10,000 that kept recurring.

By Mary Zielinski
David Patterson, the Washington County Engineer, Tuesday submitted his resignation to the Board of Supervisors, effective January 13, a move that caught the members by surprise.

Patterson explained he is leaving the county employ to become “at least for a short time” the construction supervisor for the Church of the Living Word Fellowship which includes Shiloh just south of Kalona.

“The supervisors died very suddenly,” said Patterson who is very familiar with the work underway in Brazil.  He has been to the South American county eight times and decided to take over the post “because I have the skill sets needed.”  He said he also will oversee projects in Washington, D.C. and “be back in Kalona probably this summer to help with the trail projects.”

Sarah Altenhofen of the Limecreek Limelights 4-H Club has been awarded the national “I Dare You” Leadership Award in recognition of personal integrity, balanced living and potential for leadership.  The honor was presented at the 4-H Award Family Fun Night held on November 12 at the Washington County Fairgrounds.
The award is presented each year by the American Youth Foundation  in cooperation with principals, counselors, county 4-H agents, church groups, and other organizations across the country.

Senior 4-H member Sarah Altenhofen of Wellman, daughter of Robert and Julie Altenhofen, was awarded the I Dare You Leadership Award at the 4-H Award Family Fun Night.

Rep. Jarad Klein (R-Keota) has announced he intends to run for the Iowa House in District 78. After redistricting, this newly-formed district is comprised of Keokuk County and most of Washington County.

Rep. Jarad Klein

Klein,  born and raised in Keota,  is a fifth-generation family farmer.  Klein attended Drake University in Des Moines, and is a 1999 graduate of Keota High School.   Klein is also active in St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the Washington County Pork Producers, the Washington County Farm Bureau, the Iowa Soybean Association, and the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

In his first in the statehouse, Klein has already taken on various leadership positions in the Legislature. He currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the House Labor committee. Additionally, he serves on the House Environmental Protection, Local Government, and Public Safety committees.

Jarad and his wife, Rachel have two young children and reside north of Keota on the family’s farm.

By Gloria Williams
With Veterans Day coming, here is a chance for people who want to do something to comfort wounded soldiers and learn about quilt-making at the same time.
Deb Seward and Kathy Duwa are holding the first local Quilts of Valor training sessions on Saturday, November 12 in the basement of the Asbury United Methodist Church on Highway 22 and 8th Avenue in Wellman.
Quilts of Valor (QOV) is a national organization that brings experienced quilt-makers together with those who have never made a quilt before to produce quilts for wounded veterans.
Duwa says and invites anyone who is interested to call her at 641-636-2393 or Deb Seward at 319-646-2488.
For the full story see the November 10, print edition of The Advance.

By Mary Zielinski
Final inspection and approval of the new A Avenue bridge, for which the council approved a total of $17,459.88 in change orders Monday, likely will be mid-December City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh said.
The bridge, which has been open to traffic for more than a month, was completely replaced.  The change orders involved $6,922.41 for shut offs on both sides of twin box culverts and on 3rd Street, something Schlabaugh said would not be covered by the federal grant money since it was not part of the original project.  The second change, for $15,893.07 involves grading and related changes involving removal of an old railroad bridge abutment and the third one, changes in backfill was a decrease of $5,355.670 in costs.
For the full story see the November 10, 2011, print edition of The Advance.

A fire, possibly caused by an electrical short, destroyed the 95-year-old barn on the Alan and Ranee Fladung farm at 1555 180th Street late Saturday, November 5.  The fire, discovered shortly after 11 p.m. and firefighters from the Wellman, Kalona and Keota fire departments were on the scene by 11:30 p.m.
Although fanned by a south wind, the blaze was confined to the barn and did not spread to the nearby chicken house or farmhouse.  Falling metal from the building came down in such a way that it protected a nearby propane tank from the fire.
The barn contained some equipment parts, baled hay and bagged sawdust.  It was estimated that losses from the fire amounted to about $5,000.
No injuries were reported, and while the site will be cleared, the couple have no immediate plans to rebuild the barn.

Wellman and Kalona voters Tuesday retained their incumbent officials with Steve Slaubaugh, Johnny Schwartz and Marc Pennington receiving  150, 153 and  164votes respectively.  The fourth Wellman candidate Robert Goodrich,  former council member, received 75.
In Kalona, council member Ken Herington traded his council seat for the mayor’s office, receiving 85 votes.  He will remain on the council until he takes office in January and it is likely his council position will then be filled by council appointment.
Claudine Miller-Zahradnek was re-elected to the council by 79 votes and newcomer Greg Schmidt received 80 votes to fill the seat held by Steve Lafaurie who chose not to run.  All elected officials, who ran unopposed, won four-year terms.
In Wellman, voters approved the local option sales and service  (LOSST) by 166 yes to 30 no.   The measure was not on the ballot in Kalona.
In West Chester. Chad Peiffer was elected mayor with 11 votes and all five council candidates were elected with Judy R. Augustin 22 votes; Deb Booth, 23; Laurie Johnson, 28; Bryan Tobin,26 and Jennifer Tobin, 29.  The lOSST measure was approved 29 yes to 2 no.

By Elizabeth Rhodes
The Council received an update from PUblic Works Director Aaron Shumaker about potential plans to install a new sink in the Wellman Skating Rinka move to fix leaks and to prevent pipes from freezing in the winter.
“Every year it freezes from the outside where it drains into the creek,” said Theresa Lampe, “My suggestion is, I’d like to see it stay where it’s at and see it done in a good way. It comes out of my budget and I have better things to spend my money on.” Lampe added that she does not use the sink often enough to spend so much on the project. “We don’t do dishes there—we don’t have dishes to wash. I use it to wash wheels on skates sometimes and to mop floors,” she noted, “I just wanted a sink.”
Council member Steve Slaubaugh, agreed with her.   “I don’t see why we go through all the expense if we just need a sink and faucet,” said Slaubaugh.
“I think the drain could go around the outside of the building and could be tied around the outside, no need for lift station,” added council member Johnny Schwartz.
“If we spend a lot of money on it, I’d like to look into it more—hold off until next spring,” said Mayor Ryan Miller, “Turn it over to Mark (Baker, City Administrator) and have him come back with recommendations.” All council members agreed to table the project.
In other business, the council:
• heard from Deputy Sheriff Randy Tinnes who reported 68 calls during October, 21 medical, 14 citations, two warnings, a couple OWIs, and tobacco fines for individuals who were underage. According to Tinnes, the overall number of calls in October is high compared to previous years. He also gave an update on the recent vandal activity in Wellman, saying that some of the suspects have been caught on video;
• approved Resolution No. 11-42 to set a date for a public hearing to receive comments on the plans and specifications for the 2011 Infrastructure Project for Circle Drive, 5th Avenue, and Golfview Drive. Bids will be taken the first meeting in December and can either be awarded that night or can wait until the second meeting to be awarded. There will be a public hearing date and time published soon;
• tabled the discussion and action on drawing up the deputy clerk’s job description and advertising. The Council heard from its city attorney who advised that he would prefer to hold off on making any changes. “I’d like to sit down with Mark himself and see what he envisions about how this will work as far as switching titles,” said Dan Kitchen;
• heard from councilmember Fern Bontrager: “I’m enjoying all the painted curbs. I can’t believe how it cleans up the street to have all that done,” said Bontrager;
• noted that Monday, November 14, will be the last day for leaf pick-up;
• heard from Miller, that there will be a documentary shown Sunday, November 13, at 2 p.m., at the Washington Public Library about how “people commemorate 9/11 each year through service to those affected by disaster”;
• City Administrator Mark Baker and council member Marc Pennington were absent.