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Passed Away - Mary Hungate

Mary Hungate
March 19, 1956 - December 20, 2009
Lake View, IA


Visitation: 11:30 A.M. - 1:30 P.M. Monday December 28, 2009 at Farber & Otteman Funeral Home of Lake View
Funeral Service: 1:30 P.M. Monday December 28, 2009 at Farber & Otteman Funeral Home of Lake View





Copyright (c)2007-2009 Curtis Bloes
All Rights Reserved

Minutes of the December 22, 2009 Sac County Supervisors meeting

Board Room

10:00 AM


The Sac County Board of Supervisors met in regular session with all members present, Rick Hecht, Chairman, presiding. The minutes of the last meeting were approved as submitted.

It was moved by Bensley and seconded by Stock to approve the agenda as posted. Ayes all, motion carried.

The board members gave brief updates on committee activity.

The County Engineer telephoned his update of road crew activity.

With there being no further business, on motion, the meeting was adjourned.


Secretary S/ James W. Dowling Chairman



Copyright (c)2007-2009 Curtis Bloes
All Rights Reserved

Get all of your school consolidation questions answered directly by the organizers at this FaceBook.com page

The following link:

East Sac County School Consolidation page at FaceBook.com

Is a link to a FaceBook page where all of the organizers are standing by to answer your questions about school consolidation. You have to have a facebook page in order to participate, but setting one up is really easy.




Copyright (c)2007-2009 Curtis Bloes
All Rights Reserved

School to start 2 hours late on December 22, 2009



2 hr late start Tues Dec 22nd - no morning preschool - REGULAR DISMISSAL TIME at 3:20

Copyright (c)2007-2009 Curtis Bloes
All Rights Reserved

My 10 favorite photos from the Wall Lake Christmas Show

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saccity/sets/72157622924221089/




Copyright (c)2007-2009 Curtis Bloes
All Rights Reserved

December 21, 2009 School Board Briefing

Board Directors Shirley Phillips, Dave Sands, Melissa Bellcock, and Marti Huser were present at the beginning of the meeting. Director Brent Wilhelm arrived 51 minutes late at 5:51PM.

The minutes of the November 16, 2009 minutes were approved unanimously.

After discussion of several items, the bills (claims) were approved unanimously.

After discussion, the financial report was approved unanimously.

Elementary Principal Mike Fischer reported that “Wraparound Teams" have been formed to look at and discuss any behavior concerns that any of the team members may have regarding students. Teams, which are set up in three tiers, will meet once a month.

Mr. Fischer reported that Speed Herrig met with the fourth graders and gave a talk about how he achieved his success. This talk was part of a business course the students are participating in entitled, "Youth market Place" in which the students learn leadership skills by attempting to run a successful business.

Superintendant Barb Kruthoff Reported that Middle School Food Drive yielded 400 pounds of canned food for the food pantry and that Duckwalls will be matching that with their own 400 pound donation in January.

Ms. Kruthoff reported that Principal Olhausen, who is fighting cancer, was able to spend a day at the school between treatments, and that he further intends to spend another day at the school after Christmas vacation.

The Reorganization Committee to join Sac and WLVA Districts reported on their marketing activities and asked for the explicit endorsement of both school boards. Every Single School board directors on both the Sac and the WLVA boards said in open meeting that they are FOR Sac and WLVA School consolidation.  Sac School Board Director Huser also said that she is FOR consolidation.  In spite of repeated attempts to get a straight answer from them, Sac School Board Directors Phillips, Sands, and Bellcock would not give yes or no answers directly about being for or against consolidation, substitutingg phrases such as, "Support the efforts of the committee" or qualifying with, "Yes, but has concerns" and other circular wording.  Sac School Board Director Wilhelm was not present during the polling.

Sac School Board President Shirley Phillips improperly arranged for a private contractor to review the status of the Elementary School Roof in October. She was reminded that individual school board members do not have the authority to act on school issues without first bringing it to the school board in open meeting. Though she had this contractor examine the roof in October, she did not discuss this action at the November school board meeting.

Both the Sac and WLVA districts are applying for an accreditation waiver. State code says that in order to be accredited, every school must offer Spanish 3 and Spanish 4 with data to back up the fact that students are taking both classes. East Sac County offers and teaches Spanish 3 for high school credit and offers and teaches Spanish 4 for college credit, which does not meet accreditation standards. (In order to be accredited, the school must offer and teach Spanish 3 and 4 for high school credit only)

Because, taking Spanish 4 for college credit is so popular, Ms. Kruthoff asked that the boards direct her to apply for the waiver. Though it is unlikely that the school will be granted a waiver to continue to offer Spanish 4 as a college credit, there is a loop hole that will allow them to at least offer it for the rest of this year. Next year, Spanish 4 will be a high school credit.

The Sac School Board renewed the agreement with the Sac Community Center for $7,500 for the next six months.

Barb Kruthoff resigned her position as Superintendant effective the end of the 2009-2010 school year. The reason given was that she needs a change of pace.

The date of the next school board meeting has been set for January 11, 2010 at 6PM in Lake View.




Copyright (c)2007-2009 Curtis Bloes
All Rights Reserved

December 18, 2009 Girls varsity Basketball Scores N Stats

121809 G V BB Scores n Stats




Copyright (c)2007-2009 Curtis Bloes
All Rights Reserved

December 15, 2009 Girls Varsity Basketball Scores N Stats

121509 G V BB Scores n Stats



Copyright (c)2007-2009 Curtis Bloes
All Rights Reserved

Luckow Denied Utility Deposit Forgiveness

Todd Luckow appeared before the Sac City Council on December 14, 2009 to ask for forgiveness of his gas utility deposit at 520 Leonard Street.

According to Mr. Luckow, the deposit that the City asked for and that he paid on December 4, 2009 was $410.00. In his letter to the city, (below) Mr. Luckow seems to suggest that his former tenants kept the heat in the house much higher than when he and his wife occupied the home, leading to the much higher cost of heating, and thus the higher deposit price as he again took responsibility for paying the utilities.

Letter from Todd and teri luckow requesting forgiveness of utility deposit

City Administrator Adam Ledford presented the members of the Sac City Council with documentation indicating that Sac City's deposit policy is to charge a deposit equal to the highest month's bill in the previous 12 months. He then produced documentation indicating that this policy is consistent with the policy of other member municipalities from Black Hills Alliance. He also checked with Mid-America and the League of Cities and confirmed that those organizations too either recommend or follow the same policy. In a follow up conversation with Mr. Ledford, he indicated that to go against that policy can lead to a situation that leaves the city legally vulnerable due to the inconsistency between what the working policy is and what is in writing at the state. Because the State allows the city to have a gas utility, they have to have a written policy that matches the City's working policy. This may be enforceable by a fine.

According to Mr. Ledford, In order to qualify for a rebate, the customer has to pay their bills on time for 12 months and show during those twelve months that the highest bill was lower than the deposit. The customer can then submit a letter of request for a rebate.

Councilman Jim Johnston indicated that the City has received several requests asking for forgiveness of the utility deposit. Said Mr. Johnston, "I understand, and I feel for you, but if we start forgiving these, we're going to open up a can of worms..." He went on to say, "...I just don’t think we can bend on it."

Councilman Gary Hansen said, "This will be the first time we've ever done it, if we do."

Councilman Jim Frederick said, "I just wish we could’ve went back to the $250, [that was the highest average for the previous three years,] but if we can't, we can't I guess."

Mayor Barb Bloes pointed out that the wording of the policy indicates that the council could charge less than the full amount, but was answered by Mr. Ledford saying that it was the policy to charge the highest amount from the previous 12 months and that if the City Council wants to charge less, then they will have to change the governing policy that is filed with the state that states explicitly what rules they will follow when charging a deposit.

After the policy discussion, Mr. Luckow took a last stab at getting the deposit forgiven by pointing out that if someone were considering buying his home, they might not do so based on how high the utility deposit is, but to no avail.

The Sac City Council decided to leave the policy in place and charge Mr. Luckow and his wife, the full $410.00.




Copyright (c)2007-2009 Curtis Bloes
All Rights Reserved

December 15, 2009 Sac County Claims

The following claims were approved by the Sac County Supervisors on Decembe 15, 2009 without discussion.

dec 15 2009 county claims p1
dec 15 2009 county claims p2
dec 15 2009 county claims p3
dec 15 2009 county claims p4
dec 15 2009 county claims p5
dec 15 2009 county claims p6
dec 15 2009 county claims p7
dec 15 2009 county claims p8




Copyright (c)2007-2009 Curtis Bloes
All Rights Reserved