TheSacNews.com: 2/1/10

March 10, 2010 East Sac County School Board agenda

March 1, 2010 Odebolt City Council agenda

Minutes of the February 23, 2010 Sac County Supervisors Meeting

February 23, 2010
Board Room

10:00 AM

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

It was moved by Bensley and seconded by Hecht to amend the agenda to consider a drainage claim. Ayes all, motion carried.

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

It was moved by Bensley and seconded by Hecht to approve a drainage claim against Joint DD 274 Main Open Ditch (Sac and Buena Vista Counties) submitted by Kuehl and Payer in the amount of $36.50. Ayes all, motion carried.

The Board reviewed the comments from Hunzelman, Putzier & Co in regard to the county audit for fiscal year ending June 30, 2009 and discussed responses to each. It was moved by Hecht and seconded by Bensley to approve responses for corrective action to the comments and forward same to the CPA firm of Hunzelman, Putzier & Company. Ayes all, motion carried.

John Torbert, Executive Director of the Iowa Drainage Districts Association, made his annual presentation of IDDA issues and the status of two lawsuits involving Calhoun and Monona Counties.

The County Engineer updated the Board on the activities of the county road crews and the status of current maintenance and construction projects.

It was moved by Hecht and seconded by Bensley to approve the Federal Aid Agreement for Project BROS-Co81(59) – 5F-81 for replacing the bridge on County Road M-35 between Sections 31 & 32, Cook Twp. Ayes all, motion carried. This project is funded 80% by Federal Bridge Replacement funds and 20% Farm to Market funds.

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

Secretary S/ James W. Dowling Chairman _______________________________, Date _____________

******************************

Calhoun County 4-H team wins 4 awards at Robotic Challenge held at the Science Center of Iowa

The Calhoun County Tech Team gets their robot ready to compete at the 4-H Robotic Challenge at the Science Center of Iowa on Saturday, February 20th. (Photo submitted)

By Jill Mims
On Saturday, February 20, seven 4-H members of the Calhoun County Tech Team known as the Mechanical Mindstormers participated in a 4-H Robotic Challenge at the Science Center of Iowa. The challenge was held in conjunction with the 4-H Foundation Gala event. Six teams from across Iowa participated in the challenge.

When teams arrived at the Science Center, they were given two challenges and four hours to complete them. The first was to build and program a robot using the LEGO Mindstorm NXT kit. The robot was to take a ball that represented a planet through a wormhole, maneuver through an asteroid field and release the planet into the orbit of the new solar system. Points were given for completing the obstacle course in the shortest amount of time, for not touching any asteroids, and for releasing the planet into orbit.

The second challenge was to build a robot using common household items that could draw a line. Points were given for the length of the line they were able to draw in a one minute time frame.

In addition to the robot challenges, the team had an interactive display, they talked to Science Center patrons about 4-H, and got kids involved by having them build their own robots out of marshmallows.
“Not only are the kids gaining knowledge about robots and how to program them, they are learning a lot about teamwork” said Jill Mims, Calhoun County Youth Coordinator and team coach. “Sometimes it takes more than one person to solve a problem just like it does in the real world. They are learning how to respect everyone’s input and opinion.”

The team worked very hard and received four awards: the 4-H Engineering Award, the Creative Solution Award, the Interactive Exhibit Award, and the People’s Choice Award.

Members of the team who participated in the 4-H Robotic Challenge include
Taylor Duncan
Olivia Hanlon
Jane Kipp
Ben Kolbe
Kjersti Olson
Tiffany Poen
Kennedy Stern.

The team, coached by Tom Duncan and Jill Mims was sponsored by:

Calhoun County Community Foundation
Rockwell Collins
Champion Chrysler Center- Rockwell City
Security Saving Bank- Farnhamville
United Bank of Iowa- Lohrville
Farmers Lumber Coop- Farnhamville
Lohrville Locker- Lohrville
Mark’s SuperValu- Lake City
Tony’s Steakhouse- Farnhamville
Vosberg Enterprises- Farnhamville
Wilkins NAPA Parts- Lake City.

If you would like to find out more about FIRST LEGO League and other exciting science and technology opportunities in 4-H, please contact the ISU Extension- Calhoun County Office at 712-297-8611.

Ice build-up turns water on, prompts resident to ask for sewer bill forgiveness

February 22, 2010
For the second Sac City Council meeting in a row, a resident appeared before the Sac City Council to ask that a portion of their sewer bill be forgiven.

According to Sandy Miller, the resident in question, snow and ice from her roof melted and ran off onto the ground. As the water hit the ground, it accumulated underneath her outside water faucet and re-froze. It eventually built up and managed to turn her faucet on. According to Ms. Miller, that water then ran down into her basement.

The water reportedly did not go into the sanitary sewer because the drains where disassembled and not operative. According to Ms. Miller, the water “Sunk away” into the ground around the edges of the sanitary sewer.

Working with the city office, Ms. Miller determined that 8000 gallons in all were used in this fashion. In all, Ms. Miller’s sanitary bill was $98.00, which included the 4000 she was estimated to have used.

Councilperson Brian Muska, noting the similar situation from the previous week made a motion to split the bill in half, ($49.00) and then add the $11.30 to that for the meter fee bringing Ms. Miller’s total fee to $60.30. Before a second to that motion could be made, Councilperson Jim Johnston pointed out that Mr. Muska’s motion didn’t take into account the 4000 gallons Ms. Miller normally uses. The motion was subsequently allowed to die for lack of second.

A new motion made by Councilperson Jim Frederick allowed for Mr. Johnston’s information and directed the city clerk to determine the normal amount of usage and then forgive the portion of the bill greater than that amount. That amount has not yet been determined.

January 2010 Waste Water Treatment Plant Department Head Report

smcr011586 - Clint Cody Feilmeier

All people accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
The disposition of all cases are subject to change without notice.
These documents are freely available for inspection at the Sac County Courthouse.
Comments regarding crime requires use of real name

Sac City Council takes no action in CAASA funding

On February 22, 2010 Rhonda Dean the Executive Director of the Centers Against Abuse and Sexual Assault visited with the Sac City Council In the hopes that they would consider budgeting $500 for them in fiscal year 2011.

Ms. Dean reviewed for the council the highlights of a handout she had given to them for consideration earlier. She said that in Sac County, CAASA worked with 17 new adults and 4 new students in 2009.

According to Ms. Dean, in fiscal year 2011 CAASA will have to eliminate one counselor from its eight county network in response to a 12% plunge in funding from grants. They are attempting to find new sources in order to keep from having to cut that position, thus the donation request from Sac City.

Ms. Dean pointed out that in addition to grants and donations; they operate two second hand stores to help fund them.

The Sac City Council did not immediately respond to Ms. Dean's request and instead merely thanked her before moving on to the next item on the evening's agenda .

City Council is only pretending to try

The City Council is spending about $180.00 per membership to subsidize the Sac Community Center next year.

On February 22, 2010 Chelsea Bengford appeared before the Sac City Council to give the Sac Community Center’s annual report. She spoke for a few seconds less than 2:00 minutes. Here's what she said:

1. They approved next year’s budget
2. They gave the front desk assistants a raise
3. Iron man challenge runs through the middle of March
4. They are going to be giving free introductory swimming lessons
5. The swim club will be meeting in April
6. They got some new equipment in the last few months in the fitness room
7. They are going to be working in the roof and definitely need some help
8. She said that she was happy that the Community Center was able to be used as a shelter during the ice storm. It was a good thing, and it was kind of neat to talk to the people that stayed. They learned a lot and she thinks it went well.

Seriously, that was it.

Councilperson Bill Brenny actually said "We appreciate the information" like the presentation was anything more than an insult to the intelligence of those gathered.

Mayor Barb Powell thanked her for coming.

*facepalm*

That was an easy $30,000 for the Community Center's 166 memberships.

January 2010 SCPD log

smcr011585 - Paul Anthony Smith

All people accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
The disposition of all cases are subject to change without notice.
These documents are freely available for inspection at the Sac County Courthouse.
Comments regarding crime requires use of real name

agcr011584 - Clint Cody Feilmeier

February 2010 Sac City Gas Department Head Report

Governing bodies continue to muzzle musicians in postseason

"Sweet Caroline" is great. The kids from Unity and the Knights' foe, East Sac County, danced to it.

But a high school athletic contest is not the venue for Diamond. The purist in me wants to hear... Read more

TSN Scanner fun

Getting a scanner tomorow. :)

.oO(how cool would it be to have a live scanner feed for my website?)

.oO(How hard would it actually be to set up a voice to text on that sucker and have it send out a real time text feed?)

.oO(How long before the mother of my child kicks me out for having a scanner turned on 24/7?)

March 2010 City of Lake View newsletter

Sac City water department head report for January, 2010

022210scc sac city water department head report

It was reported that the leak at the car wash was on city property.

Sac County Supervisors adopt the final corrective actions for items on which they were written up

On February 23, 2010 the Sac County Supervisors reviewed the comments from the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 governmental audit performed on Sac County by the firm Hunzelman, Putzier & Co., PLC.

These audits are performed to both assist government entities to stay honest and to look for signs of deliberate wrongdoing. The following documents are the findings of that audit and are then followed by the Sac County Supervisors proposed responses to those findings.

Sac County Auditor, Jim Dowling who presented the audit characterized the comments as "Not too harsh," saying that there was a couple of things that the supervisors need to address. He pointed out that there were some items that were already addressed as a result of the auditor's visit in late 2009.

A common comment on almost every audit performed on small government entities is that there is not enough segregation of duties. As Mr. Dowling joked, "We should just hire ten more people and see if [the auditors take the complaint] out." That joke is heard all over northwestern Iowa this time of year as the auditors make their findings. It is not realistically expected that any entity with as few employees as the Sac County government will be able to properly segregate the office duties, but the game has to be played.

On a more serious note, Mr. Dowling pointed out to the supervisors the item entitled, "Excess Fund Balance." The excess fund balance is in the capitol projects fund balance where the county started the communications center project years ago. When they started that project, they borrowed the money from the American National Bank so they could pay the contractor as they went.

Upon completion of the communications center, they converted that debt to the debt service fund so that they could levy against all property in the county.

During the transition there was an estimated $10,000 left in that fund which is still there to this day. According to Mr. Dowling, transferring that money into debt service will lower their debt service levy for next year.

Mr. Dowling was instructed to put it in next year's budget.

Sac County Supervisor, Rick Hecht was concerned about the comments regarding excess vacation hours. He said that the issue of excess vacation hours “comes up every time. It shouldn't continue to come back."

Mr. Dowling told him that the new software package that the office will begin using in March 2010 will allow them to keep better track of those hours. The inference was that they would then be able to act more quickly.

Mr. Hecht then addressed the item on page 3 of the report entitled, "Certified Budget" that discussed disbursements that exceeded the budget in the CPC (mental health) office. He said the following:

"...we knew the write up was going to be noted here. With our relatively new CPC, [Lisa Bethune] where they have a... It's really a complex bookkeeping situation in that they have three different sets of numbers that they have to keep track of, including the local budget, a cash bookwork system, and an accrual bookwork system and it makes [keeping track of everything] really difficult."

He continued saying that this situation was pointed out to them last summer and that they have had a discussion with Ms. Bethune who Hecht claims told him that the mistake that led to this write up will not happen again. In her defense Mr. Hecht emphasized that the system is very complicated explaining, "the State sends their money down to us on an accrual system, yet [the mental health office is expected to] locally manage a cash accounting system and it just makes it very difficult."

The recommendations for corrective action measures, (final page) were adopted by the Sac County Supervisors at the February 23, 2010 meeting. With that adoption, the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 audit is completed.

Sac Liquor Store license renewed

On February 22, 2010 the Sac City Council considered the following application for renewal of liquor license for Mar Ro Ltd DBA Sac Liquor Store.

Sac City Chief of Police John Thomsen reported that he had had no objections to the renewal.

The Sac City Council renewed the license without further comment.

Sac City Council extends housing rehab contract

By approving the following contract amendment, the Sac City Council extended the Sac City housing rehab project for 1 year from 2010 to 2011.

According to City Administrator Adam Ledford, The full contract is for $345,000 and of that $145,000 has been expended thus far.

022210scc rxiicog housing rehab amendment

agcr011583 - Allen Michael Fron

All people accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
The disposition of all cases are subject to change without notice.
These documents are freely available for inspection at the Sac County Courthouse.
Comments regarding crime requires use of real name