(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Board of Supervisors met in a regular session Tuesday morning. According to the meeting minutes (courtesy of Shelby County Auditor Mark L. Maxwell), Chris Nelson of Gronewald Bell and Kyhnn was on hand to present the board the results of the fiscal year 2021 audit to be filed with the State of Iowa. The review concluded that the County was in sound financial shape on June 30th, 2021.

• Two temporary liquor licenses were then approved by the Board after a motion by Parkhurst and a second by Haake. These licenses are for two events at the Pink Petunia North of Irwin near the town of Manilla. A vote was held with Haake, Kenkel and Parkhurst all voting in favor of approval.
• Todd Valline of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce announced that this Saturday will be another legislative coffee and Valline advised the supervisors of other upcoming activities in the Chamber.
• Shelby County Roads Superintendent and County Engineer, Brand Burmeister, presented the 5-year plan for fiscal years 2023-2027 and the currently planned projects.  The Board voted in favor of the proposed 5-year plan.

Supervisor Burmeister presented a Utilities in Right of Way Policy that had not been updated in over 20 years, a bituminous road policy that has needed to be rewritten and a Training Reimbursement Policy to adapt to the new commercial drivers license procedures. The policies were approved by the Board. A change in the Entrance Policy for secondary roads was tabled until more information can be received.

Maxwell reports the Shelby County Board of Supervisors has been presented the Tentative Agreements with AFSCME 1014-4 Iowa Council 61 concerning the Shelby County Emergency Management and Shelby County Sheriff’s office employees as well as AFSME Iowa Council 61 Local 1014-2, Secondary Road employee organization. It was moved by Parkhurst , seconded by Haake , to approve the Tentative Agreements for three-year contracts, effective July 1, 2022, with these Unions and to authorize the Chairman to sign the final contracts, pending signatures from the Union representatives. There were no objections. A Resolution (presented below) regarding the publication and hearing date for an amendment to the fiscal year 2022 budget, was approved as written.

RESOLUTION 2022-19 ENTRY RECORD OF THE FILING AND CONSIDERATION OF THE COUNTY BUDGET AMENDMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022

BE IT REMEMBERED on this 15th day of March 2022, the Board of Supervisors of Shelby County, Iowa, met in scheduled session for filing and considering the amendment of the County Budget for Fiscal Year 2022. There was present a quorum as required by law. Entry record for filing of said budget amendment was established and approved for publication. The Board, being fully advised, find that the date of the hearing on said amendment should be fixed, and it does fix, the 5th day of April 2022, A.D., at the hour of 9:00 a.m. as the date and time of hearing to be held in the Supervisor’s Chambers in the Courthouse in Shelby County, Iowa. The proposed service areas amended are as follows:

Explanation of Changes: Revenue from bond proceeds and ARPA proceeds and expenditures.

(March 18, 2022) – Iowans interested in issues vital to rural communities are invited to attend the 2022 Iowa Rural Summit, organized by the Iowa Rural Development Council. The event will be held on April 12th and 13th at the Gateway Hotel and Convention Center in Ames, Iowa. Communities are encouraged to register teams of three, though individuals are also eligible to attend the event. New for the 2022 Summit, college students interested in rural issues and economic development can register at a reduced price.

To register for the event as an individual, a team, or a student, visit www.iowardc.org/summit. The cost for a three-person team is $210. Individuals can register for $190 and students for $25. The registration fee includes admission to all Rural Summit events, breakfast on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, and lunch on Tuesday. Bill Menner, Iowa Rural Development Council executive director, says “We’re looking forward to a great Summit this year in Ames. Last year’s Summit brought together nearly 250 Iowans, and we hope Ames’ central location will encourage more to attend this year.”

• Pre-Summit events on April 11 include a Rural Housing Readiness Assessment Workshop and a tour of Iowa State’s Digital Manufacturing Lab. Another pre-conference tour will feature Gross-Wen Technologies and a demonstration of its algae-based system used to treat city wastewater.
• Tuesday the 12th features sessions on making rural places more welcoming and recruiting and training rural leaders. Other Day One topics include growing rural ag-tech businesses, building broadband for all, housing success stories, and aging and living in place. The day wraps up with the presentation of the inaugural Rand Fisher Rural Leadership Award.
• Wednesday’s events include a roundtable focus on the impacts of the 2020 U.S. Census. Also, the popular “45 Ideas in 45 Minutes” session allows communities to share their success stories. The day wraps up with a closing keynote address by Iowan Brenda Clark Hamilton on the need for dynamic leadership in rural Iowa. The Summit adjourns at noon.

The Iowa Rural Development Council was formed in 1992 as part of a Presidential Executive Order. Today a broad range of public-private partners supports its focus on empowering small towns and building capacity for rural leaders. Sponsors for this year’s summit include the Iowa Farm Bureau’s Renew Rural Iowa initiative, ITC Midwest, Iowa’s Small Business Development Centers, D.A. Davidson, the IADG Community Foundation, Impact 7G, Grinnell Mutual, AARP, Iowa’s Cultivation Corridor and Monkeythis.

(Radio Iowa) – Members of the Iowa House have held a bipartisan tribute to a legislative staffer who died a week ago following a brief illness with COVID. Forty-eight-year-old Josh Bronsink  had worked as an analyst for Senate Republicans since 2011. Representative Ann Meyer, a Republican from Fort Dodge, read Bronsink’s obituary and shared her own memories. “Josh was a kind and calming prescience, even in difficult negotiations,” Meyer says. “Many of you also know Kelly, who works in Human Resources for the Iowa House.”

Bronsink and his wife married 19 years ago and are the parents of two children. House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights says she and her husband have been close friends with the Bronsinks for years. “We disagreed about politics, but — wow — life is about so much more than politics and his passing reminded us of what’s really important.”  Konfrst said. “…Josh was one of the most kind-hearted and deep thinking souls I have ever known. He cared a lot and he cared deeply.” On Monday, Senator Jeff Edler of State Center led the senate in a moment of silence.

“Josh was an important member of our (Republican) caucus staff and our senate family,” Edler said. Bronsink’s funeral is scheduled for next Thursday at a church in Des Moines.

(Radio Iowa) – To avoid further litigation, the Marshalltown school district is agreeing to pay 25-thousand dollars the to family of a student who was allegedly injured by a school bus aide. Sandra Lurvey was fired from her position as a school bus aide for the district after an investigation was conducted into the incident. She faces a criminal trial, although an exact trial date involving the case has not yet been set. Lurvey faces charges of child endangerment – bodily injury, a class D felony; and assault causing bodily injury or mental illness; which is an aggravated misdemeanor. The case stems from an incident that occurred on January 30th, 2020 when a student on a special needs bus felt overly warm and took her coat off while aboard the bus.

According to records, at that point Lurvey allegedly became involved in a physical confrontation with the student in an effort to convince her to put the coat back on due to the cold temperatures. The student suffered undisclosed injuries during the incident, according to a police incident report. Marshalltown school superintendent Theron Schutte said the situation was unfortunate, but further added that offering a monetary settlement made the most sense from the district’s perspective.

(Radio Iowa) – Major party candidates for state and federal office have until 5 p.m. today (Friday) to deliver their nominating petitions to the Secretary of State’s office in Des Moines. In order to run in November’s General Election, Republicans and Democrats either have to win their party’s primary election in June or be nominated at party conventions in the following weeks. Most candidates haven’t procrastinated and have already dropped off binders full of petition sheets signed by eligible Iowa voters. The number of petition signatures varies based on the office a candidate seeks. Candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate have to submit at least 35-hundred petition signatures and have to show they’ve collected at least 100 signatures from 19 counties.

Under new rules, candidates from other political parties have to submit petition signatures by today’s deadline to qualify for the November ballot. By the close of business Thursday, the Libertarian Party has candidates running for governor and lieutenant governor and four legislative seats. Four other candidates who intend to run for state offices in November are listed as “no party” or independent candidates. Candidates for COUNTY offices have until NEXT Friday, March 25th, to deliver their nominating petitions to the auditor’s office in their county.

(Radio Iowa) – A project by the Bur Oak Land Trust to bring Pawpaws back in Iowa is entering its second year. Executive Director Jason Taylor says they planted seedlings in the first year and had people foster them. “They took care of them generally between April and October — then they would return them to us. So we were able to receive about 800 saplings that were grown over the summer,” Taylor says. Pawpaw trees were once common in Iowa as bison and giant sloths that would eat the fruit and disperse the seeds. Taylor says the Iowa City-based organization is hoping to expand on the number of trees they grow.

“This year we were actually able to get about four-thousand seeds…but we really just don’t have the capability to pot four-thousand seeds, it’s too big,” according to Taylor. “And so we are actually starting to sell seeds to the community for those who are interested in putting them in their own yards.
And then we also are potting around 600 this year so we will have another group of fosters working with us to grow them over the summer.” He says the Pawpaw trees like shady areas with wet soil.

“And so they are often found naturally growing near streams. But they definitely do work well in an urban environment. There are a number of locations in Iowa City where people have planted them in their yards. And sometimes when they are getting started you need to give them a little more water than you normally would,” Taylor says. Taylor says you need to have a least two trees to pollinate and create the fruit.

“It’s a very interesting fruit. Most people do like it. It’s about the size of a russet potato — they can be fairly large. It’s the largest native fruit to North America — so it’s a little bit unique there. It’s kind of a yellowish-green color, and then when it’s ripe, they will fall off the tree.” He says the Pawpaw tastes like a custard that is a mango-banana mix. Taylor says the Pawpaws can be planted in a patch. “They like to grow close together, and so you can actually grow a little colony of these if you have a ten-foot patch of land in your yard. You can grow five or six of these trees together and that allows the beetles that pollinate them a better chance of finding another tree,” Taylor says.

Taylor says you can go to their website at buroaklandtrust.org and buy Pawpaw seeds, or you can volunteer to help foster the seeds into saplings. He says the Pawpaw will grow well in all but the northern counties of Iowa where it would be too cold for them to properly grow.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report the arrest at around 9:20-p.m. Wednesday, of 39-year-old Mathew Louis Scherer, from Creston. He was arrested at a residence in the 300 block of N. Pine Street, and charged with two-counts Domestic Abuse Assault, along with Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree. Scherer was brought to the Union County Jail, and was later released on bond.

Authorities said also, 38-year-old Curtis Lee Lamasters, of Creston, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, Interference with Official Acts, Driving on a Revoked License, and Assault (without injury) on a person in a certain occupation. His bond was set at $3,300.

(Red Oak, Iowa) — Police in Red Oak report a man was arrested on a valid Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office warrant, Thursday evening. Authorities say 24-year-old Christopher Floyd Birdtail, of Red Oak, was taken into custody a little before 6:30 p.m., in the 2400 Block of North 8th Street. Birdtail was arrested on the warrant for Failure to Appear, on the original charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance/1st Offense.

He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $2,000 cash bond.