(Atlantic, Iowa) – The City Council in Atlantic this (Wednesday) evening, welcomed the latest addition to the City’s Police force. Mayor Pro-Tem Elaine Otte spoke about Officer Scott Wiersma’s background.

Officer Wiersma joined the A-PD in July, 2029. City Clerk Laura McClean administered the Oath of Office to Wiersma.

APD Facebook page photo (City Clerk Laura McLean administers the Oath of Office to Officer Wiersma)

The Council then proceeded to passed a Resolution (#55-25), setting the FY26 Compensation for the Police Department Secretary-Dispatcher position. Councilperson Otte…

The Council passed also a Resolution (#56-25) approving a new Professional Services Agreement with former City Clerk Barb Barrick, for City Clerk Consulting Services.

The Atlantic City Council passed the Third and Final Reading of an Ordinance (#1060) raising the late fee for non-payment of parking tickets after 30 days $20-dollars, from the current $30 to $50. The change was previously approved unanimously by the City’s Personnel and Finance Committee.

In other business, the Council passed a Resolution setting August 20 (2025) at the date for a Public Hearing on a proposed Ordinance that would allow the vacating of a portion of the right-of-way located between 401, 405 and 411 Laurel Street. They then reviewed the 2024-2026 CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) project list and financing options. City Administrator John Lund said pending any major change orders, a surplus of about $848,171 should exist in the FY 24-26 CIP Fund.

On a related note, the Council discussed, but tabled at the request of City Engineer Dave Sturm, adding Iowa Avenue to the CIP Project list, which reduces the surplus fund to $583,170. The matter will be taken up again at the Council’s next meeting on August 20th.

The Atlantic City Council set August 20th (2025) as the date of a Public Hearing on the Conveyance of Easements over Palm Street, to the Atlantic Golf and Country Club. City Administrator John Lund explained the division of the AG&CC into two parcels (east and west) separated by Palm Street, is problematic, as it would require two separate liquor licenses for the business.

As it stands, he said the issue is in the top ten of “Stupidest” things he has ever seen from State government.

DUNLAP, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is investigating a release to the Boyer River from a stormwater ditch in Crawford County. On Wednesday morning, Aug. 6, 2025, the DNR Atlantic Field Office was contacted about a release to the Boyer River from a structure fire at Rockin K Solutions near the intersection of Highway 30 and County Road 37 in Dunlap.

The fire destroyed a service station and resulted in the release of up to 1,200 gallons of fuels, oils, aerosols and other products. Much of the release was consumed in the fire. An unknown amount of product entered a storm drain, where it then flowed into a stormwater ditch to the Boyer River. No immediate impact to aquatic life was observed.

DNR field office staff are on-site investigating the release.

(Radio Iowa) – The governor’s government efficiency task force is considering 45 recommendations, including a plan to link the salaries for educators in Iowa’s public schools to student achievement.

Former Fort Dodge Mayor Terry Lutz, a member of the task force, said a pay-for-performance system would reward what matters. “Our current system rewards teachers and administrators for their length of service or the duties they take on, with no ties to student achievements,” he said this afternoon. “This system does not reward excellence in education.”

Fourteen years ago, Governor Terry Branstad proposed a merit pay system for teachers that would have used student test scores as one criteria for pay raises. Lutz said finally linking pay to student performance is about accountability. “We have slipped in national rankings to 24th in math, 26th in reading and 28th in science. We do not stack up well here,” Lutz said. “The current education funding model is not working.”

Iowa DOGE task force chair Emily Schmitt, chief administrative officer and general counsel for Sukup Manufacturing, speaks during Aug. 6, 2025 task force meeting (RI photo)

Through a combination of federal, state and local funding for public K-12 schools, spending per student is over $18,000 according to Lutz, who said that is higher than the national median. “As one of our largest statewide expenditures, we are not getting acceptable returns on our educational investment,” Lutz said.

Lutz leads the “Return on Investment” working group within the government efficiency task force and they recommend creation of online dashboards that compare “important student achievements” to dollars that are being spent. “It’s important to note we are not suggesting cutting costs, we are focused on spending that rewards what matters,” Lutz said. “…These dashboards would be reviewed periodically to track progress and build accountability into the entire educational system, rewarding those who are making an impact.”

The “Department of Government Efficiency” Task Force Governor Reynolds created in early February will release its final set of recommendations this fall. One of the proposals reviewed by the task force today calls for a comprehensive study of government employee pay and benefits. “Some public rolls have developed compensation packages that far exceed the private sector,” Lutz said, “including health and retirement benefits, time off and others.”

The Iowa Public Employees Retirement System, known as IPERS, is a defined benefit based on an employee’s salary and how long they worked in government. Lutz said the state should shift to a pension system for future employees similar to 401Ks that’s based largely on contributions from the worker and how well investments perform.

The governor’s task force is not calling for consolidation of counties, but Lutz indicated they will recommend “considerable sharing of services” by state, county and city governments.

“Our unique make up of 99 counties and numerous cities and townships was an efficient system when we traveled by horse and buggy 180 years ago,” Lutz said. “…The public is certainly aware that this system is plagued with inefficiencies and often results in poor service.”

He suggested having the Iowa DOT take over maintenance of county roads might be more efficient.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says she is working out an agreement to deploy the Iowa National Guard to help federal immigration enforcement efforts in Iowa. Reynolds says she met with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who approached states asking for help.

“What we really looked at was like, logistics and processing is probably the way that we would look to help from a state perspective, but that’s subject to change, and I don’t know the numbers at this point. I think they’re still seeing how many states are doing it and what that’ll look like,” she says. Reynolds says they need to see what would be involved in helping out.

“We’ll see what that looks like and make sure that we have, you know, we’ve got a large deployment going on right now, too. I think it’d be, you know, we’re trying to decide if it’s Title 10 or Title 32 or what that falls under…the federal government would cover the cost on that,” Reynolds says. Reynolds says she is waiting to hear back from Secretary of Defense before she provides information on how many troops could be deployed.

“So there’s just a lot of things that have to be worked out before we have any specifics on start time and what that looks like moving forward,” Reynolds says. some 18-hundred Iowa National Guard soldiers are on a deployment to the Middle East.

(Radio Iowa) – A celebration of sculpture opens tomorrow (Thursday) in the north-central Iowa community of Webster City. Janet Adams, spokeswoman for Arts R Alive, says the collection of eight sculptures in various media will be going on display around the downtown and at West Twin Park. Some are abstract and several others depict animals.

“The sculptures are coming from really all over, mostly the Midwestern states,” Adams says. “The one that we hear people are talking the most about is The Rooster, but also Monkey See, that’s having quite a lot of conversation.” Webster City is part of a consortium of four Midwestern communities that share and display sculptures. The others are Mason City; Mankato, Minnesota; and Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

artsralive.org

(Radio Iowa) – What’s known as The Wall That Heals is being assembled today (Wednesday) in the Story County town of Nevada. The traveling version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall will open to visitors on Thursday morning. Tim Tates, outreach director for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, says they’re expecting many thousands of visitors to file past the synthetic black granite wall in central Iowa over the next few days.

“We put on the road 30 years ago this year a three-quarter scale replica that travels to communities nationwide,” Tates says, “giving the opportunity for people to have the healing that they get at the wall in Washington, D.C., have an educational opportunity to understand more about the war and how this memorial came about, and a deeper understanding of how our nation was transformed by the Vietnam veterans.”

Main Street Nevada image

A delegation of more than 160 motorcycles escorted the semi carrying the wall into Nevada late on Tuesday. Visiting the wall can be a very emotional experience, he says, ranging from grief to relief, to simply remembering the good times with those who have passed.”You get a greater appreciation and a connection to understand that here are the young men and women who put aside their lives to go off and serve for us,” Tates says, “and gave up their lives so we can have the freedoms we appreciate today, and that wistfulness that you get with understanding that what could have happened, and where would they have been had they not been taken from us?”

The replica wall is 375 feet long and stands almost eight feet high at its tallest point. It’s engraved with more than 58-thousand veterans’ names, on which many people do rubbings. “One of the unique things about The Wall That Heals is we also travel with a replica of the ‘In Memory’ plaque,” Tates says. “The ‘In Memory’ plaque was established in Washington, D.C. to honor the Vietnam veterans who came home and later died of illnesses and injuries related to their service.” The wall will be open around-the-clock from 10 A-M on Thursday through 2 P-M on Sunday, with Taps played nightly at sunset. This is the only Iowa stop this year.

The Wall That Heals – Nevada, IA