The Atlantic City Council, Tuesday evening, recognized the Atlantic High School Girls Swim Team. Six members of the team attending the meeting posed for pictures by the media. Five others live out of town and were unable to attend. Mayor Dave Jones spoke about the commitment the girls have to training for their events, under the guidance of their Coach, Dean Junker. That includes practicing at around 5:30-a.m. and again later in the evening. They swim a total of five-miles per day.

AHS Swim Team: From left to right – Erin Barrick; Ava Bruckner; Bryer Rose; Annamrie Lowary; Cambry Miller; and Dazia Sorensen. Missing are: McKenna Ewoldt, of Harlan; Kate Landhuis & Paige Daly, of Clarinda; Clare Christensen & Aleah Hermansen, of Audubon. (Ric Hanson/photo – w/thanks to Barb Barrick)

The team also lifts weights to keep up their strength and stamina. Dean Junker has coached the team for 13-years. For the fifth-year in a row, the Atlantic Girls Swim Team made it to the State Competition this year, and finished strong, ranking 12th out of 40 teams.

In other business, the Council approved the Fiscal Year 2018 Urban Renewal Report. And, in his report, City Administrator John Lund said the Rental Inspection report had been completed and will be submitted to members of the Community Protection Committee (CPC) to review, and determine if and/or how they wish to proceed.

Lund said also, 16 final business owner applications for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) related to downtown facade improvements had been turned-in. He said the architects will be in town next week to conduct initial photography and taking down initial schematic drawings. Lund said “They won’t be ready to discuss details with the property owners just yet. Right now they’re just trying to draft stuff so they can be in compliance with the CDBG requirements.

He said also the property rollback figures for next fiscal year have gone up, which gives the city “A little breathing room” in the budget.” Roll-back is a term that applies to the property tax rate as it changes year over year, in relation to property values. In Iowa, more than 20 years ago, residential property values were rising quickly. To help cushion the impact of high inflation, the Legislature passed an assessment limitation law called rollback. Increases in assessed values for residential and agricultural property are subject to this assessment limitation formula.