(Atlantic, Iowa October 4, 2021) – After skipping a year due to pandemic restrictions, Southwest Iowa Planning Council (SWIPCO) held its annual meeting and awards luncheon covering both 2020 and 2021 on September 23rd at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club. A morning tour group visited the Atlas Atlantic Cinema as well as downtown façade rehab and other projects in Atlantic that had received assistance from SWIPCO over the past two years.

Following lunch the annual report was presented. Across the past two years Southwest Iowa Transit Agency (SWITA) provided 683,479 public transit rides and drove 3,421,392 miles. This is the equivalent of transporting the combined populations of Omaha and Des Moines to the moon and back 7 times. SWIPCO’s community development department likewise reported outstanding outcomes. The housing team rehabbed 128 housing units, demolished 11 dilapidated buildings, and assisted 50 homebuyers with down payment assistance. 576 rental and building inspections were also completed.

The planning team’s accomplishments included a huge variety of planning projects and grants, especially for flood and pandemic recovery, including the first ever levee project funded with Economic Development Administration funds to protect Hamburg, Iowa. In total the planning team secured 48 separate grants during the two-year period, totaling $53,346,182.68 in grant funds brought into the region.

Officials say partnerships were key to this success and several entities were recognized with partnership awards. These included:

City of Hamburg: (Left to Right) John Cox, Cox Contracting, Sheryl Owen, Hamburg City Clerk, Alexsis Fleener, SWIPCO, Cathy Crain, Hamburg Mayor, John McCurdy, SWIPCO

Fremont County: (Left to Right) Alexsis Fleener, SWIPCO, Chris Clark, Fremont County Supervisor, Terry Graham, former Fremont County Supervisor, John McCurdy, SWIPCO.

Mills County: (Left to Right) Alexsis Fleener, SWIPCO, Tim Jacobsen, ATC, Richard Crouch, Mills County Supervisor, John McCurdy, SWIPCO.

Fusselman Construction: (Left to Right) Matthew Lee, SWIPCO, Sandy Hansen, SWIPCO, Dustin Fusselman, Fusselman Construction, John McCurdy, SWIPCO.

Cass County Public Health: (Left to Right) Nancy Gibson, CCPH, Victoria Means, CCPH, Beth Olsen, CCPH, Linda Edelman, CCPH, John McCurdy, SWIPCO.

Iowa National Guard, Task Force Vigilant: (Left to Right) Mark Lander, SWITA, SSGT Grant Hurley, SGT Nick Padgett, MAJ Gabe Tramp, John McCurdy, SWIPCO

For flood recovery efforts:

• City of Hamburg
• Fremont County
• Mills County

For outstanding housing work

• Fusselman Construction, Atlantic

For Covid assistance

• Cass County Public Health
  Iowa National Guard, Joint Task Force Vigilant

Of the awards, SWIPCO executive director John McCurdy said, “During the past two years we’ve experienced a huge amount of activity related to both recovery from the Floods of 2019, fighting the pandemic and our normal high tempo of work. We were in no way alone in this fight. The City of Hamburg and Mills and Fremont Counties partnered incredibly closely with us on flood recovery, including the buyouts of dozens of flooded properties. Fusselman Construction of Atlantic has been an exemplary partner over the years without which our housing rehab program would not be what it is today.

“Cass County Public Health goes out of their way to help us navigate the difficult situations that Covid has brought up for our drivers and clients. They recognized early on the importance of our transportation service to the most vulnerable and did anything they could help keep our drivers and riders safe. The Iowa National Guard, Joint Task Force Vigilant utilized our Council Bluffs bus facility to safely conduct Test Iowa drive through Covid testing and in total their program administered over 40,000 tests. We are extremely grateful for these partnerships and the others too numerous to individually thank.”

SWIPCO is a council of governments formed in 1975 to serve the cities and counties in Harrison, Shelby, Pottawattamie, Cass, Mills, Montgomery, Fremont, and Page Counties. It includes Southwest Iowa Transit Agency and administers the Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund. Its headquarters is in Atlantic and has a satellite transit facility in Council Bluffs. It employs approximately 100 people including on average 70 transit drivers. (All photos courtesy Dee Holtz, Administrative Assistant, Southwest Iowa Planning Council)