DES MOINES – The candidate filing period for state and federal offices in the 2022 primary and general elections begins/began today (Monday), February 28 and runs through Friday, March 18 at 5 p.m. Candidates must file their nominating petitions and affidavits of candidacy with the Office of Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, either in the Capitol Building or in the Lucas Office Building.

An updated list of candidates whose papers have been received and accepted will be published to the Iowa Secretary of States’ website at the end of each day and will also be updated periodically. That page is available here and will also be accessible from the home page of the Secretary of State’s website, https://sos.iowa.gov/.

Information about petition and filing requirements are available in the Candidate’s Guide, available here for the primary, and here for the general election.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – The latest addition to the Atlantic Police force will be sworn-in Wednesday evening, by Mayor Grace Garrett. Officer Jimmy James will receive and recite the Oath of Office. He replaces Officer Dustin Gelner, who left to serve with the Iowa State Patrol. City Administrator John Lund says this was the second of four openings for the Atlantic Police Department, a full third of the department. Officer James previously served as a Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy, and is returning to Atlantic from Polk County.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council will hold a Public Hearing for the FY 2023 Maximum Property Tax Dollars for Certain Levies, followed by a Resolution on setting the Maximum Property Tax Dollars for those levies. John Lund says “The City’s proposed debt service levy of $4 is completely hidden from [the published] notice. On the property tax statements of properties where no changes in assessed or taxable value have occurred, the City will show an increase of 2.92%, not the 3.86% shown on the notice.” Lund says also, “While 2.92% is the increase in dollars generated, it is not going to be reflective of the impact on the property taxes levied against individual properties. There is no way to know, what the impact will be in the year-to-year impact on individual taxpayers.”

The Council will act also, on a Resolution “Adopting the Preliminary FY 2023 Budget,” and setting the date of March 16th for Adopt the FY 2023 Budget. John Lund says “A few non-substantive changes were made to correct unbalanced transfers,” resulting in an updated budget for FY23 that totals a little more $14.7-million, which is a decrease from FY 2022 of 1.78%, or $266,800. The bottom line, according to Administrator Lund, is the “The City’s combined property tax levy shall remain at the level set in the FY 2021 and FY 2022 Budget.”

The final order of regular business for the Council, Wednesday, is action on a Resolution setting March 16, 2022, as the date for a public hearing on adopting the FY 2023 10-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The Council’s meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., and is broadcast live on the City’s cable channel.

Ottumwa, Iowa – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports Paul Lewis Wagner, who was convicted of Domestic Abuse Assault – 3rd or Subsequent Offense in Scott County, failed to report back to the Ottumwa Residential Facility as required, Saturday.

Wagner is a 60-year-old white male, height 5’10”, and weighs 245 pounds. He was admitted to the residential facility on September 22, 2021. Persons with information on Wagner’s whereabouts should contact local police.

Paul Lewis Wagner

(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents has approved millions of dollars for the replacement of windows in the bridge between the Stead Family Children’s Hospital and the John Pappajohn Pavilion on the University of Iowa campus.

U-I senior vice president for finance and operations, Rod Lehnertz, says the windows have cracked, delaminated and developed blemishes. “The windows in that portion of the building need to be replaced at this cost $3.6 million. The cost for this project will be funded through the University Hospitals building usage funds as the university seeks reimbursement from the responsible parties,” Lehnertz says.

He says they are still trying to determine who is to blame for the faulty windows that were installed in 2017. “It’s not a simple matter. They are complex window systems and the components, the installation, the manufacture, and the design are all parties to the interests of that investigation,” he says. The work would start in September.

A drawing of the Hygienic Lab addition. (U-I drawing)

The Regents also gave the approval to hire a construction manager to deal with the windows in the Children’s Hospital. While all the windows are being replaced in the bridge, Lehnertz says they don’t know if that is the remedy yet for the hospital windows. He says they may not have to replace all the windows there and that is why they also requested to hire a construction manager at risk.

Lehnertz says that the construction manager will see them through the process and determine how to handle the windows, and that will ultimately determine how much is spent on the project. The windows of the Children’s Hospital are where patients view the waves of football fans at Kinnick Stadium after the first quarter of games — a tradition that has gotten nationwide attention.

The Regents also gave the go-ahead for the building of a two-level 7,300 square foot addition to the southeast corner of the State Hygienic Laboratory. “The budget that we are asking for approval for is ten million. all of those funds supported by and provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC,” he says.

Lehnerts says the new building is needed to handle the larger volume of testing brought on by the pandemic. “It also includes a new drop-off area for the public for dropping off samples. This would be a project that would start construction by May of 2022, this spring, and would complete construction by requirements of the grant by June of 2023,” Lehnertz says.

The Board of Regents gave approval for the projects at its meeting last week.