The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday evening, unanimously passed (with Councilpersons Jimerson and Hartkopf absent) the first of three readings of an ordinance that would essentially take away the power of the Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors, to hire, fire or discipline staff working for the Department, assume oversight of their bills, and turn those matters over to City Administrator John Lund.

Councilperson Kathy Somers said the change is important, primarily because the City Administrator could better handle Human Resources matters, such legal issues that could arise in areas of hiring, terminations and disciplinary actions. Councilmen Halder, Pat McCurdy and Gerald Brink agreed that the City wasn’t “Asking any more from the Parks Department than we’re asking from the other departments.”

Halder said “Some people are seeing this as a power struggle. It’s not a power struggle, we’re just trying to do our best to protect the city.” City Administrator John Lund said “The State of Iowa looks at us as a business. The court system of Iowa looks at us as a business.” And, “All of our liabilities that we are held accountable to, are automatically passed-on to the taxpayers. That is a ‘quiet levy’ that exists. It is unlimited. If we get sued and it is over our cap, we have to pay it. Cities [in Iowa and other States such as Georgia] cannot file for bankruptcy to escape those liabilities.”

Former Atlantic Mayor, and Parks Board member John Krogman summed-up what most of the Parks Board felt after hearing about the proposed amendment to the ordinance. He said their main issue is a lack of communication between the City, Lund, and the Board. Especially with regard to learning about the proposal just minutes before they were scheduled to meet this past Monday evening. “We feel the system (in place now) has been working for the Parks Board in its current form,” but the way they found out could have been handled better.

Former Atlantic businessman Rich Perry questioned having the opportunity of hiring and firing, “In one man’s hands.” Perry said “If you have a disagreement between two individuals, what protection does the second individual have on that? Is there not an opportunity to have a hybrid system of some kind, that would involved the Board as far as having some of the decisions, but would also work with some of the administrators cover our behind?” He asked if other opportunities were researched to accomplish the same thing, “Without changing the ordinance to literally cut the legs out from under the Parks Board?”

City Administrator John Lund said he looked at other ordinances, but that they were “totally insufficient.” Mayor Dave Jones said the City Council would have the authority to reverse any decision made by Lund with regard to any hiring, firing and disciplinary action of a City Employee.

GRIMES, Iowa (AP) — Amazon has confirmed its plans to open a delivery station in the Des Moines suburb of Grimes. The Des Moines Register reports that Amazon broke the news Wednesday in a news release. The “last mile” distribution site is expected to open in 2020. Such sites are the last stop from Amazon’s delivery centers to customers’ homes.

Amazon says the station will speed up deliveries for customers in the Des Moines area and will create hundreds of part-time and full-time jobs starting at $15 an hour. Amazon has already been posting job some job openings for the delivery station.

Grimes Mayor Scott Mikkelsen says Amazon’s announcement shows the city’s “ability to provide a top-quality workplace and living environment.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A hepatitis A outbreak in Nebraska, Indiana and Wisconsin has been traced to blackberries sold in Fresh Thyme grocery stores and federal authorities on Wednesday warned consumers in 11 states against eating some berries bought from that chain.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release that the outbreak began several weeks ago in Nebraska. The department said it, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating and have confirmed 11 cases of the virus, including six in Nebraska.

Fresh Thyme said in a written statement that it’s cooperating with the investigation, working to identify its suppliers and isolate the source of the contamination. “At this time, there is no reason to believe that any of the product was contaminated via handling in our stores,” the company said.

The FDA urged consumers in Nebraska, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania to not to eat any fresh blackberries bought from Fresh Thyme between Sept. 9 and Sept. 30.

Anyone who froze the berries for later use should throw them out, the FDA said. Hepatitis A is a virus that infects the liver and can cause mild, flu-like symptoms for several weeks.

Officials with the Cass County Health System, in Atlantic, have announced that Dr. Emily Chang, OB/GYN, is now seeing patients at Atlantic Medical Center. Dr. Chang’s practice will be primarily focused on gynecological care and surgeries, and she will also offer obstetrics care. She is able to work with a wide range of patients including adolescents.

Dr. Emily Chang

Dr. Chang has worked in both Illinois and Iowa and brings more than a decade of experience to CCHS, most recently having practiced the past six years at Obstetrical & Gynecological Associates next to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. Dr. Chang is certified through the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is a Fellow of the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as a Diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Chang will work closely with Dr. James Brown in transitioning his practice before his retirement in May 2020. Appointments with Dr. Chang can be made by calling 712-243-2850.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A defense lawyer says a 61-year-old Las Vegas man will appeal his conviction and five-year federal prison sentence for illegally growing marijuana in Oregon and selling it in Iowa. Attorney Michael Pariente said Wednesday he believes Chief U.S. District Judge John Jarvey in Davenport, Iowa, improperly instructed the jury that found Oliver “Sonny” Maupin guilty in June of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute pot.

Maupin also was ordered on Monday to serve four years’ supervised release after prison. Pariente says Maupin is now in federal custody. Pariente lost a bid to get the case dismissed a year ago on the unusual grounds that President Donald Trump’s then-acting U.S. attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, hadn’t been properly confirmed by the U.S. Senate. U.S. Attorney William Barr’s confirmation made that issue moot.

(Radio Iowa) — Many Iowa employers are hiring seasonal workers who will help out through the busy Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Jon Bowers, director of learning technology at United Parcel Service, says very few other employers in the state will be ramping up staffing quite like U-P-S. “We’re planning to hire over a thousand workers in the state of Iowa and that’s going to include all of the places that we have a location which is most of your major and mid-sized cities that we have there,” Bowers says. “Of course, we deliver all over the state as well so we have opportunities for work anywhere that someone is looking for a job.”

U-P-S plans to hire more than 300 workers in Des Moines alone, most of whom will be based at the international airport location. “We’ve already begun the hiring process to onboard our seasonal employees there in Iowa and once they’re hired they can expect to work through the Christmas holiday and into January,” Bowers says. “We’re still very busy in that month as many people are cashing in those gift cards that they received or they’re returning things that they received for the holidays.”

Depending on the job, pay ranges from 14 to 30-dollars an hour and there are part-time and full-time positions available. “Those include things like working in our warehouses as a part-time package handler where you’ll move packages from one location to another inside a warehouse,” Bowers says. “We also have driver positions available, and we have those driver helper jobs open as well where you get to act as Santa’s helper and help our drivers deliver the holiday season.”

Some of the seasonal jobs can extend well beyond the holidays. Bowers says 35-percent of the temporary workers go on the acquire permanent positions.
www.upsjobs.com

(Radio Iowa) — The State Board of Education took the first step today (Wednesday) in approving changes to the rules governing the use of seclusion rooms in Iowa schools. There were concerns about three main issues when changes were first proposed and the board voted down the first version in August to allow time for more public input. Board of Education lawyer, Nicole Proesch, says one key point changes the language that tells teachers when they should act to put a student in a seclusion room. “People said you have to get rid of the term serious physical injury. When you look at criminal code and when you look at I-D-E-A, the definition for serious physical injury was loss of use of body part, dismemberment, disfigurement or possible death,” Proesch says.

Administrators told Proesch they were worried the language would keep teachers and staff from taking action. “Even when they should, because they’re going to say ‘I’m not sure if what that student is going to do is going to cause serious injury. I am going to bow out and I’m not going to step in,” Proesch says. She says they looked at several definitions and settled on using bodily injury. Proesch says they talked with administrators and education groups about the change. “And they felt more comfortable with that because they felt that it would give teachers more room to use their judgment,” Proesch says, “And not have to second-guess whether it was going to result in some serious injury causing death.”

The rule for notifying parents is changed from the current requirement that parents are notified within ten minutes to let them know within an hour after the incident is over. Ed Department deputy director, David Tilley says teachers felt that ten minute rule created some issues. “Now the time clock starts once the issue is resolved and under control,” Tilley says. “That eliminated a lot of the educators worry that you’re going to put me in a position between maintaining and helping this kid — versus going and notifying a parent.” Proesch says parents said they could not always be reached at work during the day and that created issues. They rule also says parents must be notified no later than the end of the school day

“The original rules as they currently sit are end of school day. So, if we don’t change anything it is the end of the day. Some administrators came to us and said to leave it as it is. We’ve actually up the ante by saying an hour after it has ended,” Proesch says. The last big change that was a point of concern in the public hearings and input was the size and type of rooms. Proesch says administrators felt two years currently given to make changes is not enough. “That’s why we extended that out, and then we also changed the room size a little bit, modified it down just so that A, it would make it a little bit easier for some schools that have rooms already. And we were also taking into consideration about some of the comments we received about how big it really needs to be and what works,” according to Proesch.

The changes on room size were included to prevent the seclusion rooms from simply being a broom closet. “We’ve had incidents where that has occurred — and those ere the incidents that we are trying to prevent,” Proesch says. “When we look at the rules and we look at things in here that says it has to comply with heating, ventilation, lighting, accessibility, dimensions, it has to be habitable. It shouldn’t be a utility closet that has chemicals sitting on the floor.” Tilley says the hope is that they rooms never have to be used. “The goal of crisis intervention is de-escalation and the opportunity for kids to get themselves back together,” according to Tilley. “These should if they’re used therapeutically — should be used as little as possible, as short a time as possible.”

Tilley says the total package of rules is intended to help ensure that happens in a safe manner. “Even those these were the three sticking points — it’s our perspective that there is a significant set of other changes that were made in these rules — about definitions, about training, about when seclusion and restraints should not be used,”Tilley says. The rules now go out for more comment with the first public hearing set for January 7th.

(Radio Iowa) — The Board of Supervisors in Adair County have voted to limit development of wind farms. Following a public hearing Tuesday at the Adair County Board of Supervisors meeting, and a waiving of the second and third readings, the supervisors approved an amendment to the Wind Energy Ordinance 31B. The amendment caps the number of commercial wind turbines or wind farms erected within the boundaries of Adair County at a total of no more than 535. Adair County currently has 532 turbines completed or under construction.

Their action comes after neighboring Union County earlier this year passed its ordinance allowing the construction of wind farms to start within the county. At the October 3rd meeting, the Adair County supervisors approved Wind Energy Conversion Property ordinance No. 31A which refers to setbacks. The ordinance defined the non-participating landowner, participating landowner and occupied building as well as made the set back from the nearest occupied building located on anon-participating landowner’s property a distance of not less than 2,000 feet.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports four recent arrests. Tuesday evening, Lucas Christopher Wooten, of Treynor, was arrested for OWI/2nd offense. His bond was set at $2,000. Monday night, 51-year old Shane Allen Patent, of Henderson, was arrested for Harassment in the 3rd Degree. His bond was set at $300, and, 28-year old Angel Marie Shlee, of Council Bluffs, was arrested Monday at the Pottawattamie County Jail, on a Mills County warrant for Failure to Appear. Bond was set at $5,000.

And, on Sunday, 19-year old Gabriela Lynn Kermoade, of Omaha, was arrested following a traffic stop, for Possession of a Controlled Substance. Her bond was set at $1,000.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The former office manager of the Iowa City Area Development Group is facing federal charges for a 13-year theft scheme in which she misspent more than a half-million dollars. Court documents filed Wednesday show that Sheri Jelinek is charged with seven counts of wire fraud. A plea agreement signed earlier this month calls for Jelinek to plead guilty to those charges, which each carry up to 20 years in prison.

It comes about five months after a state audit documented her embezzlement from the nonprofit, which promotes workforce and economic development and is funded by local businesses.
A charging document alleges that Jelinek used the group’s money from 2004 to 2017 for more than 10,000 unauthorized purchases on its credit card that totaled $502,000. The charges were personal in nature and included a wide array of online shopping, groceries, insurance and more.

In the plea agreement, Jelinek admits only that her theft was more than $150,000 and the full amount will be determined by the court.