The Montgomery County Treasurer’s Office reports that effective immediately all driver’s license services will be closed through October 1, 2020. They apologize for any inconvenience.

All motor vehicle transactions and tax services will resume as normal through this time.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors met on Tuesday morning in the courthouse board room and had much discussion in regards to the new rock quarry south of Atlantic. The Board had decided last week to put an item on the agenda this week to establish a 40mph speed limit on roadways designated as hauling routes to the quarry and to place additional signage. The board approved the resolution on Tuesday to establish a 40mph speed limit on 620th Street from Oxford Road north to the Atlantic City Limits, Lansing Road from US Highway 6 to 620th Street, and Jasper Road from 620th Street to US Highway 71. Supervisor Steve Green put the motion forward to approve and it was seconded by Supervisor John Hartkopf.

Further discussion on the situation was held early in the meeting as a local farm operator voiced his concern about a blind hill near Lansing Road and 595th Street. Both Supervisors Green and Mark O’Brien said they went out to research the location and agreed that a stop sign placed at that intersection would be needed to make the increased truck travel safe. They also discussed with County Engineer Trent Wolken about possibly cutting down that hill in the future and regrading the roadway to improve two-way travel. They decided to add an item to next week’s agenda to act on putting a stop sign up at that location along with stop ahead warnings. They also took into consideration the need to try to limit dust in the area due to the increased traffic.

Another discussion item at the meeting was the possible closing of the 570th Street I-80 underpass per a request from the Iowa DOT. Supervisor Green expressed concern he had received from area farm owners that the closure could possibly impact their land value with the separation of access. He also expressed concern about a homeowner just south of the underpass that has a creek bridge south of their property. They stated that the creek bridge has flooded twice in the past 13 years during large rain events and the underpass closure would leave them stranded if that situation arose again. The board discussed possibly doing some work in that area to prevent future flooding. That work they said could be funded by the money the Iowa DOT would give the county to close the underpass. Ultimately no decision on the closure was made and Engineer Wolken will look into some of the possibilities to address the concerns that were raised.

The Board finished their meeting by entering into closed session to evaluate the performance of County Engineer Trent Wolken. The Board is set to meet again next Tuesday, September 29th at 9:00 a.m. in the board room at the Cass County Courthouse. They plan to have all end of the month business addressed that day since the following day will be the last day of the month.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office today (Tuesday), reports with regard to the vehicle pursuit from yesterday (Monday): One subject was apprehended Monday night. The other is not believed to be in the area any longer, but their whereabouts are still unknown.

Authorities say “It is still always a good idea to lock all houses, outbuildings, and vehicles.”

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(Radio Iowa) 0 Establishments with liquor licenses have until Friday to complete and send the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) a COVID-19 compliance checklist. A-B-D spokesman, Jake Holmes says the checklist follows complaints that some businesses were not following the rules. “The purpose is really for the licensee to certify that they’ve read and understand the terms of the governor’s proclamation,” Holmes says. Holmes says they had some 300 reports of businesses not complying through last week. He says the checklist asks them some questions.

“If they’ve arranged seating in a certain way to ensure that six feet of physical distance. That they understand that all patrons need to be seated and that they’ve implemented additional measures to ensure social distancing. It’s just a few yes or no questions,” Holmes says. “And then they have the ability to submit pictures to show us what they’ve done in their establishment.” He says the checklist gives them a record to go on if they do get a complaint.

“On our end it will help expedite the process to resolve a compliant if we should get one — by allowing us to cross-check the information that they have provided with the actual findings that we come across,” Holmes says. Holmes says they will go out to investigate if they don’t get the checklist back. And that could lead to further action.He says they will see if it is something that they can work with and try to get them into compliance –otherwise, he says it will be just like a normal inspection where they will open up a case depending on the facts.

Holmes says they haven’t taken any action at this point to revoke a license for non-compliance.

(Radio Iowa) – A new Des Moines Register “Iowa Poll” shows the presidential race in Iowa is a dead heat. Forty-seven persident of the likely Iowa voters surveyed said they will vote to reelect President Trump and 47 percent said they will vote for Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Just three percent said they were undecided and the rest said they’d vote for a third party candidate.

The poll shows Trump has a 21 point advantage among male voters in Iowa, while Biden has a 20 point advantage among women. The survey was conducted last week, before the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The previous Iowa Poll was conducted in June. It also found the race between Trump and Biden for Iowa’s six electoral college votes was neck-and-neck.