The downtown Atlantic building facade (exterior) improvement project is moving forward, despite some dropouts by business owners. SWIPCO Community Development Team Leader Alexis Fleener said eight building owners are still willing to move forward with efforts to obtain a Community Development Block Grant for as much as 500-thousand dollars. She said the CDBG application would be made on or before May 17th, 2019, with construction taking approximately two-years to complete. The City is applying for $456,050. The grant covers up to 54% of the cost, with the remaining share split between the City and building owners. Fleener says the City’s share amounts to $224,675, which is just under what the goal was.

A Resolution to move forward with the CDBG application passed by a vote of 6-to 1, with Councilman Chris Jimerson the lone No vote. Fleener said some of the building owners participating the project during Phase 1, are in the 400 and 500 blocks of Chestnut Street. The eight building owners have given 10-percent of their building costs as part of the application process. She said the project will be bid as one project. There will be one general contractor and various subcontractors working on the project, with the City holding the contract. Local contractors with the lowest responsible bid will be sought in the bidding process. The facade improvements covered under the program include the building frontage to 24 inches deep, along with the sides for corner buildings, as well as restoration, rehabilitation and replacement as necessary.

The Council also heard from Snyder and Associates’ Jeff Godwin, with regard to erosion on the north bank of Troublesome Creek, about 600-feet east of the Olive Street bridge, where a grade stabilization structure was installed about 40-to 50-years ago. The sheet piling and concrete structure was designed to raise the stream bed to prevent the waters from getting deeper further upstream. It failed about 10-years or so ago, allowing the river water to wash around the end of the structure.

The erosion is encroaching on the trail system and AMU well fields to the north. He says they’re looking at options on how to best fix the problem. The Hungry Canyons Alliance [HCA] (a group of counties in southwest Iowa that was formed in the ’90’s) was successful over the years to obtain federal and state funding to build similar grade stabilization structures that protect bridges and highways. The project cost was estimated at $240,000. The HCA he said, might be willing to kick-in $140,000, and Cass County Engineer Charles Bechtold said he would be willing to sponsor the grant. County bridges as far upstream as Highway 71 stand to benefit from the structure to be located downstream.

In order to be eligible for the HCA funds, a topographic survey of TroubLesome Creek needs to be taken, including a cross-section with depth measurements every 200-feet to just east of Highway 71. Godwin said HCA would pay 80% of the survey costs (estimated at $10,000), if the City wants Snyders to conduct the survey, with City’s share amounting to $2,000. Godwin said it’s possible AMU and the County could partner with the City for the proposed project, which would necessitate the removal of the current damn. He said the problem will get worse if something is not done within the next 5-years.

The Council will need to make a decision on holding the survey decision by their meeting on May 15th.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say six Davenport massage businesses have been shut down because they haven’t complied with the city’s new ordinance on licensing. Police say no arrests were made Tuesday as a city enforcement team visited the establishments. Officials say complaints have been received about illegal activity occurring inside the businesses. City officials and victims’ rights groups say massage parlors are a common front for human trafficking and illegal sex work.

The ordinance approved in March says massage therapists must be licensed by the state and reflexologists — people who massage feet, ears, hands — must be licensed by the city. The enforcement team placed code violation notices on the doors of the six massage parlors.

BOONE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 17-year-old girl was hospitalized after falling from a road bridge onto busy railroad tracks in central Iowa’s Boone County. The Des Moines Register reports that the girl fell about 30 feet Monday on Union Pacific tracks west of Boone. First responders used GPS to reach the site after receiving a frantic 911 call from another teen.
The injured girl was flown to a Des Moines hospital. Her name hasn’t been released.

Detective Andy Godzicki of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office says it appears the girl fell through two guardrails onto the tracks. Union Pacific stopped train traffic through the area while the girl was being treated and then flown to the hospital.

(Radio Iowa) — A Laurens man is jailed for allegedly threatening people with a gun at the Storm Lake Walmart on Wednesday. Police allege 21-year-old Christian Eberle pointed a handgun with a green laser attached at two different people as they were leaving the store multiple times following a verbal altercation inside of the store. Eberle then fled in a car. The car was located in Albert City. Police seized a handgun from the car along about 80 rounds of ammo. Eberle was charged with four counts of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon and one count of carrying weapons, all aggravated misdemeanors. Police allege the initial argument was connected to illegal drugs.

(Radio Iowa) — A longtime person of interest in the Jodi Huisentruit case has made his first statement to the media in 24 years, saying he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. John Vansice and his wife Jane released their statement on Wednesday through Steve Ridge, who is the chief operating officer of the Magid media consulting group based in Cedar Rapids. Ridge says they asked him to disclose that Vansice has recently been diagnosed with moderate and advancing Alzheimer’s Disease.

Vansice says the diagnosis weighed heavily in his decision to issue a definitive statement regarding the disappearance of Huisentruit, who vanished in June 1995, failing to show up for her morning program at KIMT television. Ridge says Vansice told him that despite the very private nature of this personal information, his desire to help find the person or persons responsible for Huisentruit’s abduction outweigh personal considerations for privacy. Ridge says he reviewed an 11-page confidential medical evaluation and can attest to the formal diagnosis of progressive Alzheimer’s Disease.

A search warrant was executed against Vansice more than two years ago, but the contents of that search warrant have remained sealed. Vansice numerous times has denied any involvement with Huisentruit’s disappearance.