Oskaloosa police are searching for a missing Oskaloosa man. 34 year old Jeffrey VerSteegh was last seen on the south side of Oskaloosa, and last spoke with his mother July 28th. VerSteegh is 5 feet 11 inches and weighs 170 pounds. He has brown eyes, brown hair, and has a tattoo of his last name on the inside of his forearm and a skull with wings across his upper chest.

He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt and tennis shoes. If you have information regarding Jeffrey VerSteegh’s whereabouts, you are asked to call the Oskaloosa Police Department at 641-673-0347. More info at the link below.

https://www.findthemissing.org/…/cas…/case_report_html/30164

The company proposing to build an oil pipeline across Iowa has awarded construction contracts for some of the work.

Dakota Access, LLC, a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, said Tuesday that Michels Pipeline of Brownsville, Wisconsin, and Precision Pipeline, LLC, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, would provide workers for construction of the pipeline.

The pipeline would transport crude oil daily from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution center in Illinois. Critics say the pipeline could have negative effects on the environment.

Michels Pipeline is expected to construct segments in Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota. Precision would construct segments in Iowa and Illinois.

A spokeswoman for Dakota Access says the company expects regulatory approval for the project.

(Information in the following story is from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com )

The Oskaloosa City Council met for their regularly scheduled meeting in City Hall Monday evening.

The agenda was short, but there were still some interesting discussions. First, the council considered approval for a site plan for the Crystal Heights Care Center expansion project, located at 1514 High Avenue West. The council’s main sticking point was whether or not to fully force the property owners to build sidewalks. Council member Aaron Ver Steeg said this is a perfect opportunity to connect that entire street with the sidewalks, even though some of the sidewalks on that street are old and could be out of date with the current code. The property owner said they had no issue in putting in the sidewalks, as long as they did connect somewhere.

This would require the city to eventually plug in sidewalks at three other pieces of land on the street to complete the sidewalk, but when completed, would give sidewalks for a large portion of that particular street.

The next item was a review and discussion of the proposed 28E agreement between Mahaska County Emergency Management Commission and Mahaska County E-911 Service Board. This was done so the Mahaska County EMC Director will oversee both of the boards. The vote will be officially done by both boards, and will not come back to council. This was set on the agenda, so that council knew what was happening with the boards. This agreement will not change the boards or their function, just the leadership positions. State regulations specify that two separate boards need to be in operation.
Finally, the council considered a resolution directing the mayor to execute a 28E Agreement between the city of Oskaloosa and the Oskaloosa Municipal Water Board of Trustees. This lines up the sewer system with the Oskaloosa Municipal Water Department.

Council member Jason Van Zetten opposed the move, saying the city has had a lot of trouble with that department and the citizens should have had a chance to vote on the matter before the service gets monopolized in town.

Council member Doug Yates said he felt it was a positive deal for the city. Council member Scottie Moore added that people had plenty of opportunities to speak on the matter during the study sessions that occurred in the drafting of the agreement. Council member Tom Walling said they didn’t want to have a third party doing the duty, so they came to an agreement with an entity within Oskaloosa.

The agreement passed on a 6-1 vote with Van Zetten the lone vote against.

The next scheduled meeting of the Oskaloosa City Council is set for Monday, October 5th at 6 PM in the Council Chambers of City Hall in Oskaloosa.

The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors met for their regularly scheduled meeting Monday morning in the Mahaska County Courthouse, and although it was a brisk meeting, there were several key points of discussion.

First and foremost, the Board approved a letter of application to the South Central Behavioral Health Region. This caps months of decision making and discussion, as the Iowa Department of Human Services stated that Marion and Mahaska County could no longer operate as a two-county region in mental health.

Supervisor Mike VanderMolen was skeptical to join the southern region, but stated he supports the application to show a united front. The South Central Behavioral Health Region is currently made up of Wapello, Davis, and Appanoose Counties.

In other business, the Board received a bid from Groenendyk Farms to acquire the property of the Country Life Health Care facility that was closed earlier this year. The bid was not for the entire parcel of land, and instead was just for the front. VanderMolen and Vice-Chair Willie VanWeelden said they were looking to keep the entire property together, even if that meant that they should tear down the building and fill in the lagoons themselves, rather than selling the property as is. With that, they unanimously rejected the proposal, and VanderMolen will gather a rough idea of the cost that the demolition and other adjustments would be.

Also, the Board announced that they will have their Local Option Sales Tax Hearing on October 1st, at 6:30 PM at the Third Floor Conference room at the Mahaska County Courthouse. This issue is a huge decision for the county. One of the main candidates to receive funding through the Local Option Sales Tax is the proposed recreation and childcare facility. The Oskaloosa City Council has already backed this with their sales tax. Again, the public hearing for the Local Option Sales Tax of the county is October 1st at 6:30 PM at the Mahaska County Courthouse.

Finally, the Board again discussed the household hazardous materials site. They learned that the Mahaska County Landfill was unable to house the site with any state funding because they currently are having some compliance issues. According to Chair Mark Doland, the landfill is not sure exactly where the violations are occurring. He stated he felt that the Board should see what kind of need the county has before further pursuing building a permanent site or getting a satellite site from the Iowa DNR. VanderMolen reiterated that there needs to be some sort of site in the county, as Mahaska is one of only six counties in Iowa without a current site to collect household hazardous materials. After a lengthy discussion, the Board will look into setting a joint meeting with city officials and the landfill board to figure out the issue.

The next scheduled meeting of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors is set for October 5th at the Mahaska County Courthouse in Oskaloosa. The meeting will be called to order at 9 AM.