anuary 17, 2017 – Ottumwa, Iowa –  Ottumwa property owners are responsible for the mowing and maintenance of  vegetation on their property, including the area commonly known as public right-of- way to the edge of the street or alley. There are approximately 180 private lots where the City has been mowing grass and weeds in the right-of-way along private property, particularly near wooded lots and land being used for agricultural purposes.  An analysis is being conducted to identify those areas with the purpose of reducing the amount of mowing performed by City staff.

City Administrator Andy Morris said, “In most cases, the City started mowing these private property right-of-way areas to address a nuisance, unusual terrain or visibility issue for drivers.  These areas are clearly private property; the responsibility of the property owner.  We don’t believe it’s appropriate to ask the taxpayers of Ottumwa to pick up the tab for mowing private property.”

City code requires residential properties to be mown prior to growing to ten inches in height.  Land used for agricultural purposes are required to have a twenty foot mowed buffer between crops and adjacent streets, alleys, public rights-of-way and neighboring lots.  Wooded area must have a mowed buffer along the public right-of-way and adjacent  private property.  The City will be sending notification letters to a number of property owners reminding them of their legal obligation to maintain their property.

Saturday marked the first session of the Eggs and Issues series of 2017, a tradition in Mahaska County for the last few years which allows community members to engage with local and state officials to discover what is going on within the community.

Local residents came together early Saturday morning to Smokey Row to hear from local officials; Oskaloosa Mayor David Krutzfeldt, Chair of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors Mark Doland, and Oskaloosa Community School District Superintendent Russ Reiter. In a time that is considered to be full of change, all three officials reflected on the political changes which will be occurring within the nation as a whole over the next few months due to the change of political power.

Oskaloosa Mayor David Krutzfeldt discussed the city’s plans for the upcoming months including road repairs and improvement projects. Krutzfeldt noted the plans for the installation project, which includes chip sealed roads in northeast quadrant and the reconstruction of the S D St. and N 17^th St. bridge.

In the city’s 2017 plans, it is noted that they intend to build up the rental community with the Rental Inspection Program. The program, which is currently awaiting approval from the city council, intends to allow the city to have more involvement in the regulations of rental properties to improve the conditions. It has been presented as an idea to help clean up the community and provide a safer environment.

A local resident asked about the increase of water and sewer bills within the community of the past few months. Krutzfeldt explained that the city is in the process of having to do improvements in the quality of service because the improvements needed to be done rather quickly and the cost jumped about twenty-five percent which is roughly equivalent to six dollars more a month for the average user. Based off of current projections of costs, it is expected that there will be more costs in the future.

Mahaska County Board of Supervisors Chair Mark Doland may have had some of the most controversial topics brought up during the session. In his opening statements, Doland discussed the mental health programs in which the community has been working on improving. With these improvements the amount of assistance for mental issues have increased through the community. The improvements have been made with an employee assistance program, which is designed to help people who are on duty when a crisis occurs. The intent of the program is to provide help with any mental issues that may have occurred, including sessions at the hospital.

The city also intends to increase the amount help with mental health issues in jails by having a full time therapist available. It has been shown through different communities with an increase of assistance within the criminal justice system the amount of suicide watches went down to nearly zero.

Moving forward, Doland stated his intent to drop out of the 28E agreement involving the airport facility with Oskaloosa and Pella. Doland said that he does not agree with the agreement and intends to discuss the drop out on Tuesday at the next meeting. Members of the community had an alarming amount of questions concerning the intent to drop out, and the aftereffects if the county did drop out. It was shortly discovered the other parties in the agreement do not need the approval from the community and can continue the project without it. The contradicting opinions of the community and Doland was assessed through questions and comments from various members of the community. Regarding the results, it will be determined on Tuesday after more information has been released during the meeting.

Oskaloosa Community School District Superintendent, Russ Reiter, discussed the school’s current positon. Financially according to Reiter, the district is in pretty good shape after the reductions that have been made over the last few years. One of the programs Reiter discussed was the Homeschool Assistance Program. The goal of the program is to have a teacher help the students through their work load.  With this program, students that wish to be homeschooled, have the option of having dual enrollment. With the dual enrollment, students are able to participate in school district events and have testing to ensure they are staying on track with their studies. The school district is also working towards building relationships with other nearby districts to give students the opportunity to attend classes that their school does not have.

The next Eggs and Issues will be on Saturday, January 28^th at 8:30 a.m. at Smokey Row in Oskaloosa.

Story provided by Alyssa Kerry, News Correspondent

On Friday January 13, 2017 at approximately 1:15a.m. Oskaloosa police officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle that was traveling on North Market Street for a registration violation.  When the officer initiated the traffic stop a 2016 Dodge Dart fled from officers at a high rate of speed northbound out of the city limits.  Assistance from the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office was then requested by pursuing officers.  The suspect vehicle was pursued northbound from Oskaloosa on Highway 63 through the city of New Sharon and then westbound on Highway 102.  While traveling westbound on Highway 102 the suspect vehicle lost control and rolled multiple times.  The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle was then taken into custody.

As a result of this incident 20 year old Juaquin Jesse Zika of Urbandale Iowa was taken to Mahaska Health Partnership and then transferred to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines for injuries suffered from the accident.

A records check determined that Zika was wanted on multiple arrest warrants out of West Des Moines and Polk County.  These warrants are for various theft charges as well as an escape from custody charge.

Upon Zika’s release from the hospital he will be transferred back to the Mahaska County Jail.  Zika has been charged with eluding law enforcement, driving while license suspended, reckless driving and multiple speed and traffic control device violations.  This incident is still under investigation and further charges are pending.

The Oskaloosa Police Department and Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office were assisted in this incident by the New Sharon Police Department and the Iowa Department of Transportation.

As a reminder, a criminal charge is merely an accusation and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

On Friday January 13, 2017 at approximately 1:15a.m. Oskaloosa police officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle that was traveling on North Market Street for a registration violation.  When the officer initiated the traffic stop a 2016 Dodge Dart fled from officers at a high rate of speed northbound out of the city limits.  Assistance from the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office was then requested by pursuing officers.  The suspect vehicle was pursued northbound from Oskaloosa on Highway 63 through the city of New Sharon and then westbound on Highway 102.  While traveling westbound on Highway 102 the suspect vehicle lost control and rolled multiple times.  The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle was then taken into custody.

As a result of this incident 20 year old Juaquin Jesse Zika or Urbandale Iowa was taken to Mahaska Health Partnership and then transferred to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines for injuries suffered from the accident.

A records check determined that Zika was wanted on multiple arrest warrants out of West Des Moines and Polk County.  These warrants are for various theft charges as well as an escape from custody charge.

Upon Zika’s release from the hospital he will be transferred back to the Mahaska County Jail.  Zika has been charged with eluding law enforcement, driving while license suspended, reckless driving and multiple speed and traffic control device violations.  This incident is still under investigation and further charges are pending.

The Oskaloosa Police Department and Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office were assisted in this incident by the New Sharon Police Department and the Iowa Department of Transportation.

As a reminder, a criminal charge is merely an accusation and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

DES MOINES — In a news release, MidAmerican Energy plans to build new wind farms in Boone, Greene and Mahaska counties in Iowa. The two new wind farms will be the first Wind XI project sites selected for construction.

MidAmerican Energy plans to begin construction in April on the Beaver Creek wind project in Boone and Greene counties and the Prairie wind project in Mahaska County, with completion scheduled for the end of 2017. According to the release, the wind farms are part of MidAmerican
Energy’s Wind XI project and will add 338 megawatts of new wind generation capacity in Iowa: the Beaver Creek wind project will consist of 85
turbines, which will add 170 megawatts of wind generation capacity and the Prairie wind project will have 84 turbines and add 168 megawatts of
wind generation capacity.

MidAmerican Energy announced plans in April 2016 to invest $3.6 billion for the Wind XI project. It is the largest economic development investment in Iowa’s history. The project calls for the construction of 1,000 wind turbines that will add 2,000 megawatts of wind generation capacity in Iowa.

The company is working with developers, county officials and landowners at potential wind farm sites in other Iowa counties for the balance of the Wind XI project, according to the news release. Construction on these projects would start in 2018 and 2019, and sites will be announced at a later date. Construction on the entire Wind XI project is expected to be complete by December 2019.

“MidAmerican Energy is not asking for an increase in customer rates or financial assistance from the state to pay for the Wind XI project,” said Bill Fehrman, president and CEO of MidAmerican Energy via news release. “For our customers, the benefits of Wind XI are very clear: clean energy produced right here in Iowa, using an abundant natural resource. We believe the best way to meet the energy needs of our customers is to provide safe, reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible energy.”

The Wind XI project is expected to produce $1.2 billion in economic benefits for Iowa communities as a result of landowner easements and property tax payments over the next 40 years. Additionally, during construction thousands of jobs are expected to be added to Iowa’s economy and hundreds
of new permanent jobs will be added when the expansion is complete.According to the news

According to the news release, with its investment in the Wind XI project, MidAmerican Energy’s wind generation each year will be equal to 85 percent of the energy used by our retail customers in Iowa, bringing us within striking distance of our 100 percent renewable energy vision.

The Oskaloosa Indians digital sign on A Ave. West has been dark for some time, and it will remain dark for a while longer.

Oskaloosa High School (OHS) students are about a third of the way to the $30,000 goal to get the sign functional, according to student council member Leah Van Maanen. The funds are needed to replace the obsolete inner workings of the sign. So far $11,185.70 has been raised, said business education teacher Kim Gile, who is also student council advisor.

“We’ve sent letters out to local businesses to see if they would like to contribute to our fund,” said Van Maanen. “It kind of effects the whole community.” The timeline to get the sign in working order is “as fast as possible,” she added. “It’s been a little while since we’ve done fundraising [for it].”

Van Maanen said bake sales, yard signs and the blind volleyball game in February are just a few of the ways the student council raises funds for the sign. Gile mentioned a fun new activity for the high school students to participate in.

“We’re going to do Mr. and Mrs. Cupid. We have couples — they don’t have to be a couple, but just whoever — and you can take around an ice cream bucket, and you can decorate it however and you just ask for donations,” she said. “It’s just a way to help raise money, and they can ask people in the community to help contribute and it’s all going to go toward the sign.”

Gile wanted to be sure to thank the community for helping and participating.

“They help us a lot in a lot of things,” she said. “They support us wholeheartedly when we do crazy stuff at games.”

Story provided by the Oskaloosa Herald