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Newton, Washington Advance in First Round of Class 4A Softball Regionals

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

In regional softball action last night, several area teams attempted to punch their ticket to the semifinals in Class 4A.

In Class 4A Region 3, Pella was defeated by Norwalk, 6-2. Pella’s season ends with a record of 8-28. Norwalk will face Carlisle on the road Saturday night at 7 PM in the regional semis.

In Class 4A Region 5, Washington defeated Central DeWitt, 7-2. That locks in a third matchup between the Demons and #5 Oskaloosa. Those two teams split early in the season in Osky. This matchup will also occur at the Oskaloosa High School Softball Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 7 PM Saturday night and you can hear the live coverage on 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN, radiokmzn.com, and the KMZN mobile app starting at 6:45 PM.

In Region 7 in Class 4A, Grinnell was dispatched by Cedar Rapids Xavier, 12-0. Grinnell’s season comes to a close with an 8-26 record.

Region 8 saw two area schools pitted against each other in Newton and Knoxville. Newton rode the home field advantage to a huge 11-1 victory to move into the regional semifinals against #2 Winterset on the road on Saturday night at 7 PM. Knoxville’s season ended with a record of 12-16.

Oskaloosa School Board Passes Technology Proposal

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

Oskaloosa School Board members listened and asked numerous questions of school technology director Shari Barnhart Tuesday night. Following about 70 minutes of questions and answers, the board approved a proposal for the 1 to 1 technology project.

The scope of the project includes replacement of 775 Macbooks at the high school and the purchase of 815 Dell 11-inch Chromebooks for the elementary. Also including in the project is the replacing of 230 teacher Macbooks with a 13-inch MacBook Air.

In her presentation, Barnhart explained that the pricing of the Dell Chromebooks at $199.38 and its ability to utilize the apps currently in use as a factor. Barnhart did say one application, Logger Probe, would have to be used using a “Citrex Solution” as well as some of the more robust apps. The Logger Probe is used in some deep thinking analyzation applications.

Board member Erik Edgren asked several questions about assurances the Citrex Solutions would work for those students when they are at home. He was also concerned about the strength of Internet connections to operate, especially those in the rural areas. Edgren lives southeast of Oskaloosa and sometimes rural connections are much more difficult. He is also concerned if the applications cannot be used offline.

Board member Carl Drost asked superintendent Russ Reiter if this purchase was moving the district forward to student achievement. Reiter said he was confident that it was putting the students in a position to be successful. Board member Kraig Van Hulzen agreed since the elementary students have not had computers for each student available in the third through fifth grades.

Following the discussion the board agreed to use no more than $615,000 and awarding the contract to HSI, Incorporated and related vendors for the project. Reiter and business manager Chad Vink said the funds for the project would come from the current 1-cent tax and the PPEL Fund.

The measure passed on a 5-1 vote with Edgren voting against.

 

 

Report from RD Keep

Plots Still Available at Community Garden Sites in Oskaloosa

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

Community gardening is on the rise in Oskaloosa!  In 2016 there is an additional garden as well as additional plots at the community gardens in Oskaloosa.  One place interested gardeners can find information about the community gardens of Oskaloosa is the new website  bzposky.wix.com/communitygardens.  This website was developed by Emily Brown, United Way Community Impact Coordinator.  The site will be updated during the growing season!

Community Garden sites and the facilitators at the sites in Oskaloosa include OCSD Glendale Garden, Ron VanHeuvelen (641-660-4329. rvheuvelen@gmail.com); Hope Gardens, Blaine Vos (641-676-1601, oskyhope@gmail.com); Lifeforge Church Garden, David Steinbron (641-638-1657, daalstein@gmail.com); and William Penn Garden, Marsha Riordan (641-673-1044, riordanm@wmpenn.edu).

The OCSD FFA learning garden will again plant, tend, and harvest their garden and establish raised beds for vegetable production.  The produce will be provided to the local food pantries.  OCSD FFA Learning Garden facilitator is AG/FFA Instructor Bret Spurgin (641-895-2291, spurgeinb@oskyccsd.org).

For more information about community gardening in Oskaloosa, specific gardening topics or Mahaska County Extension horticulture programming, please contact Mahaska County Extension by email striegel@iastate.edu or phone at 641-673-5841 or visit our website www.extension.iastate.edu/mahaska.

 

Information from news release from ISU Extension, Mahaska County.

Groundbreaking Ceremony Symbolizes New Era in Oskaloosa

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

The Oskaloosa Fire Station was the site for a special groundbreaking ceremony Friday morning as crews begin work on the updated facility passed a couple months ago by the City Council.

Fire Chief Mark Neff, along with Mayor David Krutzfeldt, City Manager Michael Schrock, and City Council members Joe Caligiuri, Scottie Moore, and Aaron Ver Steeg, were on hand to symbolically dig the first holes for the new addition to the fire station.

Chief Neff is excited for the new facility to begin construction.

“Everyone here at the station is really excited,” Neff said. “The staff here has been great. It’s been a little trying at times, but the construction crews have worked hard and they’ve been working almost every day. They haven’t let the rain slow them down. Now we can actually see that something is being done. It’s just been four years that we’ve been working on the project, it’s nice to finally see stuff coming around.”

Last fall, there were some complications with the initial project’s design and the money that it would take to complete, which far exceeded the 3.195 million dollars citizens voted to allocate to the project.

Neff said that the redesign process was done carefully.

“We sat back down with the architects,” Neff explained. “I didn’t want to underbuild the building because I knew that was going to be an issue. You never want to move into something and be full right away. You need to have a little bit of room for arranging stuff.”

The project was redesigned with alternate plans in place in several locations of the model for additional items to be added if the budget allowed.

According to Neff, this worked much better and stayed within the budget.

“It actually went pretty smooth,” said Neff. “We were able to break everything down and put the bid alternates in place. We got everything that we really requested through the bid alternate plan and it worked well. They backed out some of the remodel upstairs, but we’re perfectly happy with that. It’s going to be a nice addition.”

There are plenty of key features with the new addition to the station, and there will be plenty of functions when the project is completed, but none bigger than space.

“The biggest thing is just flat square footage,” Neff explained. “It’s going to give us a lot more room getting vehicles in and out. These vehicles are not getting any smaller. In fact, we brought in a new apparatus just last week and that apparatus will not fit into the existing station. It’s about 2 inches too tall. So this new facility is going to accept that new sized apparatus and we won’t have those things to worry about.”

People in Oskaloosa can now see 2nd Avenue closed on the block housing the fire station and a former parking lot torn up for the project, but those are not the only changes the public will be able to notice on the site in the next couple of months.

“In the next two or three months, you’ll see the footings come in,” said Neff. “You’re going to start seeing some flatwork for concrete done. Obviously the overhead lines are going to be gone. And you might even see within two months some of the steel structure and masonry start.”

The timeline for the project is about 15 months, which means completion should occur around late summer of 2017, barring any setbacks.

You can view photos of the groundbreaking ceremony on our Facebook page, “KBOE 104.9 FM.”

BREAKING: Boil Water Advisory Lifted in Oskaloosa

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

The Oskaloosa Municipal Water Department is happy to announce that the Boil Water Advisory has been lifted effective immediately.  Test results from samples that were gathered Tuesday and Wednesday throughout Oskaloosa and Beacon have shown that there was no bacterial contamination of the water supply, and that the water was, and is, safe to drink.

We sincerely and wholeheartedly apologize for the inconveniences and issues this may have caused our customers.  The action of issuing the advisory was precautionary to help ensure the integrity of the water system and the health and well-being of our customers.

Steps are currently being taken to reassess operating procedures to help ensure that something of this nature does not happen again.

The Oskaloosa Municipal Water Department would like to take this time to thank all of the local media outlets for helping us get the word out to our customers and to thank those who stood by us and continued to provide support as we worked through this.

Again, we would like to reiterate that the water is safe to drink, that tests have shown that there was no bacterial contamination, and there is no longer a need to boil water before using for human consumption.

Oskaloosa City Council Discusses Golf Cart Ordinance

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

The Oskaloosa City Council met for their regularly scheduled meeting Monday evening and discussed a few items that had little or no opposition.

Prior to the regular meeting, there was a study session regarding an amendment of the city ordinance regarding golf carts.

City Manager Michael Schrock explained that the city requires golf carts to be registered and insured to operate on Oskaloosa roads. He also said it has been an administrative burden and isn’t doing anyone any good since there have not been citations and has been difficult for some residents to get the proper insurance on their golf cart.

The ordinance has been in the city code since 2011 and there have not been any issues with golf carts on the roads and trails in that time frame. Currently, the state requires operators of a golf cart on city streets to have a driver’s license, a slow moving sign and an orange flag on the rear of the vehicle, and the cart can only be operated between sunrise and sunset.

The council agreed they could eliminate the city ordinance and adjust their traffic laws to include possible citations for violations with golf carts in the future.

In the regular meeting, the council heard from Jerry Bottenfield of Sheriff Avenue, who was concerned that the city council was not being as transparent as they should be with the proposed reconstruction of Sheriff Avenue.

Bottenfield explained that the residents on Sheriff Avenue have not been notified of the reconstruction project, nor do they want any sidewalks on their street. Bottenfield also produced two petitions with every resident along Sheriff having signed them.

After the meeting, Council Member Tom Walling explained that they were just in the beginning process of determining what they were planning to do with Sheriff Avenue, and the project was at least still two years away. He said that the public would have had plenty of opportunity to speak about the project prior to it being implemented in the future.

In the regular agenda, the council also discussed a proposal from Council Members Walling and Aaron Ver Steeg to add a Loading Zone to the west side of the square for truck deliveries from UPS, FedEx, and other companies. These trucks either use the alley on that side of the square or parked their truck in the middle of the street to still allow for two-way traffic.

The alley has been approved for a recreation project and can no longer be used, and Ver Steeg explained that it is a safety issue for traffic with the truck sitting in the middle of the road on Market Street, which is also Highway 63.

This item was simply to have the city staff look into a study to determine what parking space could serve as the Loading Zone, for what times the space would be unavailable to regular parking, and other items. This passed on a 5-2 vote, with Council Members Steve Burnett and Tom Jiminez voting against.

The next scheduled meeting of the Oskaloosa City Council is set for Monday, April 18, in Council Chambers in City Hall. The meeting will be called to order at 6 PM.

Mahaska County Board of Supervisors Receive Bids for Property

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors met for their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday morning and the major topic of discussion involved bookkeeping and adjustments among county services and employees.

The Board approved a consulting fee of $23,400 to Elert & Associates to look at the current communication system for the emergency services within the county. The consult will help determine what system Mahaska County will need for a long-term solution.

The Board also heard from Heather Gross regarding AmeriHealth business agreement with the new privatized Medicaid system, which has gone into effect this month in the state of Iowa. AmeriHealth is the primary provider within Mahaska County among the three approved companies for the privatization plan. The discussion will continue at a special meeting next Monday.

The Board also approved a one-year agreement with Carosh Compliance Solutions, from a recommendation from the HIPAA committee. Carosh will focus on case management for compliance with protected health information within the county. The contract was approved for $13,750.

In other business:

  • The Board approved the second reading of a speed ordinance for the county road just north of KBOE Radio and waived the 3rd reading, due to a lack of opposition to the ordinance
  • The Board set a hearing date for an ordinance regarding roadway and bridge construction for the May 2nd meeting at 9 AM
  • The Board received bids for a county farm property, and will determine the highest bidders for the two parcels of land next Monday

The next meeting of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors is set for Monday, April 11, in the Mahaska County Courthouse in Oskaloosa. The meeting will be called to order at 10 AM.

Oskaloosa Man Apprehended After High Speed Chase

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

An Oskaloosa man is in custody at the Jasper County Jail after a high speed chase through Polk and Jasper Counties.

Derek Mullennax, age 35 of Oskaloosa, led authorities on a 30 mile chase, reaching speeds of 145 mph. The chase started in Pleasant Hill, and ended in Lambs Grove after Mullennax hit a tree stump.

Mullennax faces charges of attempted murder, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, eluding police, as well as other traffic charges.

An Iowa State Patrol vehicle caught fire at the scene of the crash in the dry grass and brush. The trooper driving the vehicle was not injured.

School Board Meeting 3-7-16

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

The Oskaloosa School Board of Directors worked through a busy agenda Monday night handling a number of routine items.

The board approved a public hearing on Tuesday, April 12 for the 2016-17 school budget. Superintendent Russ Reiter recommended a budget with zero percent growth and an estimated levy of $15.4981 per $1,000 valuation. Reiter said the actual levy may be less, but until the Iowa Legislature sets an amount, this was the best way to go. Reiter said he felt it would ultimately be around $15, but recommended approving the higher rate.

“You can go lower if you wish after its published, but the levy can go no higher,” said Reiter.

The board also approved student fees for the next academic year with those fees remaining the same as 2015-16. Lunch fees were set at a previous meeting.

The board approved the purchase of new bleachers for the high school gymnasium and the smaller gym generally used for freshman athletics. This purchase completes the replacement of the competition gym and will allow for three rows of seating on the east side of the small gym. Seating and Athletic Facilities Enterprises, LLC received the bid not to exceed $53,210.

Thomas Bus Sales received the bid to install cameras in 25 busses. Transportation director Bill Almond and Reiter said the cameras would go into the 22 busses, which cover the routes in the district as well as three activity busses. Thomas put in a bid for the units and installation for $54,735.63.

The board also extended the timeframe for certified staff to apply for early retirement. Reiter said during the budget reduction meetings there was indication that there may still be some staff interested. The board voted to allow until March 31 for staff to notify the administration office. The same requirements for application and payouts are available to staff who have not previously chosen the option.

In other business:

  • Approved a solar power grant project at the middle school
  • Approved going out for bids for two 77-passenger busses
  • Authorized the sale of the used fluorescent lights currently being replaced by LED lighting
  • Set March 22 at 7:30 p.m. as the time for another board meeting

 

Story provided by RD Keep

City Council 3-7-16

Posted on by KBOE Administrator

The Oskaloosa City Council met for their regularly scheduled meeting Monday night at 6 pm in the Council Chambers of City Hall.

Multiple topics were discussed, but the main topic of the night was the Brownfields Assessment Grant Project.

Scott Mattes of H.R. Green Company presented on the Brownfields Assessment Grant Project to kick off the regular agenda. Mattes gave an overview of the EPA Brownfields Program, and stated what a “Brownfield” is. He said that according to the EPA, a Brownfield is a property that might be hindered in redevelopment or reuse due to a potential presence of an environmental contaminate or hazard. Some examples Mattes gave of Brownfields are abandoned warehouses, old mining entrances, and incompatible land use, as in a residential structure next to a warehouse or a grain elevator.

Mattes went on to say that the City of Oskaloosa earned two assessment grants totaling $400,000. He said the city can use that money to improve or redevelop sites that might have environmental risks. Mattes said after an assessment of Oskaloosa, around 3,500 parcels had a potential environmental risk. He then said that the group of properties was narrowed down to 121, and then it was again narrowed down to around 30 properties by an advisory committee.

In other business, the Consent Agenda was unanimously approved, and a new 28E agreement for fire protection services was passed unanimously for Adams, Garfield, Harrison, Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, Scott, and Spring Creek Townships.

Budgets were also discussed and approved unanimously. It was noted that the average resident will see an additional $6.48 per month, or $77.76 annually for sewer rates, which will be effective April 1st, 2016.

Vacancies were also announced for the Airport Commission, Civil Service Commission, Historic Preservation Commission and Municipal Housing Agency.

The next meeting of the Oskaloosa City Council will be held on March 21st, 2016 at 6 pm in the Council Chambers of City Hall.

 

Story by George Henry

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