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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Council approves resolutions; tobacco-free areas, facilities Childcare centers running smoothly since merging Local members re-elected to school boards

Council approves resolutions; tobacco-free areas, facilities by Ken Boesenberg

The Manchester City Council held its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday evening, Sept. 10. The council had two public meetings on the agenda. The first was resolution R-140-2007 to approve Urban Renewal Plan Amendment for the Manchester Urban Renewal. The amendment was used to authorize the use of urban renewal authority for the acquisition of certain real estate property for use in connection with an urban renewal project. The property being referred to is the old Don and Walt property on West Main Street. The balance of the payment by the city for the property is $243,000 and will be added to the general obligation debt of the City of Manchester. After some discussion a motion was made by Councilman Hanson and seconded by Councilman Broghammer to accept the resolution. The resolution passed with just one decenting vote, that from Councilman Ogden. The second public meeting was concerning resolution R-141-2007; Approving Development Agreement Soppe & McCrabb, LLC, Authorizing Tax Increment Payments and Pledging Certain Tax Increment Revenues to the Payment of the agreement. In the resolution the City of Manchester agrees to make tax increment payments in a total amount not exceeding $70,550. Also contained in the resolution is an agreement between the City and Soppe & McCrabb, LLC pursuant to Chapter 15A of the Code of Iowa that contains the following language: “Pursuant to the factors listed in Chapter 15A, the Council hereby finds that: (a) The Soppe & McCrabb, LLC Project will add diversity and generate new opportunities for the Manchester and Iowa economies; (b) The Soppe & McCrabb, LLC Project will generate public gains and benefits, particularly in he creation of new jobs, which are warranted in comparison to the amount of the proposed financial incentives.” The Council also adopted a policy on tobacco free areas and facilities. The council members heard from Parks and Recreation Director, Ben Page regarding the new policy. “There are a number of towns and cities that are adopting such policies for their parks and recreation areas. The policy goes hand in hand with what we in the Parks and Recreation Department are promoting, good health,” commented Page. The new policy contains the following restrictions for tobacco use: • 25 feet from all shelter houses, sporting venues (i.e. tennis courts, basketball courts, soccer fields, ets.), drinking fountains and playground structures and equipment, • 25 feet from Tirrill Park Bandshell and seating. • 25 feet from Tirrill Park Gardens and Fountain, • Siebert Park Memorial Hall (entire building), • Manchester Family Aquatic Center (entire facility), • Beckman Sports Complex (entire facility), • Historic buildings or artifacts, • City sponsored events on park grounds. The implementation of the policy will be encouraged through the following ways: 1 - Sinage shall be posted at all designated tobacco free areas and facilities, 2 - City staff will make periodic observations of the areas and facilities to monitor compliance, 3 - A public education campaign will be implemented to assist in citizen understanding and compliance with the policy, 4 - Associations, groups or individuals that utilize the City owned areas and facilities must commit to enforcing the policy during all scheduled activities. Indianola and Urbandale are two other cities that have made the transition to tobacco free parks in their towns. In other business the council • set Monday, Sept. 24 at 5 p.m. as the date for a public meeting regarding the General Obligation Corporate Purpose Loan Agreement in the principal amount not to exceed $600,000. The purpose of the bonds are for $250,000 for paying for the purchase of the Don & Walt facility, and $350,000 for the Honey Creek Addition Project. • approved Resolution No. R-148-2007 authorizing and approving a Loan Agreement, amending Resolution No. R-045-2007 and providing for the issuance of a $45,000 General Obligation Corporate Purpose Note. The purpose of the note is to pay for the repairing of the slide at the municipal aquatic center and for acquiring a vehicle for the police department. • the Council also discussed the securing of two credit cards to be used by the City Manager and other employees of the City of Manchester with conducting business for the City of Manchester. It was noted that it is becoming nearly impossible to secure hotel or motel rooms connected with meetings without the use of a credit card. The City currently has fuel cards for use at Farm Service, BP and Wal-Mart. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Manchester City Council will be Monday, Sept. 24 at 5 p.m. in the Council Chambers.

Childcare centers running smoothly since merging by Latisha Sand

The Community Childcare Centers have been running smoothly since their opening as one entity on Monday, July 2 and the centers have not made any changes to their services. “The transition has gone very smooth,” said Vicki Reis, the director of the centers. “One of our major goals was to keep things the same and we haven’t lost any families to the transition.” They have also hired several new people, mostly to make up for the summer college and high school help they had, but overall the staff has remained the same. Reis oversees both centers, spending time at each center, and the Community Childcare Center Committee hired two on-site directors for the Storyland and Carousel locations. “Christie Holtz has been with Storyland since they opened,” said Reis about the on-site director for Storyland, “and Cindy Bradley has been with Carousel for six years. It was nice to pull those with experience and those who already knew families. That helped with the transition.” Both previous owners of the centers wanted to retire, but didn’t want to see the centers close and all those families have to find new daycare providers. That’s when the idea for the Community Childcare Center came about. Also, being as one entity, the centers will be able to apply for grants that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. For example, Storyland recently received a grant for new playground equipment. Carousel was declined because they are in the 500-year flood plain. However, Reis said that Carousel will apply for other grants in the future. “We want to continue to build upon what we have,” said Reis. “We want to utilize outside sources, such as state resources. The state is starting to see that early childcare is important and are now providing more funding.” Instead of being run by owners, the centers, as a non-profit group, will be run by a committee. This committee consists of seven elected members, one appointed by the Manchester City Council, one appointed by the West Delaware School Board, one by the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce, one by Delaware County Economic Development and one appointed by the Iowa State Extension office. The other two members are appointed at large. All members will serve a staggered three-year term. “The transition has gone extremely well,” said committee member Tim Vick. “We are all pleased with how the staff has stepped up. Change isn’t something that people take lightly.” The centers serve children from two weeks old to two years old. Each center has a room that separates the children by age and they have several children come before or after school. Those same children are full time during the summer months. The centers are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Each center offers a pre-school program for children ages three and four. One of the things that Storyland picked up after the transition was offering pre-school scholarships. These scholarships, offered through various services including Operation New View, allow families who are not eligible for head-start to be eligible for pre-school. “The scholarships go over very well,” said Reis. The centers, which are licensed to care for 120 children, 51 at Carousel and 69 at Storyland, does still have some openings. Call Storyland at 927-9827 or Carousel at 927-3900 for additional information.

Local members re-elected to school boards by Latisha Sand

During the Tuesday, Sept. 11 school board elections, several members, who ran unopposed, were re-elected to their posts. In the West Delaware School Board election, Mike Ryan was re-elected for another term with a total of 115 votes. There were three scattered write-ins for a total of 118 voters. There are 6405 registered voters, which means only 1.84 percent voted in this year’s election. In the Maquoketa Valley School Board election Donna Kunde ran unopposed and was elected to the board with 74 votes. There was one write-in vote for a total of 75 voters, out of 3601, which is a 2.08 percent turnout. James G. Lueken and Randall Mescher were elected to the Edgewood Colesburg School Board. Lueken received 62 votes and Mescher received 59 votes. There was a total of 63 voters, out of 1854 registered voters, for a 3.4 percent turnout. In the Northeast Iowa Community College board election, Donald Frazer received 97 votes and Kenneth G. Reimer received 123 votes.

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