On Monday, Jan. 21 the first ever joint “Teachers Inservice Day” was held on the West Delaware High School campus.

Some 260 teachers from West Delaware, Edgewood-Colesburg and Maquoketa Valley gathered together to exchange learning and teaching ideas as a collective group.

This event didn’t just happen over night according to Sue Daker, Director of School Improvement at West Delaware.

“The idea first came to light in a joint School Board meeting between the three schools back in March of 2007. One of the things that came out of that meeting was their desire to see what could be done on a collaborative effort between the three districts for professional development,” stated Daker.

“In May of 2007 Ed (Klamfoth, Ed-Co Secondary Principal), Tracy (Morrison, Coordinator of School Development at Maquoketa Valley), and myself met to talk about the common things that we do for professional development. We then brought in a team of teachers for an August meeting and continued the process from there,” continued Daker.

The Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce held its Annual Awards Banquet last Wednesday night at the Cedar Lodge Steakhouse in Manchester.

The nights activities got underway with outgoing Chamber President, Tirzah Wedewer introducing the 2008 Chamber President, Judy Gudenkauf.

Also acknowledged for their service to the Chamber were retiring board members, Rick Aleman (Wal-Mart) and Jeff Larson (Community Savings Bank).

The Chamber annually gives four awards during the banquet.

This year the Ernest Hayhow Chamber Person of the Year Award went to the Manchester City Staff.

This award is given to a Chamber member who has demonstrated exemplary service to the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce.

“We are well aware that the Chamber could not begin to meet the needs of the people they serve without the wonderful, whole-hearted cooperation that we receive from the entire City Staff,” commented Executive Director, Jack Klaus.

Two local residents, Mike Wessels and Steve Keppler, were given the 2007 Delaware County Meritorious Service Award. This award is given annually to a person or persons who demonstrate exemplary volunteer service to Delaware County.

Both Wessels and Keppler fit this description very well as they continue to head up activities in the Manchester Kids League and the Beckman Complex. There would hardly be a day go by from early spring to late fall that you won’t see one or both of these gentlemen either mowing grass or picking up around the four diamond complex.

The 2007 Outstanding Chamber Committee of the Year Award was given to the Chamber’s Ambassador Committee.

The Ambassador’s make monthly visits to new businesses, new business leadership and as well recognize improvements to businesses that make up the community.

The final award of the evening was the 2007 Outstanding Project of the Year Award. This year it was presented to the Second Helping Program sponsored by the United Methodist Church.

“The Second Helpings project deserves to be recognized both because of its uniqueness and its filling of a special need in our community,” stated Klaus. “There are a large number of lives that have been touched and made better by the
thoughtfulness and creativity of this program.”

KEN BOESENBERG / Press
Awarded the 2007 Delaware County Meritorious Service Award are, Mike Wessels (left) and Steve Keppler (right).

The Delaware County Supervisors reviewed the Communication Center Agreement between the County and the City of Manchester at their Jan. 22 meeting.

City Manager Tim Vick stated that the cost of dispatching services has not been equally shared throughout the county. The smaller cities in the county have only been charged 10 cents per household for the past six years, while the City of Manchester and Delaware County have paid over 97 percent of the costs.

In that same time period, costs have risen from $51,000 to over $125,000. The City of Manchester has come up with a schedule for each city in Delaware County, along with Regional Medical Center, to help pay for the increase. RMC is third in usage behind the County and the City of Manchester, but has never paid for services before. Fees would increase just eight percent per year for two additional years. After that period, the issue would be reviewed again and a new three-year agreement would be signed.

There have been only three cities that have entered into an agreement with the City, even though the increase has amounted to less than $3,000 for the towns and $8,200 for RMC.

Vick explained that since Supervisor Koeneke told the smaller towns that the City could not actually charge them for dispatching services, he felt the costs that were left from the towns refusing to sign should be covered by the County.

Supervisor Skinner stated that the County would eventually have to do something with the jail, and that possibly at that time a new county or joint communication center could by looked into. He stated that even though this issue will have to be addressed in the future, he doesn’t think anyone could do a better job than the City of Manchester is already doing now.

The Board was not in agreement on taking over the communication center now if the City stepped down. Supervisor Helmrichs made it clear that the County would do whatever was needed to make sure the service was kept up. Skinner does not feel the County is ready to take over service, while Koeneke feels they are.

Residents attending the meeting stated that if the County were paying for over 50 percent of the services, then they should be in physical control of the center as well.

The Supervisors agreed to direct the City of Manchester to present a written proposal for a contract between the City and Delaware County for the operation and funding of the center. The Board was set to hear the proposal at their Jan. 28 meeting.