THURSDAY, JAN. 1, 2026 • VOLUME N0. 124 • ISSUE NO. 15 • 1 SECTION • 6 PAGES
Serving Colfax • Mingo • Baxter • Western Jasper County
CEDCO requests up to $500K from Jasper County for child care center Contributions could be made over a period of years, supervisors still undecided By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune Colfax Economic Development Corporation, or CEDCO, has formally requested the Jasper County Board of Supervisors to donate up to $500,000 towards the upcoming child care center project in Colfax. The request was made at the end of a 25-minute presentation during the Tuesday morning supervisors meeting. Tim Salmon, superintendent of the Colfax-Mingo Community School District and vice-president of CEDCO, told supervisors that CEDCO received a $1.7 million grant from Iowa Workforce Development to build a new child care center. The center will be operated by the school district when fully constructed. The facility — which has already broken ground — directly addresses an issue
many rural communities face: a lack of available and affordable child care. State data shows Jasper County is short more than 1,000 spots for daycare. “From my perspective as superintendent of a school district, we struggle with our parents finding places for their kids to go,” Salmon said. “And the other big thing is the affordability of child care because child care is extremely expensive. We set goals if we can get this opened up we’d keep our prices as low as we could.” In total, the Colfax-Mingo Child Care Center is estimated to cost $3.4 million. The plan is to construct a more than 12,000-square-foot building with a capacity of 140 children, from newborns to school-age kids. It will also have beforeand after-school care. Colfax-Mingo was one of nine centers approved by the state. CHILD CARE | 2
Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune CEDCO has formally asked the Jasper County Board of Supervisors to contribute up to $500,000 over a period of years for the new child care center in Colfax. The supervisors have not yet made a decision.
Supervisors approve additional design work for third phase of F-48 resurfacing County pays $29K out of farm-to-market funds for supplemental agreement
Sheriff’s office envisions local training area that could be used by other agencies By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune
By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune Additional work is needed to complete the third and final phase of the Highway F-48 West resurfacing project, which has spanned a few years now. County Engineer Michael Frietsch presented the board of supervisors this past week with the second supplemental agreement with Snyder & Associates for the additional design work associated with the project. The county intends to submit its final plans in mid-January 2026 and have a bid letting in April 2026. Frietsch said when the county first began the preliminary work for the third phase
Jasper County puts law enforcement training center project out for bid
Jasper County The Jasper County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 23 voted 3-0 to approve the second supplemental agreement for the third phase of the F-48 resurfacing project.
of F-48 West he knew a curve near 124th Street would have to be realigned and additional right-of-way would need to be acquired. Tying 124th Street in to the project offered even more challenges for the county. “And then also what we had to do to make it all work to-
gether, we needed additional right-of-way on 44th Avenue as well because we ended having to redo 124th Street from the curve all the way south of 44th (Avenue) and raise the grade and horizontal curvature,” Frietsch said. RESURFACING | 3
Jasper County is soliciting bids for its law enforcement training center project. The board of supervisors approved the construction plan for the facility during its Dec. 23 meeting. Maintenance Director Adam Sparks presented the plan, which he noted would be issued for bid on Jan. 8, 2026. The actual bid opening will be Feb. 10 or Feb. 17 during the supervisors meeting. According to the construction documents prepared by BBS Architects Engineers, the total probable cost is estimated around $588,649. Sparks noted that additional costs increase that amount to around $624,995 for parking lot pole lights and a fire alarm panel sys-
A WINTER WONDERLAND
tem with a generator connection attachment. However, the county was moving forward with the base costs of the project and excluded the additional features. Supervisor Brandon Talsma confirmed the bid opening would take place in the board chambers during an open meeting, just like what had been done in the past for various projects covered by BBS. County officials indicated the probable construction costs were higher than anticipated. They still hoped bids would be low. “We’re still a little higher than money we had set aside, but just really never know what that true dollar amount’s going to be until it goes out for bid and comes BIDS | 3
Colfax-Mingo shines with uniquely decorated trees and an art showcase
Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune Colfax-Mingo hosts its annual Festival of Trees displaying creative work by area agencies and artwork by students in seventh through twelth grade Dec. 18 at the junior/senior high school.
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