Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024
Vol. 5, No. 24
PCMExplorer Local People. Local Stories.
BINGO!
PC Celebration Committee adds monthly bingo event for the community
By Jamee A. Pierson PCM Explorer
BINGO! The shout of excitement in a newly discovered bingo victory is just one of the many sounds heard as community members enjoy the Prairie City Celebration Committee’s newest monthly event. Next planned for Feb. 15 at the Prairie City Community Building, bingo is a fun way to help raise funds for town activities every third Thursday of the month. “We have new committee members, so when we were talking about fundraising and one of them brought up to do bingo night monthly,” committee member Amy Witte said. “I know Colfax has done it for a while and other people throughout the city we have heard would like this so we thought we would try it.” For those ages 18 and older, there are eight rounds of bingo
COLD SNAPPED
It may be cold but rural Jasper County residents are getting hot over snow hauling operations By Christopher Braunschweig PCM Explorer
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at each event. The first seven rounds are $1 while playing the well-known rules of bingo. There is also a bonus round on the same care where prizes are 50 percent
of the “pot” and a gift card. The final round is $2 per card and is “black out.” BINGO | 2
One last night of dance The PCM Dance Team along with many special guests took to the floor to celebrate the 2023-24 season
Jasper County and the 98 other counties in the state of Iowa were pummeled by a year’s worth of snow in about a week, but rural residents are so upset with the slow pace of hauling and plowing operations that they have resorted to calling other county departments like the auditor and DMV in order to complain. Supervisor Brandon Talsma responded to the complaints in a 17-minute video posted on his Facebook page with the comment, “Manners, tempers and patience.” The video has since garnered more than 5,400 views and more than 100 reactions, many of which were sympathetic to the county’s challenges. In the video, Talsma said during budget hearings on Jan. 15 he received around 27 different emails, texts and calls from individuals calling about snow on gravel roads. He then pleaded with residents to not contact other departments if they do not get through to secondary roads, which has been inundated with calls. “You’re not the only person in the county. You’re not the only person trying to get a hold of them. Just simply hang up and try again,” he said. “Please do not start calling the treasurer’s office, the VA, the auditor’s office, emergency management or anybody else because you can’t get through to secondary roads.” Two or three people in the secondary roads department, he added, cannot respond in an hour’s time to the SNOW | 2
Jamee A. Pierson/PCM Explorer
Rozenboom was hoping for advanced copy of AEA bill prior to announcement
Iowa’s property tax reform law comes at a cost for local governments ‘Ramifications’ of House File 718 complicate budgets for cities and counties By Christopher Braunschweig PCM Explorer
Senate education committee chairman wanted to see draft of governor’s plan By Christopher Braunschweig PCM Explorer State Sen. Ken Rozenboom of District 19 knew almost a year ago that Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds was going to take a hard look at the structure of Area Education Agencies, but the chairman of the Senate Education Committee had hoped he would have been given an advanced copy of the bill prior to its announcement. “I will tell you I had hoped to have a sneak preview of the governor’s proposal before she went
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public with it,” he said. “I did not have it. Those of you who watched her Condition of the State address 13 days ago saw it just as quickly as I did. The next morning, the bill, all 123 pages of it, was on my desk.” While giving a legislative update with House Rep. Jon Dunwell at the Newton school board meeting on Jan. 22, Rozenboom held up a thick, black folder. “I knew almost a year ago that the governor was AEA BILL | 3
Christopher Braunschweig/PCM Explorer Traffic drives along Highway 14 between Newton and Monroe while surrounded by snow. Crews working to plow and haul snow prioritized major highways following recent snowstorms before addressing secondary roads, which enraged a number of residents who were trapped by high snowdrifts for several days.
Doug Bishop picked one helluva time to run for mayor of Baxter. In addition to managing his office as the county treasurer and trying to find solutions to his town’s ongoing struggles with EMS service, state laws are making budgeting sessions extra tough for local governments these next few years. He anticipates Baxter’s city officials will have to make some really hard decisions in the coming months and so forth, and it is in large part because of House File 718. Outcry from property assessments last year forced the Iowa Legislature to pass a bipartisan property tax reform law that have some city leaders on edge. Newton City Administrator Matt Muckler has repeatedly criticized the law for penalizing city growth. Bishop is not too fond of the law either, and he lobbed his criticisms directly in the faces of Jasper Coun-
Christopher Braunschweig/PCM Explorer From left: Iowa House Rep. Barb Kniff McCulla, Iowa House Rep. Jon Dunwell and Iowa State Sen. Ken Rozenboom speak to constituents during a legislative gathering hosted by the League of Women Voters of Jasper County on Jan. 20 at the Newton Public Library.
ty’s statehouse legislators during a legislative gathering Jan. 20 at Newton Public Library. State Sen. Ken Rozenboom mentioned in a previous, unrelated topic that most Iowans — including himself — would not like it if the federal government told Iowa how to govern its state. Bishop suggested House File 718 does the same thing, only it is the state telling city
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and county governments what to do. “We’re seeing everything first hand everything that you’re talking about,” Bishop said. “I heard you, Senator, say you don’t want the feds coming down and telling us what we’re going to do with ourselves … but House File 718, the state came TAX REFORM | 3
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