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WCV Students Compete

in Academic Bowl

Thursday,
March 17, 2016

More Questions Than

Answers For City Council
by Nick Sellman
Special to The Herald

County Candidate
Filing Periods

The primary election will be

held Tuesday, June 7, 2016. For
anyone interested in running for
a county office, candidate packets are available in the auditors office at the courthouses in
Greenfield and Guthrie Center.

Information for the primary

election is also available at the
Secretary of States website
which is http://sos.iowa.gov.
Filing periods for county offices are March 7, 2016 through
March 30, 2016.

Arganbright Seeks
Re-Election
Four West Central Valley High School students, from left, Alex
Wells, Riley Algreen, Rylan Heffernan and Garret Caltrider, competed in the Conference Academic Bowl at Ogden High School on
Tuesday, March 8. Their team placed 11th in a field of 15. A Des
Moines Christian won the competition.
The Conference Academic Bowl is held annually in March. It
is a quiz bowl in which students are grouped in teams of four and
compete against the other schools. The competition consists of four
rounds of questions in various academic areas.

WCV Speech Students Excel

On Saturday, March 12, the
West Central Valley Speech
Team coached by Nancy Bauch
and Jackie Draper traveled to
North High School for the state
individual events speech contest. Ten students with 12 events
competed with the following
results.
Receiving I ratings were
Brandon James, Public Address;
Nataya Hostetler, Poetry; Cole
Hawley, Radio News and Prose;
Daisy Miller, Prose; Gillian

Stanley, Storytelling and Lit.

Program; Bridgeen Lynch,
Public Address; Tim Draper,
Improvisation; Caroline Doud,
Lit. Program; Receiving II
Ratings were Morgan Smith,
Lit. Program and Beth Smith,
Storytelling.
Chosen to perform at All-State
Speech Festival on Monday,
April 4 at the University of
Northern Iowa were Tim Draper
in Solo Improvisation and Cole
Hawley in Prose.

LifeServe Blood Center has

announced a Community Blood
Drive in Stuart on Tuesday,
March 22, from 2:30-6:30 p.m.
at the Stuart-Mount Vernon
United Methodist Church, 219
NW 2nd Street sponsored by
Stuart Delphians.
The blood center especially
appreciates those local volunteers who organize and sponsor
the blood drives. Committed volunteers are key to maintaining
the blood supply in the local
community.
Donor eligibility guidelines

state a donor must weigh at least

120 pounds; be at least 16 years
old (16 and 17-year-old donors
must have a signed parental/
guardian permission form); must
be in general good health; eat
a good meal prior to donating
blood; drink plenty of fluids
before and after donating blood,
and bring a photo ID.
Appointments can be scheduled online at www.lifeservebloodcenter.org., by calling
1-800-287-4903, or locally by
calling Ethel Kunkle, 515-5231835.

Stuart Community
Blood Drive

Chapman Seeks
Re-Election

Senator Jake Chapman,

R-Adel, has announced he is
seeking a second term in the
Iowa Senate to represent Senate
District 10, which includes
Adair, Guthrie and portions of
Dallas, Polk and Cass counties.
First elected to the Iowa
Senate in 2012, Senator Chapman
is the ranking member on the
Appropriations committee, and
serves on the Economic Growth,
State Government and Rules and
Administration committees.
It has been an incredible
honor and privilege to serve
the people of Iowa, Senator

Chapman said. I am running for

a second term because I believe
there is much more work to
be done to reduce government
spending, increase individual
liberty, and reduce the tax burdens on all Iowans.
Senator Chapman earned a
bachelors degree in business
administration from the AIB
College of Business. He is chief
operating officer of his family
ambulance service and also is an
EMT.
He and his wife Jennifer have
five children and make their
home in Adel.

Marty Arganbright has filed

nomination papers to seek reelection to a third four-year term
as Guthrie County Sheriff.
Since he became sheriff in
January 2008, he cited several
accomplishments in the department including three additional
deputies have been hired with
a 24-7 patrol in place. Under
a 28E agreement, the Guthrie
Center city police department

was dissolved, and is now under

the umbrella of Guthrie County
Sheriffs Department.
Were here to stay, stated
Arganbright. In addition to the
sheriff and chief deputy, there
are seven road deputies. A certified deputy jailer and courthouse
security are on staff as well as
three full-time dispatchers and
four part-timers. We also have
a great deputy reserve program
which serves with no expense to
county residents, he staid.
K-9 Rage has been effective over the past four years as
the department has taken on the
drug problem as never before
and numerous drug arrests have
been made county-wide.
I look forward to keeping
the county safe as it can be;
making it safe for the residents.
My favorite part of being sheriff
is working with the people of
Guthrie County. My office is
always open to the public.
Marty and his wife Debbie,
who live at rural Guthrie Center,
have four children.

Baudler to Seek
Re-Election

Rep.
Clel
Baudler
(R-Greenfield) has filed nomination petitions to seek re-election
to District 20 in the Iowa House
of Representatives.
House
District 20 is comprised of all
of Adair and Guthrie counties
and portions of Cass and Dallas
counties. He is pictured filing
nomination papers with an elections official in the Secretary of
States office.
Baudler was born and raised
in Fontanelle. He served as an
Iowa State Trooper for 32 years
and since retirement in 1997,
has kept busy farming.
In the House, Baudler is a
strong leader in the public safety
area. He is the Chairman of the
Public Safety committee and
also serves on the Environmental
Protection,
Government

Oversight and Natural Resources

committees.
Baudler will continue his
commitment to keeping Iowans
protected as well as ensuring
that taxpayer dollars are spent
efficiently and effectively.
Iowans well-being is one
of my top concerns and I will
continue to find ways to keep our
citizens safe, said Baudler.We
must continue to fight against
attempts to spend more than the
state collects or use one-time
money to pay for ongoing needs.
Iowa families and businesses use
these same common sense principles, and government should
be no different.
Clel and his wife, Mary
Carole have been married 55
years, have four children and 11
grandchildren.

Stuart Public Library

The Iowa Genealogical
Society will present a free genealogy class, Finding your rootsA Beginners Guide, at the Stuart
Public Library Saturday, March
19, 2016 from 10 a.m. to noon.
The library has activities for
kids every day during spring
break; Wednesday is candy science, Thursday, a library trea-

sure hunt, and Friday, the Lego

challenge.
There are many books still
available from the book sale,
which will continue through
March 31. Included are recent
best sellers, Christian fiction,
mysteries, cooking, health, kids
books and much more.

The Stuart City Council

and Stuart Utility Board held a
Special Joint Meeting Monday
evening, March 14, 2016. The
joint meeting began at 6 p.m.
with one item on the agenda,
discussing the Utility Boards
participation in the Infrastructure
Project after the Bid Opening.
At a previous meeting the utility board had indicated that they
would contribute up to $225,000
to the Downtown Infrastructure
project. However, at this current
meeting the utility board stated
they did not wish to contribute to the Lighting part of the
project. Two parts, Power and
Water costs, would amount to
$208,000.
Utility Board Chairman Dave
Fry expressed a number of concerns about the project. It is
going to raise everyones taxes,
by approximately $300 per year
for 10 years. I also believe that a
number of citizens in this city do
not know enough about the project and how it is being financed,
stated Fry.
Fry presented two petitions to
the council stating that the registered voters of the city should be
allowed to vote on this project.
The petitions have 93 signatures
on them and everyone I asked
signed them; no one turned me
down, he commented.
Councilman Neal Crawford
asked Fry, What has changed
since our last meeting? The council came away from the meeting
believing that we would be moving forward with this and now
there are concerns that are being
expressed. What has changed?
I believe that we need to
inform as many people about this
project as possible, stated Fry.
I also believe that we may need
to raise the rates if this happens.
Doug Christensen stated,
There are some projects that we
may have to forego if we participate in this and the rates will be
raised.
Kristen Renslow stated, We
are considering raising rates anyway, and we have stated that we
would participate.
Christensen responded, Yes
we are considering raising rates,
but it would have to be even
more if we give the city this
money.
John Gulbranson stated, I
am not sure if this is going to
help our utility customers, and
I believe that we need to have
more discussions.
Kristen Renslow then presented a motion to approve the
$208,000 for the project; a second was received, but the motion
failed. The utility board then
adjourned from the meeting.
The city council then gaveled
their meeting to start at 6:30 p.m.
with 16 items on the agenda.
The decision to not participate
in the project, for now, by the
utility board, caused a number of
items on the agenda to be tabled.
The financing package that was
to be presented needed to be
refigured because of the decision
by the utility board. Two public
hearing resolutions were tabled,
two resolutions authorizing and
approving loan agreements and
awarding contracts were tabled.
Also tabled were two resolutions concerning the EMS
Building Project. One of those
resolutions would have awarded the contract for the EMS
Building. Former Fire Chief
Cliff Renslow asked how long
this would be tabled.
Councilman Bryan Belden
stated, It would last only for 30
days.
I know why you are doing

this, stated Cliff Renslow, but

a lot of people have worked very
hard on this EMS project and
this is getting very frustrating.
I understand, stated Belden,
but with the changes tonight,
we need to go over the financing
package again.
Gene Skellenger and Mike
Dickson spoke to the council
about their concerns about the
Downtown Project.
Skellenger stated, This is an
awful lot of money. Your auditor
stated that the 10 million dollar
debt was not good for a city this
size and you are adding on more.
It just scares me if something
goes wrong. I dont understand
why this project cannot be put
off for three or four years, pay
down the debt and then go for
it.
Crawford explained, We are
being told this is a project that
needs to be done now and that it
will benefit the city.
Dickson asked the council to
review the plans for the project.
I would be glad to cover those
with you after the meeting, stated Forrest Aldrich. Also, the
plans are available at the city hall
and can be reviewed by anyone.
Chip Schultz , financial advisor for the city, then spoke to
the council and to the citizens.
I have worked on this project
for many, many hours. We have
a debt relief package that will
have certain debts going away
and new ones being added on
in a layered fashion. The city is
not going broke. The work done
by Ash (Ashour) and his administration has been excellent and
we will be able to pay the bills.
The General Fund has improved
steadily over the last four years.
I understand that some just may
not like the project, and that
is fine, but the city isnt going
broke.
The council approved the city
budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal
year.
Bob Cook and Kim Avey presented information to the council
concerning this summers Scoop
the Loop.
Cook stated, We have picked
the dates of June 4, July 9, and
September 10. We are aware that
we will need to be flexible about
our plans because of the downtown project. We will have the
hours the same as last year, from
5-10 p.m. We plan on honoring
the Six on Six girls basketball
teams at one of the dates.
The council approved the sale
of the 1987 Chevrolet Fire Truck
to the Jamaica Fire department
for $5200. There were three bids
received for the 1987 truck.
Karla Janning, Housing
Programs Coordinator, for
Region XII, spoke to the council
about a new housing program
that will be available to new
homeowners in Stuart. If you
are a first time home owner, a
veteran, or a homemaker, we
will have a program to assist
with down payments. This will
be offered to five qualified candidates in the area. We have had
other programs here in Stuart
and they were very successful
and we are sure this one will
be as well. We plan on getting
plenty of information out the
public.
The council approved two
resolutions about the Kading
Properties Housing Project,
Resolution No.16-19C, declaring Necessity and Providing for
Notice of Hearing on Proposed
Urban Revitalization Plan, as
well as Resolution No. 16-20C,
Setting Date for Public Hearing
on Urban Renewal Plan amendment and approving memorandum of understanding with
Kading Properties

Upcoming!!!!!
The Stuart Herald
Special Sections

March - The Wedding Guide

April - Spring Senior Health & Living
May - Spring Home, Lawn & Garden