The Standard's Year 2013 in Review - Part II

The items below summarize the top news stories that appeared in The Standard during the final six months of 2013.

JULY
Allamakee County Attorney Jill Kistler announced in mid-July that the County had reached a settlement with SHF Industries, LLC, owner of the AgriStar meat processing facility in Postville, regarding unpaid property taxes. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, SHF Industries has paid the County a lump sum of $604,720.73 and all court proceedings related to the matter have been dismissed. The settlement covers the principal amount, but not interest of over $434,000 or legal fees incurred by the County totaling more than $168,000.

AUGUST
During its regular meeting Monday, August 19 the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met with John Hansen of Midwest Construction Consultants, who presented his report on the feasibility of converting the recently closed Makee Manor facility to a public safety center and jail. Hansen said that in order to repurpose the building for use as a public safety center, the building would need to be brought up to current State codes, fire codes and State jail standards.
After examining the building's overall structure, fire sprinkler systems, emergency generator, heating and ventilation system and the overall functionality of the building, Hansen concluded that extensive renovations would be required to repurpose the building. He added that in order to meet requirements, a jail would have to be built as an addition to the existing structure, concluding the renovations required would cost as much or more than building a new facility.

Work began this summer on a new housing development project in Waukon along both sides of Second Street SW in the northeast corner of the Waukon Industrial Park. Coordinated by Waukon Economic Development (WEDC), the project area named “Park Place” is located near the Waukon City Park and will bring approximately 20 new buildable lots to the city.
According to WEDC officials, the housing project is geared to provide local residents, as well as people looking to relocate to the area, with a place to build a new home within the city limits of Waukon. A lack of housing developments in Waukon has been cited as a challenge for area residents, as well as for workers and companies trying to fill jobs and bring new business into the community.

SEPTEMBER
Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick reported that the body of Don Angel of Waukon, age 83, was found Thursday morning, September 12 by a person walking a dog on the walking trails north of Waukon in the Makee Manor Conservation Park.
An area-wide search had been conducted for Angel after family members had reported him missing Monday afternoon, September 9 and expressed concerns of him having shown signs of early onset dementia. Mellick said that an extensive search had been conducted, but that Angel's 2008 Chevrolet Impala had been driven into the woods where it could not be seen from the road or adjacent parking area.

OCTOBER
Since October 1, Americans who don't have health insurance plans, or who might want to see if they can find a better plan, have had the opportunity to enroll online at healthcare.gov or via telephone at 1-800-318-2596, through an insurance exchange, often referred to as an insurance marketplace.
The insurance marketplace has been set up as part of the activation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also less formally known as "Obamacare,” as a way to be able to provide health insurance coverage for more people and, in some cases, make health insurance more affordable. The open enrollment period will last until March 31, 2014 and coverage can kick in as soon as January 1, 2014.

The Sierra Club of Iowa presented the Allamakee County Protectors with its Neal Smith Grass Roots Award at a ceremony at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Prairie City October 5. The award is presented “to the people who have done outstanding work in protection of the environment,” said Pamela Mackey Taylor, chair of the awards committee.

The Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing was opened back up to full traffic in mid-October after a nearly fourth-month project to repaint the structure. The bridge was often draped with tarps or various other coverings in an effort to keep sandblasting particles from straying during the preparation process and also to keep outside elements from interfering with the painting of the bridge.

NOVEMBER
While most of the results from the Tuesday, November 5 city elections made for clear-cut winners of available city government and administration seats, a pair of races in the Waukon City Council election lingered on for an extra week, with one of those races still being unsettled and requiring a run-off election to determine a winner.
A late write-in campaign by candidates seeking the three Waukon City Council seats and the Mayor of Waukon leadership position resulted in a pair of recount situations in the week following the election. A recount of Waukon's Ward 3 Council seat was requested by incumbent Councilman John Ellingson following his narrow loss to write-in challenger Don Steffens. That recount was held Tuesday, November 12 and served to confirm Steffens as the winner of that Ward 3 seat by a vote count of 102-82.
The At-Large Council position is the one Waukon City Council seat that remained unsettled, as an initial vote count placed incumbent Councilman Joe Cunningham in front of write-in challenger Darrold Brink, but difficulties with the closing out of the voting machine in Waukon's Ward 2 and the closeness of the race results prompted Allamakee County Auditor Denise Beyer to request an administrative recount. Following that administrative recount held Friday, November 8, the results of the election showed that Cunningham received 312 votes while write-in challenger Darrold Brink received 304 votes. However, with 628 votes cast in that race, neither candidate received more than 50% of the votes cast.
Waukon's City Code requires a run-off election in such cases of no simple majority (50% plus one vote) won by either candidate, so that election was scheduled for Tuesday, December 3. Brink also requested a recount of the votes cast in Wards 1 and 3 for the at-large council seat due to the closeness of the race, but that recount, also held Tuesday afternoon, November 12, resulted in no significant change in the results of that election.

Members of the Waukon football team hoisted the Class 2A State Runner-Up trophy before a large group of hometown fans who cheered them on in their 31-28 loss to undefeated Carroll Kuemper in their State Championship game played in the UNI-Dome at Cedar Falls Friday, November 22. The Indians slugged it out with the highly-regarded Knights throughout the entire game, having the Class 2A championship title skip away from them on a last-second field goal that bounced off the cross bar and through the goal posts from 39 yards out as time expired, bringing to a hard-to-swallow close a history-making football season that saw the Indians win more games and advance further than any other team in Waukon football history.

DECEMBER
Results reported by the Allamakee County Auditor's Office and officially canvassed by the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors indicate a victory for challenger Darrold Brink in the Tuesday, December 3 run-off election for the Waukon City Council At-Large seat. According to results from Tuesday's run-off election, Brink garnered 471 votes to 264 votes for Joe Cunningham, the incumbent candidate seeking his third four-year term in the At-Large seat.

Exactly six months to the day following the late June flash flooding that swept through downtown Waukon, The Standard newspaper office reopened for business December 23 at its original location at 15 First Street NW. Members of The Standard staff truly appreciate the patience, consideration and support of all those who worked with them and helped them through this past six months, especially the hospitality of Sharon Kubitz and Dick Sullivan at Ewing Real Estate in providing The Standard staff a temporary office location from which to work while their office building was being rebuilt.