BREAKING NEWS . . .
Marquette-McGregor
named finalist for Great Places
By Trudy Balcom
After nearly two years of
effort, community volunteers and boosters have received some reward:
Marquette-McGregor has been named a finalist for the Iowa Great Places program.
The local Visioning Team has been working for this moment since November, 2006.
Chamber Director Sasha Dull received word via emial from
Great Places director Francis Boggus Wednesday that the Marquette-McGregor
application was one of four finalists selected, including Warren County, West
Union and Spencer.
Sasha Dull, Executive Director of the McGregor Marquette
Chamber of Commerce. Dull has been spearheading the Great Places effort. “I
think it’s just the beginning of some great progress for our area,” she said.
Although a tremendous amount of work has gone into preparing
for the application, much more effort is still ahead. Members of the Great
Places Citizens’ Advisory Board, which selects which communities will become the
next Great Places, will be visiting Marquette and McGregor on Tuesday, Sept. 23
at 2 p.m. The board’s visit will last only an hour and a half, and the community
must showcase its assets as well as respond to the questions and concerns posed
by the board.
“People are getting excited; we really plan to do it up,”
Dull said of the visit.
A meeting of the Visioning Team is scheduled for Wednesday,
Sept. 3, to begin planning for the visit.
Communities named as 2008 Great Places will be announced on
Sept. 30.
See the complete story in
NEXT week's edition of the North Iowa Times
Lincoln era
draws to a close
By Trudy Balcom
It seemed a little
anticlimactic.
In the routine manner of government procedure, an era ended
last Wednesday.
Norm Lincoln, who is retiring as city clerk after a 20-year
career, helped administer the oath of office to Tom Meyer, his replacement. The
ceremony took place near the end of the last city council meeting to which
Lincoln administered.
Tom Meyer, center, was sworn in
as the new McGregor City Clerk-Administrator at last Wednesday's council
meeting, ending the career of of retiring city clerk, Norm Lincoln, right, after
20 years. Mayor Roger Knott, far left looks on. Lincoln will continue to work
for the city as a contracting consultant to assist Meyer with specific tasks.
Mayor Roger Knott thanked
Lincoln for his active, longtime service to the city. Lincoln responded by
saying that his years of service to the city were “truly rewarding.”
A retirement reception hosted by the Chamber of Commerce was
held last Thursday evening at the Beer and Brats Garden. About 75 people
attended to thank Norm and honor his service.
Lincoln’s tenure as city clerk was marked by the initiation
and completion of several large municipal projects, natural disasters including
various floods, and the ordinary challenges of keeping a small city afloat
financially. He wrote many grants and worked to bring the necessary funding into
the city to help complete many projects which could not have been accomplished
with this effort.
City storm sewers were one point of focus for Lincoln. Many
of the aging and overburdened storm sewers in the city have been upgraded or
replaced in a series of large and small projects over the years. A major project
to repair the city’s main storm sewer with a concrete-lined channel was mostly
completed last year.
Lincoln also acted as a booster for city growth. He
encouraging the city council to undertake the development of two new
subdivisions. The Ridgewood subdivision was developed in two phases, the first
was completed in 2004, and most lots in the second phase have been sold. The
Ohmer Ridge subdivision is currently in the initial stages of development
Lincoln has also encouraged recreational and tourism
development, although not always successfully.
He was a major proponent of the $25 million Legacy Project,
which proposed the creation of a hotel, golf course and waterpark complex, a
recreational trail between McGregor and Marquette and streetscape improvements
for both cities.
The project was initially awarded $5 million by the Vision
Iowa Board in October, 2001. But the hotel-waterpark complex portion of the
project proved to be controversial, and the funding was later rescinded after a
due diligence investigation by Vision Iowa revealed some dubious irregularities
on the part of hotel-waterpark developer Conrad Seymour.
Lincoln remained a supporter of the project, and felt
somewhat bitter about the loss of what he felt would have provided a major
economic stimulus for the community.
McGregor did complete the streetscape renovation in 2004. The
Trail of Two Cities is currently in the planning and funding stage; Lincoln
remains actively involved in its development.
Although Lincoln may be officially retired from his post, he
remains on contract with the city, for the next year to assist with tasks such
as preparing the city budget and audit.
PdC mayor arrested for DUI near Marquette
By Ted Pennekamp
Prairie du Chien Mayor
Karl Steiner was arrested last Wednesday night on suspicion of operating a motor
vehicle while intoxicated (second offense) and failure to maintain control.
A MarMac police officer arrested Steiner, 43, following a
one-car accident at about 10:09 p.m. on Highway 76 just north of Marquette.
According to a Clayton County Sheriff’s Department calls for
service report, the Sheriff’s department received a call that a car was “all
over the road.” The caller then said that the car went into the ditch.
Mayor Karl Steiner
The Sheriff’s Department then informed the Mar-Mac Police
Department, who responded to the scene and arrested Steiner.
According to the Sheriff’s Department report, Steiner had a
preliminary breath test reading of .45. Steiner was transported to the Clayton
County Jail and another breath test at 11:45 p.m. was stopped when it read .273,
according to the report.
Steiner’s initial appearance in Clayton County Court was
scheduled for Sept. 3.
Back to School
Students at the McGregor
Center step onto the bus after one of their first days back at school. MFL Mar
Mac resumed classes last Thursday and Friday with half-days. School will be
dismissed early this Friday at 2:20 p.m. for the Labor Day weekend.
McGregor council considers
issues of smoking, parking
By Trudy Balcom
Back in June, Carl Hexom,
owner of Crazy Carl's Silver Dollar Saloon, approached the city council with a
request to place an enclosed outdoor smoking area on an adjoining city parking
lot . The purpose, he said, would be to provide smoking patrons a place off of
the sidewalk to smoke, once the statewide smoking ban went into effect in early
July.
The McGregor City Council listened, but did not respond until
last week’s council meeting.
Last Wednesday the council, somewhat reluctantly decided to
request a plan for the construction of the smoking area. The council took the
action in frustration over increased noise and mess on city sidewalks created by
bar patrons who step outside to smoke.
“I see as a city we have to find a road to go down for
smoking in these establishments,” noted Mayor Roger Knott.
The council decided to limit the physical area of outdoor
smoking enclosure to 10 feet east of the rear entrance door of the building, and
back to the retaining wall behind the building.
McGregor City Attorney Mike Schuster suggested to the council
that the agreement between the business and the city to allow the smoking area
be structured as a license rather than a lease, to provide the city the power to
easily revoke the agreement if necessary.
Improving downtown parking has been a focus for the council
this year. Last Wednesday, the council agreed to draft an ordinance to create a
one-way street with seasonal diagonal parking on A Street between Main St. and
Ash St.
Diagonal parking would be allowed on the east side of the
street in summer, creating eight parking spaces downtown during the busiest part
of the year. On Nov. 1, when city snowplowing regulations go into effect, no
parking would be allowed on the west side of the street. Diagonal parking
spaces on the east side would then be changed to curbside parking to all for
snowplowing.
The council acknowledged that there were some problems with
the idea. Charlene Palucci, owner of Jailhouse Inn, noted that accidents might
be caused by cars backing out of diagonal spots into on coming traffic. The
council agreed, but they felt that the change was worth a try, and if the plan
did not work, the ordinance could always be revoked.
See the complete story in this week's
print edition of the North Iowa Times
Marquette Council continues
to search for salt, and a city manager
By Trudy Balcom
City Street Superintendent
Jim Mason told the Marquette Council that he is looking for a supplier for road
salt for this winter.
After heavy snows last winter depleted municipal road salt
stocks across the Midwest, so are a lot of other cities.
“Everybody’s scratching right now, trying to find salt,”
Mason told the council at last Tuesday’s meeting.
He said that he had located some salt from a private source
in Winona, Minn., and that the city could possibly buy it from the Iowa
Department of Transportation, similar to neighboring Monona. The city still
has about 15 tons of mixed sand and salt in the shed ready for the first
snowfall. Still, the council voted to contract with Jefferson River Terminal (JRT)
out of Clayton for 45 tons of salt to be assured of a source. Mason said that
he would continue to investigate the situation to find the best price.
The council also approved a bid for city street crack filling
and seal coating for $4,250; work will begin soon.
The council briefly reviewed progress on the Gaede building.
They noted that while substantial progress had been made, the building was not
entirely completed by the August 1 deadline. They also noted that while the
Gaedes had applied to zone the structure as commercial, it seemed unlikely that
any business would be located in it.
The status update on the search for a new city manager turned
somewhat contentious.
Two council members, Jim Meana and Tracy Melver, felt that
the city should move immediately to hire one of the candidates from the last
round of interviews.
The suggestion, placed in the form of a motion to hire a
candidate identified only as “Number 13,” was placed before the council by both
Tracy Melver and Jim Meana in separate actions. Meana and Melver seemed
impatient to get someone on board, and they expressed that the city was unlikely
to find someone with experience at a price they can afford.
The motions caught other council members and Mayor Ries off
guard. At the last city council meeting, the council had voted to begin
advertising again, and the city clerk confirmed that one application had been
received so far as a results of the ads.
Mayor Ries protested that no employment contract had been
drafted and that such a vote was not on the agenda, and therefore would likely
be illegal.
Councilwoman Mary Jo Pirc was agitated.
“Honest to God, everyone is push, push, why aren’t we waiting
to see what these ads will bring?,” she said.
Councilman Darren Matthew reminded the others that they had
all voted for a motion to advertise again, and they have to let the process
work.
Neither motion made by Melver and Meana was seconded, and so
the issue died.
See the complete story in this week's
print edition of the North Iowa Times
