Layoffs hit Gencor-Bituma staff

By Trudy Balcom

Letters went out to workers at Gencor-Bituma in Marquette recently announcing staff cutbacks due to a business slowdown. The letters state that workers may not be called back.

Just exactly how many people were layed off and when the letters were sent out is unclear. Kevin Kinley, manufacturing manager at the Marquette plant, did not answer any specific questions, but confirmed that layoffs have occurred. Several calls to parent company Gencor Industries in Orlando, Fla., were not returned by press time. Local residents have noticed a chain link fence is currently being erected outside the the Marquette plant.

According to the Gencor Web site’s fiscal 2009 second quarter earnings statement, the company’s income went down $9.2 million compared to earnings from the same quarter in 2008. The statement is dated May 11.

A statement by E.J. Elliot, Gencor’s chairman on the same page reads: “ The global credit crisis is impacting the roadbuilding industry severely and it has led to a decrease in sales of our larger capital equipment…the much publicized infrastructure rebuilding stimulus money, reportedly distributed to the states months ago by the federal government, has yet to be seen in actual projects awarded to contractors.”

Great Places funding award
subject to some organizational changes

By Trudy Balcom

Great Places state administrator Francis Boggus visited McGregor on Aug. 4 to discuss two stipulations that the state has placed upon the $50,000 award for the Wetland Centre planned for Marquette.

The Wetlands Centre is planned to be a 4,000 square foot environmental education center and community center to be located at the former Roundhouse site in Marquette near Bloody Run Creek.

The $50,000 award was announced on July 30, and was part of a round of Great Places funding for which 33 applications were received. A total of $1.9 million from the Rebuild Iowa Fund was allotted for this round of funding, although Great Places received applications for $4.42 million in eligible projects.

Boggus shared the scoring and comments made on the Marquette application for $121,625 by the panel of six judges. The application score 45.5 points out of 63 possible points.

Boggus said that because the project was still in the planning stages, the review panel placed two conditions on the Wetlands Centre project. Before the $50,000 will be disbursed, Boggus must approve a business plan for the Centre, and a city administrator from one of the two cities must be named as project manger.

Local Great Places organizers who met with Boggus explained that they are willing to meet the stipulations, but some reorganization of the project must be done to accomplish that goal.

Since Great Places in Marquette and McGregor began as a citizen-driven initiative, city government has been supportive of the effort but has not taken an active management role.

The 28E Agreement which both councils approved  in June, formalizes the responsibilities of each party. It also calls for the creation of a board whose members will be named by each town’s mayor.

It is this board which was to guide the construction of the new Centre. Now the agreement will have to be amended and approved again by each council in order to add the role of a city administrator as project manager.

Work on the current version of the 28E agreement was slower than expected, with each city working towards a consensus that addressed their particular concerns.

The business plan, organizers felt, would not be difficult to complete because most of the necessary facts and figures such as projected income and and funding sources have already been gathered.

Boggus and local organizers agreed that amendments to the 28E Agreement and the business plan must be completed by Oct. 1

That means that the councils must complete the amendments and name the members of the 28E Board in a timely manner.

Boggus praised the overall plan for the Wetland Centre, and said that the Great places Board want their name attached to significant projects.

“I think it’s fantastic to combine an interpretive center with a community center. It draws the community together, it’s a people place,” he said.

(Finally) settling in at Ohmer Ridge

By Trudy Balcom

“We never thought we’d come back here,” LeAnn Watson admitted.

Clayton County natives LeAnn and her husband Craig have lived in the Houston, Tex., area for 20 years, and before that the couple lived in Kansas City. They were high school sweethearts when they graduated from Elkader Central High School in 1970.

The Watson’s new log-style home is going up at the Ohmer Ridge subdivision in McGregor.

“We can’t wait to get here. We were just really taken with it,” LeAnn said of the development.

Such favorable comments sound like music to the City of McGregor. Ohmer Ridge is the third city-initiated subdivision development in McGregor, and the project, which has suffered numerous delays and setbacks, is now ready to seek buyers.

 Named after Harold Ohmer, the former owner of the property, the city purchased 48 acres for this subdivision in 2000 for $91,343. Developing the property into 19 lots with a paved road and city utilities has cost the city about $600,000.

The Ohmer Ridge subdivision is part of a larger Tax Increment Financing District (TIF district) set up by the the city in 1989. According to city consultant and former city clerk Norm Lincoln, financing for the construction of a road and utilities at Ohmer Ridge has come from TIF revenues from the previous developments in the TIF district—Ridgewood and Ridgewood West. Lincoln says that those developments have already recouped their infrastructure costs, and have added about 40 new households to the city tax rolls since the first new house was completed in 1995.

City owned and financed subdivisions are not common. According to Allan Kemp, executive director of the Iowa League of Cities, small cities tend to use this method when they have a property they can use for residential development, but cannot attract a commercial developer, usually because the project is too small.

“[McGregor is] not alone, but there’s not a lot of small cities who do this,” Kemp explained.

The city expects to reap about $3,000 per household in increased tax revenues when all of the lots are developed.

Part of the reason cities tend to avoid getting into the development business is because it is carries some risk. Pitfalls include expensive construction delays and unanticipated problems, and the possibility of unsold lots.

McGregor has been relatively successful in their previous efforts only two lots remain unsold in the Ridgewood West subdivision.

The development of Ohmer Ridge has presented the city with some frustrating problems. Vierbicher and Associates engineering firm, which was hired to draw up the plans and supervise construction of the road and installation of the utilities seemed to abandon the project late last summer as it was nearing completion. Work that was supposed to be completed last year wasn’t, and the project fell behindschedule.

This forced the city to hound the company and withhold payment to contractors to ensure completion of some tasks. A change of staff in the city-clerk administrator’s office also drew council attention away from the project.

The biggest setback came when the completion of the lower portion of Center Avenue was delayed when  excavation for the road revealed a section of bedrock in the roadway that had to be dynamited and hauled away at a cost of about $8,000.

Still, Lincoln sees the Ohmer project as positive, along with the other subdivision developments.

“It’s been an incredible success that has been the basis for the success of the town,” Lincoln said.

So far, three lots have been sold at $20,000 each. The lots range in size from about one-half to nearly one acre and are priced at $15,000 to $20,000, depending on lot size.

These prices offer a great value to buyers according to area realtor, Cindy Luster.Luster, along with about half a dozen other area realtors are assisting the city with selling the lots. As the owner of the property, the city is responsible for the primary marketing effort; contracted realtors receive a $500 finders fee commission when a lot is sold to a buyer they provide.

The steep, hilly terrain at Ohmer Ridge is part of what draws buyers. This is not a cookie-cutter subdivision. Many lots offer dramatic, bluffside views and offer mature oak, hickory and maple trees. Deer, turkey and other wildlife also call the subdivsion home.

The Watsons are looking forward to enjoying making McGregor their new home and small town life. Craig says people here are friendly. To make new friends or get information, he says, “All you have to do is go to the coffee shop.”

.

.

.

.

By Megan McCormick

The Jan. 6 MarMac Police Commission meeting was shocking, to say the least. During a proposal for a Taser electronic control device (ECD), Chief of Police Randall Grady volunteered to demonstrate the device in a presentation that led the commission to allocate $1,300 to the department for the tool.
    Ron Bellendier, regional manager for the Taser company, gave the presentation, highlighting the benefits to agencies using Taser around the country.
    “There are a lot of departments that have (ECDs) already and use them successfully. Prairie du Chien used theirs within the last month,” said Grady.
    Because officers usually patrol alone in Marquette and McGregor, Grady feels the Taser device will reinforce their safety.
    “I don’t want my officers to go hands-on with the violator,” said Grady, citing an instance from last year where a MarMac officer was assaulted and sent to the Emergency Room.
    “The typical Taser-receiver is uncooperative in some sort of violent manner,” said Bellendier.
    Bellendier took time to address common perceptions of Taser devices.
    One myth, he said, is that Taser devices use a dangerously high voltage. While a wall outlet uses 16 amps of electricity and a small Christmas tree bulb uses one amp,the Taser device has a low electric current with an output of .0036 amps.
    “During [the application], it felt like I was getting 100 tattoos at once on the inside rather than the outside of my skin,” said Grady.
    Grady had two volunteers steady him on each side while the Taser device was applied to his back for three seconds. After the demonstration, he said he felt his muscles tighten and a burning sensation, which faded soon after the application.
    Bellendier said that over 11 thousand law enforcement agencies use Taser worldwide, and 3,500 have full deployment of Taser, meaning that every officer carries a device.
    ECDs are used to control violent or unmanageable individuals. The Taser device incapacitates individuals under the influence of drugs or alcohol because electric currents cause the muscles of the body to tighten, allowing officers to restrain individuals without using firearms.
    Bellendier said that Taser devices can be effective without being used. Often times, uncooperative suspects surrender to police upon seeing the ECD before the trigger is pulled.
    To make the device recognizable to both violators and other officers as an ECD, the MarMac police department will purchase a yellow model of the Taser X26. 
    Every police agency develops its own protocol for when it is appropriate to use the Taser device, but Bellendier said that typically the device is used in place of pepper spray. Grady has not yet implemented a policy for deployment protocol, but plans to have one in place when officers begin carrying the device.
    MarMac officers must be trained before they can use the device. A six-hour hands-on training period will be provided for MarMac police officers. Trainees are not required to be tased to become certified.
    The $1300 fund allocation will pay for one ECD and several holsters. Officers on duty will be armed with the Taser at all times.
    “We have the money in our budget for [the Taser],” said Grady.
    Violent perpetrators in Marquette and McGregor will soon face a supercharged police force as the Taser X26 joins the team.

McGregor native “Strutts” her stuff as Klondike Kate               

By Megan McCormick

     McGregor and Prairie du Chien are home to royalty. Well, almost. Darci Strutt, daughter of McGregor residents Joanne and
Don Strutt, was named as the St. Paul Winter Carnival’s Klondike Kate Jan. 7.
    Klondike Kate has been central to the Winter Carnival for almost four decades. The role requires a lot of singing and even more sass, according to her parents.
    “She said she had to take naughty lessons,” said JoAnne Strutt.
    The Klondike Kate character is a boa-flaunting, lipstick-wearing saloon-singing charmer with talent and beauty to boot. Strutt’s singing voice took root at Living Faith Parish Methodist  Church in McGregor where she sang in the choir from an early age.
    Family influenced Strutt’s decision to go for the “cold.” Her husband was crowned king of the Hudson, Wis. Pepper Fest at one time, and her daughter was a princess.
    This year was Strutt’s second time running for Klondike Kate. Last year, judges said she was too nice for the part. A year and some acting lessons later, Strutt has won the title.
    The 48-year-old North Hudson, Wis. resident impressed the audience of 350 by singing renditions of “A Guy What Takes His Time” and “Hey, Good Lookin’” in the final round of the competition.
    She competed against six other Twin Cities women for the title and won through the process of elimination.
    The competition traditionally marks the beginning of the Winter Carnival, which runs from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1. A special cabaret performance featuring Strutt and former Klondike Kates will take place Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn East in St. Paul.
    Mr. and Mrs. Strutt said she plans to be in at least one parade or event per weekend for the next year, some of which take her out of the country into Canada.
    “She enjoys it,” said Mrs. Strutt. “She just loves it.”
    Born and raised in McGregor, Strutt eventually moved across the river to Prairie du Chien. Today she lives in North Hudson, Wis. with her husband, three children and two step-children. The cabaret singer is also a grandmother to one grandson. A mistress of mischief by night, by day Strutt works as an information security specialist for U.S. Bank.
    Whether she’s taking care of her family, working at the bank or singing caberet, Darci is the epitome of a renaissance woman. McGregor and Prairie du Chien are part of the legacy.
   

After one year of business, Old Man River cuts the ribbon

By Megan McCormick

    While Old Man River Restaurant and Brewery opened to the public nearly one year ago, the official ribbon cutting took place Jan. 10.
    Located in the historic Diamond Jo building in McGregor, the restaurant offers home-brewed German beers which are produced on-site. The brewery has been up and running for two months and the ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorated that.
    Old Man River is owned by McGregor natives Dave and Marci Strutt.
A birthday celebration for Old Man River’s first year of business will be held Jan. 24 and feature live music, two-for-one beers and food specials. 

.

.

.

Intern Megan McCormick
to take the reins at North Iowa Times for January

I am thrilled to take on Trudy’s role with the North Iowa Times this month. As a junior at Luther College, this internship will give be my first experience with small town reporting.
    I grew up in Anoka, Minn., a suburb just north of the Twin Cities. Today, I call Burnsville, Minn., home. At Luther I am majoring in political science with a minor in communication studies. I sing in choir and I am the news editor for Chips, the college newspaper. I also work part-time at the Hotel Winneshiek in Decorah as a banquet server.
    Coming from a large suburban area, I surprised myself by choosing Luther in small-town Decorah. In my third year there, however, I find myself loving Iowa culture and missing it on return visits to Minneapolis.
    Last spring, I found myself in Washington, D.C. where I interned with an organization called The National Journalism Center for a semester. I worked closely with political columnist Robert Novak and was trained in responsible journalism at the National Press Club.
    My time in the Capitol was unbelievable. I worked on Pennsylvania Avenue during one of the most historic presidential campaigns in history. I was able to see the Pope during his visit and even toured the West Wing of the White House. Still, I missed home and could not wait to return to the river bluffs of Northeast Iowa.
    And so begins another journey for me in the journalism world. Marquette and McGregor may be smaller than Washington, but this year’s opportunity is just as exciting as the last. I know I will be pushed to new levels with this internship but I look forward to the challenge and cannot wait to begin reporting. 
    I look forward to spending time in this beautiful setting and getting to know the people of Marquette and McGregor this month. Thank you for welcoming me here and happy New Year!

.

.

.