Dr. Smith Center in
the running for $25,000 Pepsi grant

By Trudy Balcom

The Dr. Smith Daycare Center in McGregor is in the running for $25,000 as part of a major new funding initiative being promoted by PepsiCo.

The grant program is called Pepsi Refresh Project. Through a Web site called refresheverything.com, the corporation is offering 32 grants
per month in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 to projects across the U.S. in six categories including education, environmental, health
and others. Individuals and non-profits can submit ideas/projects for funding. The corporation will give away more than $20 million through the
program, according to a report on Digital Journal. The corporation will not be purchasing ads during the Super Bowl this year, and is instead
funneling some of that money into the Refresh Project.

Public picks winning grant awards

Grant funding is  awarded according to public polling results. Similar to television programs such as American Idol and Dancing with the Stars,
individuals can log onto the refresheverything.com Web site and vote for their favorite projects. The top 10 vote-getters in each category are funded.

Chenoa Ruecking, director of both the Dr. Smith Center and the Little Bulldog Center daycare facilities heard about a grant program from Sue Meyer
at the Clayton County Development Group. Meyer thought it might be a good source of funding for construction of a playground at the Dr. Smith Childcare
Center.

The Dr. Smith Center has a large lot behind their building at 620 Main St., and Ruecking says the area for the playground is approximately 60 x 72 feet.

New kind of playground

Ruecking has a different kind of playground in mind.
Instead of just monkey bars and slides, she is interested in creating a natural playground.

This sketch shows an image of a natural playground similar
to what Director Chenoa Ruecking would like to install
at the Dr. Smith Center. Ruecking has applied for a $25,000
Pepsi Refresh Project grant to fund the playground. (Illustration submitted)

“Many schools are now moving towards natural playground designs,”
Ruecking said in an e-mail. “These playgrounds have slides and other
playground equipment, but also use landscaping and gardens to design
kid-friendly environments. They have grassy hills for running or sledding down,
they have vegetable gardens, they might have a tricycle path around a butterfly garden and bird feeders. These playgrounds give children the opportunity
to observe and learn from nature,” Ruecking explained.

The Dr. Smith Center is owned and operated as a non-profit, and Ruecking says they do not have the funding in their budget to tackle such a project.

Ruecking would like to see the whole community get behind the project by voting for it online.

To vote, individuals have to fill out a simple online registration form, and then they can vote once a day for the project. To vote, go to
www.refresheverything.com/TheLearningGarden .

Meeting explored interest in
county-wide bluff protection ordinance

By Trudy Balcom

The bluffs, valleys and rolling hills of Clayton County make it one of the most scenic areas of the state; and one of the most vulnerable to
problems related to unrestricted development.

“The issue of blufflands protection has come up several times,” Janet Ott, Clayton County Health and Zoning Administrator told a crowd of
about two dozen at a meeting held Tuesday, Jan. 26, at the Osborne Center near Elkader.

Ott called the meeting to see if there was enough citizen interest to form a committee to draft a blufflands management ordinance for the county.
Currently, Ott said, there is very minimal regulation, which includes minimum lot size (one acre), lot line setbacks, and some regulations specific to
subdivisions.

Gary Taylor, with the Iowa Department of Regional Planning and Zoning gave a presentation at the meeting which explored what other counties,
primarily in Minnesota, have done with their bluffland protection ordinances.

Taylor used examples from Minnesota, because the only county in Iowa which has a similar ordinance is neighboring Allamakee County. Taylor
said that the Allamakee ordinance is based on the ordinance used by Winona County, in Southeast Minnesota.

Taylor said that any citizen’s group formed for the purpose of drafting an ordinance must ask some tough questions. Why is there an interest in
managing bluff -lands, or even is there a real desire to do so in the community? How does an ordinance strike a balance between public interest
and those of the owners of private property? And, finally, what does the county have the financial capacity to do to enforce an ordinance?

Counties enact these ordinances, Taylor explained, to  eliminate costs and property damages and even the loss of life from improper
development—public safety issues. As examples, he reminded the crowd how flash flooding in recent years caused houses to slide off hillsides
in the region, and that roads built on steep inclines were more susceptible to erosion damage and safety issues such as access for fire trucks and
ambulances.

The other primary factor behind such ordinances, he said was the desire to protect ground and surface waters from pollution, and to protect
the wildlife habitat and aesthetic beauty that attracts tourism as well as residential growth to the area.

Taylor urged that any effort to draft an ordinance be inclusive, allow reasonable development and recognize the blufflands as assets.

“It is the option of you deciding your future, instead of people from Minnesota and Chicago,” Taylor said.

Taylor also said that it usually takes a year or more to draft such an ordinance.

After the meeting, Ott said that she believes she has about 10-15 volunteers for a committee to explore the issue. She plans to set
a date for an initial committee meeting for late February. Anyone interested in participating can contact Janet Ott at (563) 245-2451.

Supervisors table request to hire new Sheriff’s deputy

By Pat McTaggert

The Clayton County Board of Supervisors met January 27 and heard a request from Sheriff Mike Tschirgi to hire a deputy to replace Brian Berger,
who was dismissed from his post earlier this year, after he was charged with OWI in an accident on Hwy. 18 on Dec. 14. 

“I believe the hiring freeze was passed to save the county money,” Tschirgi said, referring to the freeze passed weeks ago by the Supervisors.
“Now it’s costing us money.”

Tschirgi said the overtime paid to deputies filling Berger’s shift costs an additional $450 per week. The deputies’ union contract says members
can bid on open shifts.

“Right now, we have to bid the shift out,” he said.  “We would have less overtime if we hired a new man to take the vacant shift, since the
dismissed officer’s wage is already included in the budget. The $450 a week comes from the ‘half’ pay in the time-and-a-half wage paid to the officer
taking the extra hours for the vacant shift.”

The Supervisors asked Tschirgi if it would be possible to reschedule or eliminate the vacant shift, but Tschirgi said that was not possible
until May 1 because of the union contract.  He also said there were safety concerns if a shift were to be eliminated.

If a new deputy would be hired, first year wages would be 70 percent of the Sheriff’s $57,086 salary.  They would go to 75 percent after a year
and 82 percent after two years.

“Wages are not the only thing when it comes to hiring someone new,” Supervisor Larry Gibbs said. “Insurance, IPERS and other things have to be
considered. Let us get through this budget and see where we are at before making a decision.”

Tschirgi said it would be difficult to do a budget for the next fiscal year if the position was left in limbo. “How can I finish my budget if I don’t know
whether or not to put wages in for the vacated position?” he asked.

After further discussion, the Supervisors voted unanimously to table the matter for 30 days, taking it up again before the new budget is to be completed.