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• Permit-to-carry class
Russell Sportsmen’s Club will sponsor a permit-to-carry class 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 24, at the range southwest of Russell. For more information or to register, call or text Dan Morrett at 641-203-5296.
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Three area players named to INA’s all-state teams
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154 YEARS • NO. 11
THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014
OSCEOLA, IOWA 50213
SINGLE COPY PRICE: 75¢
BRAND YOURSELF
City approves FY 2015 budget By AMY HANSEN
Public invited to help create new logo, brand for Osceola By AMY HANSEN
Meeting scheduled
OST news editor • ahansen@osceolaiowa.com
Could there be a public image that reflects Osceola’s history, heritage and future? It’s currently in the works. One of the things city and development officials are doing is finding a community identity — with a brand or logo. “What’s it going to take to do, to arrive, at a brand in a community that’s diverse as ours, that everybody can take pride in,” said Bill Trickey, executive director of Clarke Community Development Corporation (CCDC). Identity committee Trickey asked Ty Wheeler, Osceola city administrator/clerk, to serve on an “identity” committee with him. Osceola City Councilman Dan Hooper has also been helping with the committee. Trickey has enlisted the help of Andrew Clark, who did the logo for CCDC, as a consultant. Where’s this process headed? Committee members want to get community involvement to get a broad base of input. Public meeting A meeting is scheduled 4 p.m. Friday at Clarke Community High School’s auditorium. The public is invited to attend. “The main thing is we want people to know that we want their input,” Trick-
Do you want to have input on what design will become the community’s logo? A meeting is scheduled 4 p.m. Friday at Clarke Community High School’s auditorium. thought our trucks, our uniforms, our hats, our business cards, our letterheads, they all need to match,” Wheeler said. The identity committee members said they have received a lot of interest from the public, and want to make sure the public is aware they will have the opportunity to Contributed photo Pictured is a logo for Clarke Community Development share their input. Open to suggestions Corporation (CCDC). For a community logo design, Bill Trickey, CCDC executive director, has enlisted the help As for the brand itself, it of consultant Andrew Clark, who did the logo for CCDC. doesn’t necessarily have to be an image of Chief Osceoey said. “We’re looking to there hasn’t ever been a la. Committee members said wind up with a product that standardized version of they are open to any ideas everybody’s proud of and Osceola adopted. You’ve or suggestions. that everybody knows they got various versions of “We want the public to at least had the opportunity Osceola.” know that it’s not our idea or to participate.” Wheeler added, the iris is Bill’s idea, it’s a community Wheeler said he saw the the official city flower, and importance of a commu- it’s depicted at Maple Hill effort,” Hooper said. “We nity logo when city staff was Cemetery. In other versions have already gotten several working on designing a new of town logos, a feather is prominent community peocity of Osceola website. painted on a city water tow- ple and organizations working on this with us.” Too many images er. Wheeler added, “We “Traditionally, some im“From an organizational age of Warrior Osceola has standpoint, just from the city hope that there’s some ownbeen used,” he said. “But, management perspective, I ership with everybody.”
OST news editor • ahansen@osceolaiowa.com
Osceola City Council’s fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget has been approved. “This was not an easy budget year, obviously, for us,” said Ty Wheeler, city administrator/clerk, during a March 4 city Wheeler council meeting. “There were a lot of changes that went into the property-tax laws that we had to compensate for and begin to try to plan around.” In the city’s FY 2015 budget: • Total expenditures, including all capital projects, were $16,108,000. • Total revenues were $16,393,000. • Property taxes accounted for $2,364,000. • The property-tax levy rate was $14.68 per $1,000 in taxable valuation. Taxable valuation Wheeler said there were two big changes this year that deal with taxable valuation, including it being the first year of a property-tax rollback where all commercial and industrial properties, telecom properties
and railroad properties were rolled back by 5 percent. “The city will receive a backfill for those commercial and industrial properties, however, not for the telecom or railroad properties,” Wheeler said. According to Wheeler, the second change with the taxable valuation was the equalization process at the county level, and where the residential building valuation went down by 15 percent. “Overall, we saw a decrease in that total taxable valuation,” he said, “a change in how that levy rate is calculated, in so far as what gets thrown into the taxable valuation formula, which caused us to go back and review what our levy had been historically and, perhaps, take a little bit different approach.” Tax revenue approach Wheeler said the city took a tax revenue approach to the budget, instead of a tax rate neutral approach, in order to keep the tax dollars the same and not worry what the rate did. As for other aspects of the FY 2015 budget, Wheeler said the sanitation fees will start to pay for all solid waste costs, and not Please see BUDGET, Page 4
Old poles, new issues Council enters into services agreement with Veenstra and Kimm to improve downtown By AMY HANSEN
OST news editor • ahansen@osceolaiowa.com
One light pole falling over can lead to a lot of extra and unforeseen work for city officials. This was the case when a light pole fell over on West Jefferson Street in downtown Osceola Feb. 27. The street light hit a parked vehicle and caused damage. It also brought down Christmas lights and power lines. “In talking with our insurer on the issue, and explaining it wasn’t blown down by wind or hit, and it was, in fact, the second one we’ve had come down on its own, they were concerned and felt that there was an issue that needed to be taken care of immediately,” said Ty Wheeler, city administrator/clerk, during a March 4 Osceola City Council meeting. Wheeler said the old and damaged poles are being replaced. However, the downtown corridor issue goes back to the city’s work session in October where council members looked at downtown structures, street lights, crosswalks and ramps and cited several problems. Safety issues “I think, at that time, we were still looking at it through the lens of a downtown beautification project, and, I think, we’ve crossed over into a public-safety issue where we need
OST photo by AMY HANSEN
Saint Patrick’s Day: Pictured is the Saint Patrick’s
OST photo by AMY HANSEN
Please see DOWNTOWN CORRIDOR, Page 4 SINGLE COPY PRICE: 75¢
Copyright 2014
Pictured is a streetscape poster by Veenstra and Kimm, an engineering services company, depicting downtown infrastructure improvements in cities throughout Iowa.
Index Obituary .......................3 Editorial ........................4 Church Directory .........9 Classifieds .................11
Neighbors ....................5 Public Notices ...........10 Record .........................2 Sports...........................6
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Day display case at Osceola Public Library. Patti Lesko, a member of Clarke Area Arts Council, designed the festive display case for Saint Patrick’s Day, which is Monday, March 17. Here’s some information about the holiday, which is also known as Feast of Saint Patrick. One of the most commonly recognized patron saints of Ireland is Saint Patrick because he is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland in the fifthcentury. According to legend, Saint Patrick, used a three-leaf shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans. Saint Patrick’s Day is always celebrated on March 17 because it is the date of Saint Patrick’s death.
Don’t Forget
Osceola Farmers’ Market
The farmers’ market is planned 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Osceola Senior Center.
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