Thursday, November 16, 2023
Vol. 158, Issue 46
Decorah, Iowa 52101 www.decorahnewspapers.com
One Section email: news@decorahnewspapers.com
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Official election results reported By Roz Weis
Lynch Family Foundation held its 7th Annual Veterans Day Celebration Friday, Nov. 10, at the Winneshiek County Fairgrounds, where a record-breaking 1,000 veterans and families were honored with a free barbecue supper and various drawings and prizes. Navy Veteran Katy Buck and her Marine Veteran husband, John Buck. (Driftless Multimedia photos by Denise Lana)
Philip Rolfe, Army Veteran, served Dec. 12, 1989, to Aug. 5, 2005, where he had many Army Veteran Linus Holthaus of Osjobs, starting out as a heavy sian is pictured enjoying the barbeequipment operator, then a cue supper. Holthaus served from combat engineer, light wheeled January 1970 to December 1972. vehicle mechanic and a recruiter. Pictured with his daughter Orvalene Ruen-Rolfe.
Honoring Veterans
Winneshiek County Auditor Ben Steines released the official results of the Nov. 7 Winneshiek County City/School Election following the Nov. 14 canvass. In Decorah, most candidates filed nomination papers early to run in the races. However, area yard signs indicated several more were interested as writein candidates on the ballots. The write-ins gaining enough votes to have their names published are listed separately. Results With 100 percent of the county precincts reporting, Steines
L-R: Ray Koshatka, Dick Juve, John Juve and Ray Seiler listen to a performance by the Decorah High School Choir during the Decorah Community School District’s Veterans Day program, Nov. 10, in the high school auditorium. The four local veterans, all members of Decorah VFW Post 1977, presented the colors during the program. (Driftless Multimedia photos by Zach Jensen)
reported there were 3,384 total ballots cast. He indicated that the 29% voter turnout is not unusual in a non-presidential election year. Winneshiek County has 11,341 registered voters. In the race for the Decorah City Council At-Large seat, Emily Neal won the election with 1,291 votes compared to 385 for write-in candidates. A total of 336 of those write-in votes were cast for Rebecca Swella Smedsrud. In Decorah City Council Ward 1, Brent Parker was elected with 2689 votes over Jody
Election continued on page 3
Beacon error, farmland access conflict, suspend 360th Street vacation
By Zach Jensen
Decorah High School Principal Brad Hurst addresses the audience during the Decorah Community School District’s annual Veterans Day Program and breakfast, held the morning of Friday, Nov. 10, at the high school in Decorah.
fax: 563-382-5949
Relying on imperfect technology can cause problems, and that fact was proven after the Nov. 6 meeting of the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors, when interim County Engineer Nick Rissman discovered that the Beacon web service contained inaccurate information regarding 360th Street in Highland Township. Landowner Mary Fitch addressed the supervisors during their Nov. 13 meeting, regarding a previously-received request by neighbor and fellow-landowner Jeff Peele to vacate a portion of 360th Street, which crosses her property. Rissman said that, following the Nov. 6 supervisors meeting, when the vacation was first discussed, he discovered there was a discrepancy on the Beacon website, which the Board used during its discussion on the issue. Because of the discrepancy, the Board needed to have a new discussion regarding the requested vacation. “Last July, July of 2023, I was going out to … settle up with my neighbor to the north about some farming we’d agreed to do together, and I came across this rip-rap,” Fitch said. “So, I called my neighbor, Peele, and asked him about it, and he told me that he had contacted the county, and the county gave him permission to do it. So, I
came into the county engineer’s office and visited with Jeff Kuboushek, and Jeff was kind enough to look into that issue. A few days later, (Kuboushek) contacted me, and he said he can’t find anybody that talked to Peele, and there is no permit on file.” Fitch said that after Kuboushek shared the information with Fitch, Peele addressed the Supervisors, claiming he’d made improvements to the Level C road, which he was requesting to be vacated. “Opinions differ on ‘improvements’, because I don’t call them ‘improvements’ at all,” Fitch told the Supervisors. “It’s an obstruction. It’s an inconvenience. And, it’s a huge concern. If you vacate what Peele is requesting, Peele still has access on that Level C road … but my access will be disrupted by what you would vacation. That, to me, is a huge issue. Access in farming is a huge issue. “If I ever have to go search for another tenant, the first thing they’re going to ask is about access to that farmland,” she continued. “If I want to sell this farm, access is a huge issue. And, I’ll be the first to say that part that Jeff Peele is wanting to be vacationed I seldom use, but
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WinnMed reports nearly $2 million revenue increase
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Amount will be helpful during facility’s 2024 expansion By Zach Jensen WinnMed is showing close to a $2 million increase in net revenues, compared to this time one year ago, which is good, hospital officials said, when preparing for the facility’s upcoming expansion. WinnMed’s Steve Slessor and Ben Stevens shared its annual report with the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors the morning of Nov. 13, during its weekly meeting. “I’m happy to report that we’ve had two years in a row, now, of credibly-positive financial results,” Slessor said. “That’s … especially important going into our large building project and have some months we’ll be taking out in debt, and … this organization can be financially viable through a large growth project such as that.” Stevens said this year’s $1.6 million increase over last year is “mostly just in investments in
the organization.” He added that WinnMed’s size matters more than its age, when compared to other Iowa hospitals. “We’re busting at the seams right now,” he said, explaining the facility’s need to expand. “We’re just out of space.” The expansion is slotted to begin after the thaw in early 2024, but Slessor admitted the bids received for the construction project haven’t been where WinnMed would like to see them. “We didn’t have as much interest from, I would say, contractors within an hour, that we would have expected to,” added Stevens, referring to mechanical contractors. “We got one out of Cedar Rapids and one out of the Quad Cities. We got a good local contractor on the electrical side, so that was positive to see.” Supervisor Steve Kelsay asked Slessor if he’d identified other Iowa hospitals at risk
of closure. Slessor said that, thanks to a new Medicaid payment program, some hospitals that may have been at risk of closure could be pulled out of the red. “The State of Iowa has worked with the federal government to get approved a Medicaid direct-payment program,” Slessor explained. “That program opens up additional dollars for the federal government for Medicaid services delivered. The attempt is to get your Medicaid reimbursement similar to your commercial reimbursement. That has been approved for this year … and that provides significant dollars to every hospital in the state of Iowa. And, the more Medicaid you see, the more significant the benefit of the program is. “Hospitals at risk for closure,” Slessor continued, “oftentimes because they either have not a lot of patients, or their payor mix,
as we call it, is not that great, so not having a lot of commercial payors and having a lot of Medicaid payors, this program will significantly impact especially those organizations. So, I think the risk of Iowa hospitals closing has been significantly reduced because of that Medicaid direct-payment program.” In other business • Planning, Zoning and Flood Plain Administrator Tony Phillips reported that, according to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), “There are 3,872 tax parcels consisting of a total of 119,750 acres that contain at least some land in the special flood hazard area. The special flood hazard area is the hundred-year flood plain that we care about. Twenty-six
WinnMed continued on page 5
Beacon error
continued on page 4
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