The
Graphic - Advocate Wednesday
| MAY 7, 2014|Volume 125| Issue 19
Rockwell City Office 712-297-7544 • advocate@iowatelecom.net - Lake City Office 712-464-3188 • lcgraphic@iowatelecom.net SCC Sports on Page 10
Rumors derail new city administrator By Ken Ross Graphic-Advocate Editor No one openly claims to have witnessed Matt Ringgenberg doing anything wrong but because of unsubstantiated rumors, the city council of Lake City has rescinded a decision to hire Ringgenberg as city administrator for Lake City. Ringgenberg and Lake City Mayor Gary Fahan were in agreement on that conclusion during a joint interview on Friday, May 2. Ringgenberg does not want to give details about allegations against him other than that they relate to his previous employment at Stewart Memorial Community Hospital, where he had been terminated. Ringgenberg had resigned a seat on the Lake City Council before taking the position as city administrator. The four remaining council members had voted 3 to 0 to hire Ringgenberg, with council members Gary Bellinghausen, Doug Felmer and Brandon Blair voting aye and Tamela Green abstaining because she is Ringgenberg’s aunt. At a special session on April 28, the council rescinded the hiring by the same 3 to 0 vote. Ringgenberg maintains a positive attitude toward the future, “I have some bad feelings for some of the people in the community, now, but I’m hoping the city can move forward. One thing I really want to say is that Gary [Fahan] and a couple of the council members have been really great through this.” Ringgenberg, who has a wife and a young child, plans to go back to school and complete an accounting degree. The rescinding of the city administrator job offer was one of a series of difficulties experienced by the city since Kim Kelly announced in January that she was resigning as city administrator to take a position at the North Central Correctional Facility in Rockwell City. After an initial group of applicants were interviewed by a committee consisting of the mayor, the current city administrator, and council members Felmer and Green, and references were checked, a recommendation was made to the council to hire a woman who had been given glowing references. “The name had leaked out and we got calls saying you made a bad decision,” Fahan said. The council rejected the committee’s recommendation. The next step involved interviewing five candidates by the entire council. Usually a personnel interview for prospective administrative level employees involves a committee that does not include a quorum (majority) of the council so that the interview can be conducted privately, without the formal process of going into closed session. However, the mayor insisted that the entire council be involved in the next round of interviews because he did not want another situation in which a committee’s recommendation was rejected. This process led to the hiring of Kelly Hasner, former director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Nixa in central Missouri. During a visit to Lake City before
assuming his duties full time, Hasner went on a tour of the city with the mayor. Fahan said Hasner showed absolutely no interest in anything the mayor showed him or said to him. Two days later, Hasner called and said he got a job offer that he was going to take. Two more candidates were offered the position and rejected it. Ringgenberg had not applied for the position up to this point, but when the job was posted again, he was one of the applicants. “For the 2-½ years while Matt was on the council, nobody came to me and said you had a bad individual on the council, nothing,” Fahan said. “Once the people started coming out of the woodwork, Gary Bellinghausen and I spent two whole days calling people. He was calling people in Carroll where there was supposed to be something. He couldn’t find anything. I was checking things out. I was calling the League [of cities], everything. I could not find any substantiated stuff there.” Ringgenberg said, “I’ve had multiple calls of support, people stopping by my home and calling me, supporting me and my family.” Prior to the termination, there were people who had opposed him, including a citizen who came into the city offices threatening to get his lawyer involved. “The threats I had during that week were unbelievable,” Ringgenberg said. Allegations about the hospital were not publicly substantiated by hospital staff. A conference call was made to the hospital compliance officer from the city offices with Ringgenberg, Bellinghausen and Fahan participating in the call. Fahan said, “She [the hospital compliance officer] specifically said over the phone ‘no, there is no ongoing investigation. I can tell you that right now.’ I asked, ‘Would you know if an entity outside the hospital was conducting an investigation?’ and she said, ‘Yes, I’d know that. There is nothing.’ I tell people that in town and they look me in the eye and say, ‘Oh, yes there is.’ So, I don’t know where they’re getting this.” Fahan continued, “When you get 40 or 50 people who are dead set in their opinion... I have good friends I stop on the street and say, ‘Can I explain this to you?’ and they say, ‘No, I don’t want to hear it.’ So in their minds, something throughout the years has set something off. They won’t change their minds and they won’t believe the facts if it is right in front of them. That makes it tough and that’s why the council decided to terminate, because you can’t have that kind of division going on in town.” A new committee has been formed to seek a city administrator applicant that the citizens will accept. This committee includes Judy Hungate (a former city administrator), Vicki Keonin (who has been on the library board for 20 plus years), Tamela Green (council member) and Lee Vogt (acting part-time city administrator). Fahan said he is not a part of that committee. Fahan noted with regret that, “We tried to get to the bottom of this and stop the rumors, but it just didn’t work.”
Poppy Day is May 16 American Legion Auxiliary Twin Lakes Post # 105, Rockwell City, has declared Friday, May 16, as Poppy Day in Rockwell City. Members will distribute the poppies made by veterans in hospitals from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. that day. People can show support for past and present veterans by contributing and wearing a poppy.
$100
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Ceremony honors Jamie Buenting and his family By Ken Ross Graphic-Advocate Editor On Monday, April 28, Jamie Buenting, a Rockwell City Police officer who was killed in the line of duty in September of last year, was honored with a 50-mile bike ride from Webster City through Fort Dodge and ending at Rockwell City. The memorial bike ride was a Tour de Force event. Tour de Force was organized in New York after the 9/11 tragedy with the dual mission of honoring the victims of 9/11 by keeping their memory alive through cycling events and to raise funds to benefit the families of police officers who were killed in the line of duty. The memorial ride to honor Jamie Buenting was organized by Lt. Kelly Hindman, District 7 Commander of the Iowa State Patrol and Laura Judge, a former law enforcement officer and member of the Tour de Force organization. Judge is an Ankeny resident, one of the bike riders who joined the organization when it spread across the country from New York. It has subsequently become an international organization. Those participating in the bike ride on April 28 included not only Tour de Force members but also other bicyclists who wanted to
honor Jamie Buenting and his widow, Amanda, and two young children. Following the ride, a ceremony was held at the Rockwell City Community Center. Lt. Hindman told those gathered there, “A few months ago I took a phone call from Laura over here. She asked me whether I wanted to do a bike ride in honor of Jamie. She called the right person because I happen to be a fairly avid bicyclist, so we were all on board.” He added, “This ride would not have been possible without the support of our law enforcement officers.” Hindman said the ride was everything he thought it would be and more. He acknowledged the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) that was present in Rockwell City on, Sept. 13, the day of the fatal shooting. CERT is a multiagency team that trains together for emergencies. Jamie Buenting was a member of the team and was fatally shot while participating in an attempted arrest of an armed suspect. Hindman noted that some of Jamie’s CERT colleagues participated in the memorial bike ride. “We ask these people to do a lot
During a ceremony April 28 at the Rockwell City Community Center, the family of slain police officer Jamie Buenting received a $5,000 check and commemorative medallions in honor of their husband and father from the Tour de Force following a memorial bike ride from Webster City to Rockwell City. (Graphic-Advocate photo by Ken Ross) and I think we forget until the very worst thing happens and then it is a stark reminder that it is dangerous work that we ask them to do every day,” he said. Laura Judge explained the purpose of the Tour de Force organization
and then asked Jamie Buenting’s family members to come forward to receive a check and medallions in Jamie Buenting’s honor. Amanda and the kids then presented gifts to Tour de Force members.
Jamie Buenting’s family gave gifts to the participants of the memorial bike ride from Webster City to Rockwell City in appreciation of the tribute paid to the slain Rockwell City police officer. (Graphic-Advocate photo by Ken Ross)
Public meeting slated for major drainage project By Ken Ross Graphic-Advocate Editor The Calhoun County and Webster County Boards of Supervisors may finally be on the same page regarding a major upgrade for a drainage project. Proposed improvements could double the cost of a project that has already cost property owners in the drainage district more than a half million dollars. The nearly 13 miles of drainage, established as an easement in 1912, serves drainage for 12,035 acres in Webster County and 10,914 acres in Calhoun County. The Calhoun County supervisors were concerned that a joint resolution with Webster County would bind them into proceeding with the project upgrade if the wording of a motion is not carefully drafted. Attorney Dave Wollenzien had explained to the Calhoun County Supervisors at a past meeting that if an engineer had recommended the project upgrade, then the counties would be required to proceed regardless of what a majority of the property owners wanted. This is based on court precedents, one of which involved Webster County. Fortunately for the counties, the engineer’s report on this particular project gave three options for the boards, one of which is to do nothing further at this point. The supervisors met in Fort Dodge in the afternoon of April 29 and agreed to hold an informational meeting with the public at a later date, an action that does not bind the boards to further action in the way
that a project hearing might. Wayne Dowling, drainage clerk in the Calhoun County Auditor’s Office, was at the meeting in Fort Dodge, along with the county auditor and the supervisors. Dowling said the meeting was cordial and the supervisors of both counties now seem to be on the same page. Earlier in the morning at the meeting in Calhoun County, Steve O’Connor, recommended installing a fire door and fire wall in the court
house basement with a one-hour fire delay rating to improve the safety at the court house in Rockwell City He noted that the open stairwell as it is now could create an internal chimney effect for a fire in the basement. Based on discussions with contractors, the estimated cost of those improvements, along with a metal gate to redirect people away from an unsafe exit route, would total about $1,500. O’Connor said that the fire door
and fire wall would provide a bandage on a situation that would need more extensive measures if the county wants to preserve the courthouse for the next generation and the generation after that. If that is the county’s intent, consideration in the future should be given to a sprinkler system throughout the building, a project that would be very expensive.
SCCHS observes Live Healthy Iowa Kids
South Central Calhoun High School students walked the track on Friday, May 2, for 30 minutes to promote fitness and a healthy lifestyle. Live Healthy Iowa, is a health initiative that brings together friends, families, businesses and communities in team-based wellness challenges designed to promote positive lifestyle change . Live Healthy Iowa Kids was created in 2004 due to the success of the adult initiatives, Live Healthy Iowa. Since the launch in 2004, nearly a million kids have participated in Live Healthy Iowa Kids programs or events. The goal of Live Healthy Iowa is to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation. (Graphic-Advocate photo by Toni Venteicher)