Christmas activities
Plains Area MH
O-A/BC-IG grapplers
continue in area communities
announces new president/CEO
have successful open to new season
Pg. 3
Pg. 7
Pg. 9
Ida County’s Official Newspaper
Courier Ida County
Vol. 42, No. 49 Ida Grove, Iowa
w ww.idacountycourier.com
Wednesday,, December 6, 2017 Wednesday
Battle Creek band releases debut CD
News GLIMPSE
❚ by DEB LOGER
Op ons for IG Moorehead Avenue bridge, West Access Page 3
Street parking during snow removal Page 3
BC Library holiday raffle table Page 6
School holiday concerts underway Page 7
Raptor girls open basketball season with two wins Page 8
Upcoming Events 2017 Santa’s Parlor Friday, December 8 Saturday, December 9 7-10 pm both days 500 Washington St. Ida Grove
IG Kiwanis Christmas Ball Saturday, December 9 5 pm Ida Grove Skate Palace
Pre-Game Meal Friday, December 15 5-6:30 pm OA-BCIG High School Ida Grove
3-Day Forecast
Comp board: The Ida County Compensation Board met Nov. 27 to develop its recommendation for elected official salary increases. From left—Martha Boyle (secretary), Dan Remer (chair), Rusty Sadler and LuAnn Bennett. Rita Frahm, Dennis Lansink and Sandy Gray are also members of the comp board.
Compensa on board favors 6 percent raise The Ida County Compensation Board met Nov. 27 to discuss elected of icial salaries and approved recommending 6 percent raises for the sheriff, auditor, treasurer, attorney and supervisors and a 7.5 percent increase for the recorder. Current board members are: LuAnn Bennett of Galva and Dennis Lansink of Arthur— representing supervisors Rhett Leonard, Creston Schubert and Raymond Drey; Martha Boyle of Holstein—representing attorney Meghann Whitmer; Rita Frahm of Galva—representing auditor
POSITION
Wed 12/6
Sheriff
31° | 12°
Auditor
Partly Cloudy
Treasurer
Thurs 12/7
Recorder
27° | 16°
Attorney
Mostly Sunny
Fri 12/8
30° | 7° Cloudy/Windy
Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ GoingsOnInTheGrove
Follow us on Twi er @IdaCoCourier
$
Photo by: Deb Loger | Ida County Courier
1.00
Supervisors
Lorna Steenbock; Sandy Gray of Holstein—representing recorder Julie Phillips; Rusty Sadler of Battle Creek— representing treasurer Traci Riessen and Dan Remer of Ida Grove—representing Sheriff Wade Harriman. Remer, Boyle, Bennett and Sadler were present for the meeting. Remer was elected chairperson and Boyle was elected secretary. The current and proposed salaries are as follows: supervisors—$25,713 to $27,256, auditor and treasurer—
CURRENT SALARY $ 59,447
PROPOSED RAISE 6%
PROPOSED SALARY $ 63,014
$
46,593
6%
$
$
46,593
6%
$
$
45,872
7½%
$
$
46,556
6%
$
$
25,713
6%
$
49,389 49,389 49,312 49,349 27,256
$46,593 to $49,389, recorder—$45,872 to $49,312, attorney—$46,556 to $49,349 and sheriff—$59,447 to $63,014. In a letter to the compensation board, Gray stated she wanted to get the recorder’s salary in line with the auditor and treasurer. All board members present agreed with that request. Bennett commented that the supervisors indicated they would be happy with a 3 percent increase. “We have astoundingly good people in place, there’s an effort to increase the county’s tax base and when you compare the counties ranked 89th through 99th in population we are grossly behind. I’d like to see our county employee salaries equal to where we are with population. Our county attorney’s salary is ranked 96th. These people are worth it,” said Boyle. “It’s important to keep our (continued on page 2)
“Jeff and Jary Vermeys make up the heart of Over the Border band, a veteran country band from Battle Creek. Their debut release of songs written by Jeff is available through iTunes, GooglePlay and many other digital retailers, as well as a physical CD available online or hand delivered by the Vermeys,” said Scott Webb of Jackson, Neb., the CD producer. “The basic tracks for their latest CD, “Saddle Up Lets Ride,” were recorded in Jary’s living room and we spent the last several months in between work schedules working on the tracks in my small basement studio,” said Webb. The CD is a collective story about Jeff’s life and his family. Every song is a story from someone in his life. The song he sings with angels and the CD itself are dedicated to Jeff and Jary’s father Fred who passed away in 2010.” “The ironic thing about musicianship is most musicians start when they’re young and go whole-hearted to get their own songs recorded. We are late bloomers in this endeavor. It takes inspiration to write a good song and that’s where Jeff came into play. He had some life changes and some life issues that sparked his interest such as dad’s passing. That gave him the inspiration to do what he did,” said Jary. “I dedicated the CD to my dad. When you lose your dad it’s rough. You hear parents say its worse to lose a kid, but dad was such a big part of our lives. When he passed away it really got me thinking. So I went out and wrote a song. We always said dad was the leader of our band. I wrote the song for
dad on the day we put him in the ground. It took me about 10 minutes to write it. It’s not perfect; I wrote it so fast. It was like dad was helping me write it,” Jeff said. Jary continued, “It’s the one song on the album with a different twist and you can hear it. It’s the old country way dad used to play. It’s pretty cool because you can switch it up. The other ironic thing is when we played, even after dad didn’t play any more, we’d still have him up on stage. It’s very heart warming to know people still liked him as an entertainer even though he just sat in with us once in a while.” Jeff said, “Dad was liked and it says it in the song. He was a truck driver and loved trucks and it says that in the song. He sings with angels. ‘My Little Man and Me’ is about my son, Josh Vermeys. ‘My Little Girl’ is about my daughter Reagan. I wrote it on Christmas Eve and sent it to her. I had lunch with her a couple months ago and that was the irst time I’d seen her in eight years. “I wrote ‘Walking Through The Rain’ for Jary’s daughter, Madison (it’s not on this CD). Her friend was in a car accident in Correctionville. She was in a coma for a while. Jary had a part in writing that too. We started it at Jary’s house and I inished it. He helped write ‘Over the Border,’ the title song of the CD.” According to Jeff he wrote “Jesus Saves” almost on a dare from Pastor Cormeny at the Lutheran Church in Battle Creek. Pastor Cormeny had asked him to sing for Easter. While struggling to ind a song that struck (continued on page 2)
Supervisors approve street project consultant Ida County supervisors voted unanimously to enter into an engineering services contract with JEO Consulting of Carroll for reconstruction improvements to Harold Godbersen Drive and M15/240th Street in Ida Grove. The estimated cost of the engineering work is $99,400. “They will be the project manager and will bring a recommended irm to the board for your decision,” said secondary road engineer Jeff Williams. While bids could be required, Williams said the irm has done work with many counties in the area and comes well-recommended based on its reputation. The road work will be part of the iscal year 2018 road projects. “It’s a good price,” said Williams of the estimate, adding there could be some extra charges.
Season’s Greetings! Let us fill your tank so you can stay warm ALL WINTER LONG!
Ca Call C all P Propane ropane Hankk Today! H T d !
In other business Supervisors voted unanimously for Resolution 17-23 to change the public hearing date for urban renewal district amendment, for a potential wind turbine project, to Jan. 2 at 10:30 a.m. Supervisors approved Resolution 17-22, which rescinded an earlier hearing date of Dec. 11. Schools will now be consulted formally on Dec. 18. It now goes to the planning and zonng commission for review and recommendations. The reason for the change was due to a revised project list. Portions of the property lie within two miles of the incorporated limits of the cities of Ida Grove, Holstein, Galva, Battle Creek and Arthur, and joint agreements with such cities have been approved to exercise urban renewal authority over such portions of the property, according to the
resolution. Ida County Auditor Lorna Steenbock was designated as the county’s representative in the consultation process. Supervisors approved a loan to the Tax Increment Revenue Fund from the Secondary Road Fund out of increment tax revenues received from two existing urban renewal areas for $8,736. Supervisors voted unanimously for 2017 homestead credit application amount of $9,940,234; military disabled veteran credit applications, $861,180. They also voted unanimously for a jailer-dispatcher’s wage increase for Rebecca Schmidt, for $16.50 per hour, effective Nov. 10. In the iscal year 2018-19 budget process, Mid-Sioux Opportunity sent its request for (continued on page 2)
Photo by: Deb Loger | Ida County Courier
Over The Boarder: Jeff, left, and Jary Vermeys, members of Over the Border band, have released their first CD in memory of their dad, Fred Vermeys.
Let our ffamily take care of your family! Second Sunday of Advent Sunday, December 10 Henry H R. Jessen Owner Operator O
Johnson Propane Heating and Cooling Inc.
Battle Creek First Pres. Church Serving your Community Since 1945
Check out our website www.propanehank.com C Che
Call Propane Hank • Toll Free 1-888-365-1241 C
WORSHIP: 9:30 am
Sunday School Christmas Program Rehearsal: 10:40 am
Everyone Welcome!
Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps. Psalm 85:13