MONEY & TAXES
SWCC VICTORY
Do you have the right expert managing your money? Consumers should know there are different types of financial advisors. More on page 10A of today’s paper.
The SWCC men’s basketball team held on Thursday evening for an 87-80 victory over Central JV. More in SPORTS, page 7A.
creston
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Criminal One man’s trash... charges ‘not warranted’ against Steve Green Pilot recycling program to launch in Creston this spring. Residents in the James Subdivision and on South Park, McKinley, Stone and Bureau streets will be included. ■
By JAKE WADDINGHAM
CNA associate editor jwaddingham@crestonnews.com
By IAN RICHARDSON
Former Creston Water Works General Manager Steve Green will not face any criminal charges according to a letter from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office to Union County Attorney Tim Kenyon Thursday. Because of a conflict of interest, Kenyon asked the Iowa Attorney General’s Office to investigate and, if necessary, prosecute any potential charges arising out of Green’s conduct as general manager. The case is officially listed as closed with no charges filed. In the letter, Assistant Attorney General Robert Sand said the case — viewed independently or in light of Green’s civil trial — did not warrant criminal charges. He said the civil case centered on similar issues and included the Iowa State Auditor’s
irichardson@crestonnews.com
CNA staff reporter
Please see GREEN, Page 2
Couple dead after house fire in Atlantic ATLANTIC (AP) — Authorities say two people have died after fire at a house in the western Iowa city of Atlantic. Fire Capt. Gene Schmeling tells the Omaha World-Herald that firefighters rescued 57-yearold Denise McDaniel after entering the back of the home. She was flown to an Omaha hospital, where she later died. Schmeling says 57-year-old Paul McDaniel’s body was found inside the home. Schmeling says the fire started just after 10 p.m. Wednesday and was caused by a broken gas line in the basement. Schmeling says clothes hanging from the gas line caused it to break, sparking the fire. Schmeling says he doesn’t know what caused the gas to ignite.
R
ecycling those old Creston News Advertisers is going to become a lot easier for about 200 Creston residents this March as the city begins a curbside recycling pilot program that was unanimously approved at Tuesday’s city council meeting. Through the pilot, the city will learn the total amount of tonnage recycled by select residents during a threemonth period. The data will give the council an idea of whether this is something it wants to put in place citywide, as it weighs citizen interest against the potential cost of putting it into motion. And the pilot won’t cost the city a penny, as Waste Management, Creston’s garbage collection service, will absorb the entire cost.
The pilot program Residents of the James Subdivision and of South Park, McKinley, South Stone and South Bureau streets— extending as far north as West Adams Street—will officially receive notification of the program in mid-March. Then, on March 23 and 24, they will be issued 96-gallon, yellow-lidded receptacles to begin collecting recyclable materials. Materials available for recycling will be plastic bottles and containers, food and beverage cans, paper, flattened cardboard, paperboard and food and beverage cartons. This will be a single-stream recycling program, which
means all recycled items will be deposited in the same receptacle, with no sorting required. Mike Eischeid, municipal marketing manager for Waste Management, said he and the local district manager selected this part of town after a drive through Creston because it is “a good sampling of the community” with several families living there. They then proposed the area to Creston City Council. The small receptacles issued to each residence will be picked up curbside like normal garbage pickup, eliminating the need for those citizens to drive their recyclables to one of the large bins currently at Fareway and Prairie Solid Waste Recycling Center. “Recycling has picked up big-time over the past decade,” Eischeid said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Once you give someone a curbside receptacle, recycling picks up dramatically.” Recycled materials will be picked up every other Tuesday, beginning April 7 and ending June 30. Trucks will take the recycled materials to Prairie Solid Waste, where they will be weighed, collected and then sent to the Waste Management recycling facility in Des Moines. Following the program, residents will fill out a survey about their experience and their interest in a continuation of a curbside program in the future.
A matter of money While this pilot will measure citizen interest, the final decision whether or not to add curbside recycling citywide has another important factor: the price. “It’s going to come down to cost, just like everything does,” Mike Taylor, city administrator, said. However, the potential cost of adding a recycling plan like this through Waste Management is unknown at the moment. “They said Tuesday they don’t know what they would charge us for recycling,”
The receptacles used in the pilot program will look similar to the one pictured here.
“Recycling has picked up big-time over the past decade. Once you give someone a curbside receptacle, recycling picks up dramatically.” — Mike Eischeid
Waste Management marketing manager
Taylor said. “We’re far enough out that I don’t think we can get a firm price.” Eischeid e x p l a i n e d Taylor the difficulty of pinpointing an exact amount at this point in time. “It’s really difficult to say,” he said. “We have to consider all of the factors like fuel, what’s the fee of the current recycler or the local processor, how many homes—and then of course we’d have to factor in the current services we provide the city. So it’s really hard to put an exact number to it until we have all the factors identified.” Creston currently has a contract with Waste Man-
agement through June 30, 2016, and Taylor said recycling is not included in this contract. Eischeid said if Creston was pleased with the pilot results, the city would have the opportunity of opening up the contract and adding recycling to it or waiting until the contract expires to look at a new contract. The city of Corning currently has curbside recycling through Waste Management. City officials say residents pay about $3.91 per month for curbside recycling. The city of Osceola recently switched from Waste Management to Jim’s Sanitation, where Ty Wheeler, city administrator in Osceola, said residents paid $3.65 per month last year for curbside recycling.
Fire department continues to fill response gap By BAILEY POOLMAN
CNA staff reporter bpoolman@crestonnews.com
The gaps are filling up. Creston Fire Department is home to three more volunteer firefighters, thanks to a continuous effort to fill a response gap for daytime calls. “Years ago, and we’re saying 50 years ago, volunteerism was more prominent,” said Todd Jackson, Creston fire chief. “A lot of your volunteer firefighters 50 years ago owned businesses uptown. They were able to get away to do it. ... We just say it generally as fighting fires, but our job description
has grown tremendously over the last several years.” The three volunteers, who started in January, have made it easier to fill the Jackson gap caused by lack of response during daytime, workday calls. “It’s not unique to Creston. It’s not unique to Iowa. It’s a nationwide problem,” Jackson said. “I’ve talked to other fire chiefs in our area, and everyone has daytime staffing issues. They just can’t get the numbers to respond.”
Currently, Creston Fire Department is staffed by five full-time and seven part-time employees, and 15 volunteers. “It’s been kind of something different, kind of fun,” said Mark Huff, director of Creston Park and Recreation Department and volunteer firefighter. “Both my assistant and me decided it was the right thing to do, so we did.” Huff, along with the other two new volunteers, will eventually be fully trained to operate the fire trucks and water pumps on the trucks, so trained firefighters can
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Copyright 2015
Volume 131 No. 178
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Please see VOLUNTEERS, Page 2
CNA photo by BAILEY POOLMAN
Creston Fire Department houses 27 full-time, part-time and volunteer firefighters, and thanks to continuous recruitment efforts, are slowly filling a gap in daytime, workday call response.
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