SECOND LOSS
THROWBACK NEWS
Marshalltown Community College hands ranked Southwestern men’s basketball team second loss of season. Read more in SPORTS, page 9A.
Five years ago this week, Creston was hit with a blizzard. Snowfall amounts were upward of 1 foot with wind gusts of more than 50 miles per hour. Read more Throwback news on page 2A.
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2014
Audit reports take center stage in Green trial By JAKE WADDINGHAM
CNA associate editor jwaddingham@crestonnews.com
CORYDON — Two hours and 30 minutes. That is approximately how long former Draper, Snodgrass and Mikkelsen employee Randy Cook spent on the witness stand, taking up a majority of the spotlight Wednesday at the Wayne County Courthouse for the third day of the civil trial Steve Green vs. City of Creston, Water Works Board of Trustees. Cook – who is now the chief financial officer at Southwestern
Randy Cook on stand for two hours, 30 minutes Wednesday. He explains red flags raised in 2012 audit. Steve Green and Lee McNichols expected on the stand today. ■
Community College – worked on the yearly audit for Creston Water Works since he started at Draper, Snodgrass and Mikkelsen in 1994. During the longest stint on the witness stand by anyone so far in this trial, Cook explained the process of conducting the yearly audit, the red flags that were raised by the 2012 audit and how he reported his findings to some of the
board members and the state auditor. Cook took the stand before the morning break around 10 a.m. and was not excused until 2:52 p.m. There was a lunch break at noon. Water Works audits Dennis Bailey concluded his time on the stand that was carried over from the end of the day Tuesday. The former Creston Water Works
board chairman said it was his understanding that Green had a purchase limit of $5,000 to conduct day-to-day business without immediate Green board approval. “If every decision of that type had to be made by the board, then the board would have been running the business and we wouldn’t have needed an office staff or a general manager,” Bailey said. “The simpler day-to-day things needed to be dealt with on a day-
‘Mommies of Angels’ donates new equipment for park By SARAH BROWN
CNA staff reporter sbrown@crestonnews.com
Rainbow Park just received a major upgrade thanks to Mommies of Angels, Endow Union County and McKinley Park Restoration Fund. Almost two years ago Amy Lohoff, an active member of Mommies of Angels, approached the Creston Parks and Recreation Board about installing new playground equipment in Rainbow Park. The park equipment at Rainbow Park has been showing wear in recent years and was in need of some care. After discussing the project with the other members of Mommies of Angels, it was decided to help rehabilitate the park with funds raised through their organization, in memory of children who were lost during pregnancy, still born or under other circumstances. Lohoff said, in the circles of parents who lose children, they are referred to as “rainbow kids.” “We wanted our money to go towards something for children,” Lohoff said. The group donated near $7,000 to the proj-
CNA photo by SARAH BROWN
Employees from Fry and Associates of North Kansas City, Mo., clockwise from left, Joshua Autry, Ahmed Gourche, Jeff Everhart and Eddie McDowell install a new play structure at Rainbow Park Tuesday.
ect, which was matched by Endow Union County, who contributed $7,500. The total cost of the new playground equipment cost near $17,500. The remaining funds came from McKinley Park Restoration Fund. One of the items the “Mommies” wanted to include in the project is a swing for handicapped children. Their request
has been granted. Gary Borcherding of Creston Parks and Recreation Board said the swing will be mounted to the new structure in spring 2015. “It’s basically a swing that handicapped children can safely swing on without falling off or getting hurt,” Borcherding said. “That opens up more opportunities. We were limited on what we can do for them
But there was no such adjustment, and Iowa State University agricultural economist Chad Hart believes the USDA will wait to do in January, if necessary. Michigan and Wisconsin were behind in harvesting when harsh, snowy snowy weather hampered farmers’ efforts to get crops out of fields. “There’s still a fair amount of crop still in the fields and it’s expected they
will probably still come in, maybe late, but they will be there,” Hart said. Changing the number of acres planted — which are reported on federal program applications and compared to USDA farmer surveys — could affect final corn production figures and impact prices, which dipped to about $3.20 a bushel in October on the anticipation of a record corn harvest. The USDA left this
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and this gives us another option.” Mommies of Angels raises their money for community projects and grievance support packages through two fundraisers — a Mother’s Day Walk and a children’s carnival during Fourth of July weekend. Rainbow Park is located in the center of Monroe, Birch, Fremont and Vine streets.
USDA sees higher corn demand DES MOINES (AP) — Aside from increased demand for corn to make food sweeteners and a boost in soybean exports, the U.S. Department of Agriculture made few adjustments to Wednesday’s crop update. Some analysts expect that the USDA may adjust the number of corn acres planted, which currently exceeds the agency’s estimates by about 5 million acres.
to-day basis.” Then Cook took the stand, told the jury how he became a certified public accountant (CPA) and explained how he conducted the yearly audit for Creston Water Works. “We would prepare an audit program that would be set by our standards as to how we would perform the audit for the water works,” Cook said. “It would be an outline on how we would perform the audit.” Cook said an audit is an examination of the financial statements
Volume 131 No. 136
2014
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year’s expected corn harvest at a record 14.41 billion bushels and the soybean crop at 3.96 billion bushels. Corn for December delivery was trading at $3.68 a bushel on Dec. 2, but was at $3.81 on Wednesday, a 3 ½ percent increase. The report said demand for corn sweetener is expected to use an additional 10 million bushels of corn than earlier expected.
Your Alliant Energy bill will likely go up in 2015. Last week, Creston City Council visited with Keith Sherman of Alliant Energy about implementing a franchise fee on all electric and natural gas customers inside Creston city limits. This fee — at the proposed 5 percent — would push a $150 residential Alliant bill to about $157 per month and a $1,000 commercial bill to about $1,045 month■ All homely. A public hearing to gathowners and er input from homeowners commercial and business owners about the proposed fee was schedproperty ownuled 6 p.m. Tuesday at the ers would see restored Creston Depot. this fee on “The public hearing has been postponed and their Alliant will probably be Jan. 6 Energy electric now,” said Mike Taylor, and/or natucity administrator. “We’ve changed enough wording in ral gas bill. At the franchise fee ordinance 5 percent, fee that we need to have the would generate council see it again.” Tuesday, the council is about $600K expected to discuss the for the city. franchise fee in more depth. The council will have the option during that discussion to set the franchise fee percentage at anywhere from 0 to state-maximum of 5 percent.
Can’t have both Sherman said cities began implementing franchise fees in 2009 when Senate File 452 was passed by the Iowa legislature. Sherman said, thusfar, 76 cities across Iowa have established franchise fees. This franchise fee would replace the 1-percent local option sales tax currently on your Alliant bill. “You can’t have both,” Taylor said. Sherman added more and more cities are “getting rid” of local option sales tax on Alliant bills and instituing franchise fees. The reason: Cities get 100 percent of the revenue back with the franchise fee. With local option sales tax, Sherman said cities only get 58 cents back on every dollar. The remaining 42 cents on that dollar is dispersed to other local entities.
Revenue use
Sherman said the revenue received by the city of Please see FEE, Page 14
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