PANTHERS FALL
JETER HONORED
Fresh off Friday’s comeback win, the Creston girls basketball team fell to Shenandoah on the road Monday night. For more on the Panthers, see SPORTS, page 7A. >>
Murray Community School Board Member Dennis Jeter was honored at the IASB annual convention in November. For more on Jeter, see page 12A. >>
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Mount Ayr City Council discusses solid-waste rate increase By ALLISON TRETINA CNA staff reporter atretina@crestonnews.com
CNA photo by BAILEY POOLMAN
Making crafts: Ashley Ross and her son, Preston Kuhns, both of Orient, make Popsicle-stick ornaments during a vendor
fair held Saturday at Orient Community School. Ross had the booth set up for children to have something to do while their parents shopped at the PTO-hosted event.
Iowa disputes $1.6M in charges from software vendor DES MOINES (AP) — The Iowa Department of Education is disputing $1.6 million in charges from a Minnesota company over a software system that repeatedly failed during mandatory statewide elementary school testing. Tension has been building between the department and Minnesota-based TIES (Technology and Information Educational Services) agency officials as they scrambled to restore confidence in the agency’s software system that made Iowa extend its fall
testing window, according to department emails reviewed by the Des Moines Register. A 2014 audit found that TIES faced scrutiny before, mismanaging millions of dollars and running a deficit of almost $2.8 million through June of that year. Invoices from Sept. 29 show ongoing financial disputes. The state has paid about $551,000 of the nearly $2.2 million billed by TIES, and is withholding $930,000 until screenings for winter and spring are successful. The department also
is challenging $150,000 for moving reports to an older platform the system had previously used. “Since TIES has chosen to change platforms three times in three years — and we are back to the first display platform we used three years ago — we do not believe this is a cost the department should incur,” the invoice said. TIES executive director Mark Wolak said the company stands by its software’s performance and is focused on ensuring it fixes the issues, but he won’t overwork staff to the point of team mo-
rale being threatened. “I won’t be asking the team to be working weekends unless we have something critical,” TIES director of software solutions John Cavalieri said. “Not everything is critical.” The testing window for the next statewide reading exam, administered through the software system, begins Jan. 16. A $180,000 technical audit to determine how the department plans to handle the software’s issues is expected to be completed by early January.
MOUNT AYR – Garbage rates could increase in Mount Ayr for the first time in eight years after discussion by the Mount Ayr City Council Monday night. At the regular meeting, City Superintendent Brent Wise proposed the council consider increasing the fee rate to collect and dispose solid waste by approximately 3 percent for residents and approximately 8 percent for businesses in order to offset the overhead costs of the service. In numbers, the change would cost residents 50 cents more each month, and business owners no less than $5. “I’m not proposing we do this every year, but soon enough (the costs) are going to catch up to us,” Wise said. Currently, the city charges every residential and commercial premise owner $16.50 per month for the collection of either a 65-gallon or 95-gallon container each week. Weekly pickup of a 2-yard dumpster costs $60 per month, a 4-yard dumpster, $110 and a 6-yard dumpster, $160. Charges nearly double for two pickups in a week, and accordingly triple for three pickups in a week. Wise said the city absorbs costs not covered after these fees.
“I’M NOT proposing we do this every year, but soon enough (the costs) are going to catch up to us.”
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BRENT WISE
Mount Ayr city superintendent
“We used to be able to get (recycling services) without a fee for it, and we just absorb that (now),” Wise said. “Roughly, that is $3,500 a year that we are paying additionally.” The city began paying the additional fee when it entered an agreement with Midwest Sanitation in July 2015. Adopting the proposed fee rate would provide the city with roughly $5,000 of additional revenue annually. In addition to offsetting the already existing costs of the solid waste services, adding revenue could help fix another problem the city faces: overflow. Every week, the city disposes recycling into a 60-yard dumpster, which in turn is emptied every six weeks. But one, 60-yard dumpster emptied about every other month is too small. “Where we are at lately we do not have enough room,” Wise said. “We have about 3 to 4 yards short of AYR | 2A
Tuition to rise 2 percent next year at 3 Iowa universities CEDAR FALLS (AP) — Thousands of undergraduates at Iowa’s three public universities will pay at least 2 percent more in tuition next year — and maybe an additional 2 percent the following year. The Iowa Board of Regents voted Monday to raise tuition for resident undergraduate students for the 2017-2018 academic year. The proposal also envisions a 2 percent increase for the 2018-2019 year, but that could be adjusted
depending on how much funding that state lawmakers approve for the universities this spring. The vote means that tuition will increase to $7,270 at the University of Iowa and $7,240 at Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. The vote came during a meeting at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Approximately 64,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate programs at the three universities.
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ley, accompanied by Norma Crawford, right, during Joyful Noise’s community Christmas concert Sunday in the Creston High School auditorium.
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Christmas medley: Joyful Noise group members, from left, Colleen Gangestad and Becky Riley sing a Christmas med-
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2016
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