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Compensation board to review county officials’ salaries Newton Daily News

File Photo Incentives including tax rebates, the sale of property, a $50,000 contribution and waiving development permit fees are part of the agreement the Newton City Council needs to approve for the renovation of the Midtown building to move forward.

City to consider Incentives for former Hotel Maytag project By Jamee A. Pierson Newton Daily News An agreement that provides $600,000 in TIF development incentives and property tax rebates for the renovation of the Midtown building is the only action item on the agenda for the Newton City Council Monday. The agreement is the next step for Frantz Community Investors to begin a renovation of the former Hotel Maytag building. Since last December, the city has been working with the Cedar Rapids-based company on a project to extensively renovate the former Hotel Maytag in downtown Newton. Plans were unveiled in March for a $10 million historic renovation which is expected to restore the ballroom, add market-price apartments, commercial space and an upscale restaurant to the current Midtown building. The project would be a great catalyst for residential and commercial growth in the area and would preserve a valuable histor-

ic asset, according to city administrator Bob Knabel. In order to facilitate this development, a multiple piece city incentive is proposed to leverage $10 million of project investment. That incentive includes property tax rebates, the sale of a lot for parking, a $50,000 contribution of TIF infrastructure funds and waiving development permit fees associated with the project. According to the council report, in May the city amended its North Central Urban Renewal Plan to specifically allow for incentives for this project, through a process that allowed for consultation with Jasper County and Newton School District. In June, the city issued $600,000 of TIF bonds that were intended for this project. Frantz is planning to make a major equity investment into the building and will take out a large loan for the project. The company will also use several public sources for support including federal historic tax credits, state

of Iowa historic tax credits and state of Iowa workforce tax credits. The project was also awarded a $75,000 state of Iowa Main Street Challenge Grant to put toward the ballroom renovation. That grant was made possible by the efforts of Newton Main Street. Total project costs are expected to approach $11 million. All renovations will be done in accordance with the U.S. Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, preserving the historical aspects of the building. If approved, Frantz plans to continue moving forward with their financing of the project. Construction is anticipated to start in early 2016 and is projected to be completed mid-2017. The city’s participation in the project would help leverage a major investment in downtown Newton and would spur growth for the surrounding district Knabel said. Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com

The Jasper County Compensation Board will meet this month to determine a recommendation for the salaries of elected county officials for the next fiscal year. The Jasper County Compensation Board is a required to meet yearly to make salary recommendations. Jasper County Supervisors may approve the recommendations as made by the compensation board or reduce them a like amount across the board. The board members are selected by the elected officials. Current salaries are as follows: Jasper County Supervisors: $41,200; Jasper County Auditor, Recorder and Treasurer:

$68,508; Jasper County Sheriff: $100,581; Jasper County Attorney: $108,660. The compensation board is comprised of John Billingsley, attorney’s representative; Jane McDaniel, auditor’s representative; Laura Engel, recorder’s representative; Dean Ward, sheriff ’s representative; Larry Pauley, supervisors’ representative; Mark Tinnemeier, supervisors’ representative; and Jason Morgan, treasurer’s representative. The compensation board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 30 in the courthouse multipurpose room. The recommendations will be presented during an upcoming Jasper County Supervisors meeting.

Nominations for Excellence In Education Awards extended to Tuesday Newton Daily News The Newton Community Educational Foundation has extended the nomination period for this year’s Excellence in Education Awards through Tuesday. The purpose of the Excellence in Education Award is to recognize teaching excellence in the Newton Community School District. Can-

didates may be nominated by students, parents, alumni, and members of the community. The NCEF is looking for great stories of learning and life-changing moments. These stories come by encouraging those whose lives have been touched by an excellent educator to nominate. For consideration, a NOMINATIONS | 3A

New ‘report card’ data released for Iowa schools By Jason W. Brooks Newton Daily News The progress level of schools and school districts is constantly under evaluation. The Iowa Department of Education released information this week regarding one of its more recently developed evaluation tools. Some of the data was also presented at Monday’s regular Newton Community School District Board of Education meeting. The new “Iowa School Report Card” is a publicly accessible data base that uses Iowa Assessment test scores and other sets of data to compute a 0-to-100 score for thousands of schools. Newton Superintendent Bob Callaghan acknowledged the data is

complex, and tough to crunch into a small, digestable sound bite, that succinctly announces a district is improving or backsliding. Very little state data makes such sweeping conclusions, and the “report card” data covers several Newton campuses. Callaghan said the board will probably need a learning workshop, or maybe a full evening work session, to really understand the data and how to work it into long-term planning. In the meantime, parents, educators and everyone else can view the types of data used and the process of calculation online. The “report cards” for public and private Iowa K-12 school districts can be found here: http://bit.ly/1T410NF “Although it looks

insignificant on the front page, the links take you down into everything imaginable (regarding Iowa Assessment scores),” he said. The data doesn’t directly encompass demographics, such as race, ethnicity or nation of origin, but it does have a “Closing Achievement Gap” category that covers disabilities, free and reduced-price meal qualifiers and English as a Second Language learners. Known as the “Attendance Center Rankings” during its first couple years of development, the report card meets a requirement set by state legislature when it passed HF215 during the 2013 session. Two state-required measures —parent involvement and community activities/in-

Jason W. Brooks/Daily News Woodrow Wilson Elementary School students have lunch on a recent school day. The Iowa State Report Card was unveiled this week as a new way to track a unique set of school performance and other data.

volvement — will be defined and included in the Iowa School Report Card at a later date. The ranking criteria areas in each school’s score include: Graduation rate (high schools only): The percentage of ninth-grade students who finished high

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ments. College readiness and career readiness: The percentage of students who are making the year-to-year growth necessary to be ready for college and career training by the end of high school. REPORT | 3A

FEATURE

WHERE IT’S AT Astrograph......................5B Calendar..........................5A Classifieds......................4B

school within five years. Proficiency: The percentage of students scoring proficient or better on state reading and mathematics assessments. This is weighted more heavily at the lower grades, while high school has career readiness and graduation as measure-

Comics & Puzzles...........6A Dear Abby........................6A Local News......................2A

Obituaries.......................5A Opinion............................4A State News......................7A

Producing winter concerts

Behind the scenes looks at TJ’s show / 2A

Volume No. 114 No. 152 2 sections 16 pages

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