Local News

By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times 

Area residents shared their thoughts on Iowa’s recent Medicaid privatization April 15, during a public meeting in Elkader with State Rep. Patti Ruff, of McGregor, and State Senator Joe Bolkcom, of Iowa City.

“We’re here to hear your stories and give any updates,” Ruff said to start the meeting. “This is probably the biggest issue we’ve had to deal with on the health and human services side.”

By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times Editor

Dean Hilgerson closed out his tenure as Marquette’s city manager last week, after holding the position since Dec. 2008.

When he was hired, Hilgerson noted, the council “wanted someone to direct capital projects, so I went with that.”

Since then, the city of Marquette has completed nearly $10 million in capital projects. Notable endeavors include the Bench stormwater project, ball diamond lights, the overlook and boardwalk, Driftless Area Wetlands Centre, the downtown project and the Edgar Street project, which is set to begin this summer. Hilgerson said he and former mayor Norma Mason also got the ball rolling, in early 2015, on the Bench emergency evacuation route.

Marquette’s incumbent mayor Larry Breuer and incumbent council member Steve Eagle kept their positions after a close special election April 5.

Breuer won the mayoral race with 57 votes, defeating write-in John Winter, who received 47 votes. There were seven other write-in votes: six for Jason Winter and one for Ryan Young. Two years remain on the term. 

Eagle picked up 57 votes to win the council seat, which also has two years remaining. Write-in Ryan Young received 50 votes, while there were four other write-in votes: two for “Brian” Young, one for Jason Winter and one for Harlan Jones.

Registered voter turnout was roughly 36 percent, or 111 people.

By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times Editor

The Monona Council tentatively awarded a contract to Bacon Concrete LLC, of Postville, for the Bulldog Boulevard improvement project at its April 4 regular meeting.

At just over $204,000, Bacon came in around $40,000 less than the engineer’s estimated cost for the project, which involves installing permeable pavers for much of the street. Because of the steepness of a section of the street, and the need to sand it in the winter, pavers will not be used for that portion, noted Jon Biederman, with engineering firm Fehr Graham. Getting sand into the cracks of the pavers, he said, would not make them permeable.