County Engineer Jeff Williams was a last-minute addition to the Ida County Board of Supervisors’ agenda Sept. 27, as he brought news from a meeting of county road workers the previous day. He relayed his employees’ requests for raises.
While doing work recently with crews from Woodbury County, Williams reported, the crews found that road workers in Woodbury make three dollars more per hour than in Ida. In the face of such a discrepancy, the Ida workers decided it would be reasonable to ask for a higher wage.
All is going smoothly so far for the certification of the PPEL votes for both Ida County school districts, though the same cannot be said for the county budget.
On the heels of a contentious meeting with Schaller-Crestland, the school board members of Ridge View’s Galva-Holstein district held an individual work session Sept. 18 for their constituent parents, to clear up questions and misconceptions about their plans around the school sharing agreement.
Facing a protracted absence of a county assessor with no hire in sight, the Ida County Conference Board called a meeting Sept. 20 to address the issue.
Some may not have noticed, but a new business G & H Welding has cropped up just outside of town at 5981 HWY 175 on the grounds of The Castle Town Inn recently purchased by Nathan Arbegast. Astute observers may have spotted the G & H Welding custom forged sign on the SW corner of the property which gives a hint of the versatility of this shop that offers welding repairs, custom fabricating and mobile welding services to Ida Grove and surroundings as well as motorcycle repairs and a little sculpturing to boot.
The Ida County Board of Supervisors officially signed the contract for L & L Builders Company to take on the courthouse renovation during their regular meeting Sept. 13. L & L also provided an estimate on the timing for the project, saying they planned to begin next spring.
Tempers ran high during the Ridge View school board work session Sept. 12, with the Galva-Holstein and Schaller-Crestland district boards facing disagreements on how to proceed with their school sharing agreement.
Galva-Holstein has currently not approved the two districts’ sharing agreement. There is a proposal on the table that, beginning next year, G-H will move their seventh and eighth graders from Early to the Schaller building. They also discussed moving their sixth graders back to a Galva-Holstein building and hosting all high school sports at the Holstein facilities.
The Holstein Country Club was packed with Republican officials in the state government and their supporters Sept. 15 for the Sweet Freedom Celebration, put on by Rep. Steve Holt.
