The Ida Grove City Council met on Monday, May 2 at 6 p.m. in the temporary City Hall at the Rec Center. In attendance were Mayor Devlun Whiteing, council members Jason Schable, Ange Johnson, and Jeff Miesner, as well as Assistant Attorney Ryan Gaskins. Heidi Kuhl of Northland Securities spoke about the updated City Debt book. Kuhl reviewed the financial standings of the city with the council, noting that two loans, Ridgeview and Farm/Dectron, will be paid in full by Fiscal Year 2026.
The 28th Annual Whitey Thompson Hike-Bike-A-Thon is back again with the event returning May 11.
This year’s event will bring a bit of the familiar as well as some change.
“Yes, the route is different this year due to bridge construction,” said Marcia Cates, vice president of marketing with United Bank of Iowa. “The event is starting at United Bank of Iowa’s main office parking lot in downtown Ida Grove instead of at the Skate Palace.”
The start time for the event is 1:45 p.m.
Eager participants will number in the hundreds for the day.
Designer Jenny Seuntjens has earned first place as Best Ad Designer in the Better Newspapers Contest sponsored by the Iowa Newspaper Foundation with staff of the Holstein Advance and Ida County Courier taking home half of a dozen wins including three first-place wins.
Awards were presented Thursday during a convention honoring achievements.
A special session of the Battle Creek City Council turned attention to efforts to right the ship of ambulance service in the city with a new director and reorganization.
Ambulance services have been struggling nationwide amidst a decline of volunteers, but Battle Creek is working to save service there.
During the April 26 special meeting, new management for the ambulance service was approved with Patrick Stevens to helm the effort.
A wage of $200 per month was offered by council to Stevens in the role of Service Director.
Area organizations are among the beneficiaries as over $100,000 has been awarded by the Ida County Community Betterment Foundation.
Major recipients include the Holstein American Legion, Battle Creek Fire Department, Ida Grove Public Library, Galva Fire Department, Holstein Fire and Ambulance, Ida County Fair Board and McNamara-Moore Post 61. Each won a grant of $10,000.
The fire departments’ awards will go to equipment needs while the Holstein American Legion will see a new unit for heating and cooling.
Total assets increased by over $1 million for Horn Memorial Hospital, a healthy state of affairs amid pandemic concerns.
From 2020 to 2021, the hospital saw its assets increase form just over $35 mill to $36.2 million, according to a draft Treasurer’s Report released by the hospital.
AT the same time long-term debt decreased for the hospital, from $9.5 million to just under $9 million. Liabilities increased some from just under $2.2 million to $3.4 million for a net increase in liabilities from $11.7 million to $12.4 million.
The Ida Grove City Council met on Monday, April 18 at 6 p.m. at the temporary City Hall in the Rec Center. In attendance were Mayor Devlun Whiteing, council members Gregor Ernst, Jeff Miesner, Ange Johnson, and Assistant Attorney Justin Reininger. The council held a public hearing on submission of a CDBG application for a Facade Project. The City of Ida Grove is proposing to submit a Community Development Block Grant application to the Iowa Economic Development Authority for Facade Renovation Grant Funds through CDBG-CV portion of funding.
While basic necessities such as bread, meat and gasoline skyrocket under some of the worst inflation since the 1970s, Ida County is among the top counties in Iowa for purchasing power, according to the results of a new study. Aggregator Smart Asset has Ida County sitting at eighth place for all of Iowa’s 99 counties for the highest purchasing power.
The study looked at cost of living in relation to income locally for each county.
