River Valley

The Northeast Iowa Regional Housing Trust Fund (NEIRHTF) is accepting applications for first-time homebuyer down payment assistance and housing rehabilitation\improvement projects. Applicants must be low-moderate-income first-time homebuyers, homeowners, landlord/for-profit organizations or non-profit organizations to promote and create affordable housing activities.

All applicants must be in one of the following counties of Allamakee, Clayton, Fayette, Howard and Winneshiek. Eligible projects include rehabilitation and repair of existing housing, including, but not limited to roofs, windows, siding, plumbing, electrical, energy efficiency, lead paint issues and handicap accessibility.

IMT Insurance, a provider of personal and commercial insurance products in the Midwest, recently collaborated with its Independent Insurance Agents to support COVID-19 relief efforts in their communities. Agencies made donations, across six states, ranging from $250 - $1,000. Through IMT’s Month of Giving program, Agency donations were matched by IMT, dollar-for-dollar, totaling more than $37,000.

Lansing Iowa Food Trust (LIFT), submitted by Gary DeVilbiss of Kerndt Brothers Insurance Agency (KBIA), was chosen as one of the 2020 IMT Month of Giving recipients. Pictured above at the presentation of a combined $1,000 donation are, left to right, Steve Sopha from IMT Insurance, Lansing Iowa Food Trust (LIFT) Board of Directors Vice President Chris McKee and Kerndt Brothers Insurance Agency President Gary DeVilbiss. The donation was made possible by a $500 grant from IMT Insurance and a matching donation of $500 from Kerndt Brothers Insurance.

Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) officials opened Hwy. 82 (more locally known as the Dike Road) connecting Iowa and Wisconsin via the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing to single-lane traffic as of Thursday, July 2 after several weeks of having the road closed for repair work on some of the smaller slough bridges along that route.

Officials advise that construction work that is part of the overall original project to maintain and upgrade those smaller slough bridges was scheduled to resume Monday, July 6 and will continue until the project’s completion date, which had originally been scheduled for July 31 and will likely need to be extended beyond that original date due to the unanticipated repair work on those bridges that resulted in the road’s complete closure these last several weeks. The remainder of the project will allow for single-lane traffic with a flagger system controlling that traffic until the project is completed.

by Alexis Johnson

The regular meeting of the Lansing City Council was held Monday, July 6, 2020. The meeting centered around the consent agenda and the city clerk’s report.

The consent agenda consisted of council meeting minutes from June 15 and June 17, payments of claims, and Expresso liquor license. A motion was made and seconded to approve the consent agenda with minimal discussion.

The City of Lansing is still looking to fill the deputy city clerk position. Interested applicants should email deputyclerklansing52151@yahoo.com or contact Lansing City Hall at 563-538-4757 to have an application mailed. Applications will be accepted until Noon this Friday, July 10.
 

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

The Lansing Splash Pad, also locally known as the Big Splash Project, officially opened for public use Monday, June 22 at the Lansing City Park behind the ball diamond along South Front Street.

Arlen Wonderlich, along with Steve Casterton, on behalf of the City of Lansing and its Park and Recreation organization, spent the past two years raising money for the construction of the splash pad, adjacent to the new “Our Ship of Dreams” playground made possible by the Lansing Lions Club three years ago.

While the splash pad team will be making a few more tweaks to fine tune the water pressure on the splash pad, it is now open from 1 p.m. to dusk daily from now until mid-September. Those using the splash pad can hit a giant red button that sits atop a white post (pictured at far right in the photo at right) to start the water flow. The water will run for three minutes, when it can then be reactivated for continued use.

Public reading event scheduled to be held July 11 in Lansing

The 2020 Allamakee Bible Reading Marathon is ongoing now through Tuesday, July 14. Residents of Allamakee County can participate by requesting one or more 30-minute segment(s) of scripture by using one of the following measures:

1. The SignUpGenius website: Visit https://tinyurl.com/2020AllamakeeBibleMarathon
OR
2. Text or call this number: 563-217-9814. This phone number is operational from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday-Friday through July 14.

Participants can start reading their chosen segment(s) immediately, completing them at their convenience, wherever and with whomever they wish. The goal of the marathon each year is to read the entire bible throughout Allamakee County from Genesis through Revelation.

Main Street Lansing, in partnership with Main Street Iowa, needs the public’s help to assess the impacts of COVID-19 on Lansing as the community enters and progresses through its reopening and recovery phases. Main Street Lansing is requesting that both visitors and residents fill out the survey at the website link below that should take about three minutes or less to complete.

Responses will be valuable to their efforts, and the efforts of Lansing businesses, to welcome the public back to a clean, safe and comfortable setting; and to strategize and prioritize actions as the community continues to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. All information is collected anonymously.

The survey will only be available until Monday, July 13, so everyone is encouraged to act quickly and to also invite others to participate. The survey can be accessed at the following link: https://getfoureyes.com/s/2efhx/.
 

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, June 22 to address a full agenda of items including allowing the placement of the Freedom Rock near the County Museum, Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) agreements for County Bridge Funding and COVID-19 related matters.

During Public Comment, Executive Director Val Reinke of Allamakee County Economic Development (ACED) discussed supplying Driftless Byway maps to various locations during recent in-person visits. Reinke indicated that tourism related information requests relating to cabins, kayaking, among other tourism related requests continue with 150 mailings being sent in response recently. Reinke provided an overview of several upcoming and ongoing events within the county with restaurant/shopping maps being made available at several events including Waukon’s Music in the Park concerts each Thursday.

June 5, representatives of Lansing’s American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post installed new signage at the entrance to Mt. Hosmer Memorial Veterans Park on Sixth Street in Lansing. The sign contains metal emblems of the American Legion and VFW and a brief narrative about the origin of the park, which was created by Lansing’s Legion Post 50 and gifted to the City of Lansing in 1923 as a World War I Memorial. Three more veterans memorials were added to the park over the years. Installation of the sign, assembled by Tumbleweed Welding of Lansing, helps to mark the 100th anniversary of the Legion.

Organizers of River Bluff Daze in Ferryville, WI have announced that events associated with the annual celebration have been canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those events include the Antique Tractor Pull, morning hike on Sugar Creek Bluff, kid’s games and fireworks display at dusk, all previously scheduled for Saturday, July 25.

“Our first concern is for the public health of our community and our visitors,” organizers shared in explaining the cancellation. “We are all very disappointed, and we look forward to having a grand celebration for River Bluff Daze in July 2021. Thank you for your support and understanding.”

The quilt raffle held annually as part of the event will also be postponed until 2021. Those who have already purchased raffle tickets will have those added to any sold in 2021 and still be eligible for the drawing.