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by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, November 28 to address a variety of topics, including the 2017 holiday schedule for County offices, a personnel matter in the County Sheriff's Office and plat approvals for two properties. Board Chairman Larry Schellhammer called the meeting to order. The current meeting agenda and previous meeting minutes from November 21 were approved.

The annual Lighted Holiday Parade held in Waukon Monday evening, November 21 brightened up the beginning of the holiday season in more ways than one as nearly two dozen entries made their way through the city streets. Seasonal temperatures hovered right around the freezing mark at parade time, allowing a fair-sized crowd to line the parade route to enjoy the festive kick-off to the holidays. Parade entries celebrated the holiday season in a variety of ways, including this entry pictured above honoring the sweetest reason for the season. View and find out how to purchase this photo and more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.
 

Midwest Construction Consultants updated the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors at its Monday, November 14 meeting on the current status of the Allamakee County Public Safety Center currently being constructed on the former Makee Manor property north of Waukon along Highway 9. The contractors advised that the construction project is about halfway to its completion point, with much of the focus now on the interior of the facility, and it continues to be on schedule for completion in March of 2017. Pictured above at left is the exterior and south driveway of the sally port area which will serve as the secure location and controlled entryway where prisoners will be transported to and from the Center. Pictured above at right is the maximum security jail cells, which will remain as the cement block walls pictured above and will have metal doors added in the shown existing door frames.

Crews from Ray's Excavating of Edgewood continue their work on replacement of a section of storm sewer next to New Life Christian Church and heading south underneath Seventh Avenue SE to its outlet just on the south side of that roadway, with this portion of the project expected to be completed by November 30. This phase of the project (pictured in top photo above) involves replacement of 156 feet of the previous corrugated metal pipe (a small section of which is pictured in the center of the photo directly above) with larger capacity, 72-inch concrete pipe (several sections of which can also be seen in the photo directly above). This section of the project is being completed initially after a portion of the metal pipe had collapsed and created a sinkhole that had grown "large enough to fit a small car into," according to project inspector Brian Dunt of Fehr-Graham Engineering, the City of Waukon's contracted engineering firm.

Waukon Economic Development Director Ardie Kuhse recently received word that Waukon Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) was awarded a $250 Shopko Foundation Community Charitable Grant for the proposed Waukon Community Art Project. Shopko's grant program was established to support charitable nonprofit organizations through limited funding of local programs and events in their Shopko communities.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, November 21 to address a variety of topics. Among those items was an update on the County's partially self-funded health insurance policy, discussion of Human Resource consultant options and a recommendation for the part-time Assistant County Attorney position.

Vernon County, WI Sheriff John B. Spears and Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick have jointly released a report on the arrest of Lonnie J. Rockwell, age 44, and Trent R. Rockwell, age 18, both of De Soto, WI. The arrests were made Thursday afternoon, November 10 in the village of De Soto, WI pursuant to a felony arrest warrant issued by the Iowa District Court for Allamakee County stemming from an incident reported early Wednesday morning, November 9 in Allamakee County. At 6:37 a.m. that Wednesday, a farmer on Iowa River Drive near New Albin contacted the Allamakee County Sheriff's Office to report he may have interrupted a burglary in progress on his property. The farmer reported two males fled in a car pulling a small trailer. The vehicle was last seen traveling north on State Highway 35 in Wisconsin, just east of Lansing.

Results from the Tuesday, November 8 General Election yielded differing results in the most localized races, Allamakee County voters retaining an incumbent in one contested race while helping oust another. Allamakee County Board of Supervisors incumbent Republican Dennis Koenig of Postville was able to fend off another challenge from Mark Reiser of Lansing, while Republican Kristi Hager of Waukon ended up defeating two-term incumbent Democrat Patti Ruff of McGregor in District 56 of the Iowa House of Representatives.

According to the Allamakee County Auditor's office, this year's General Election saw 7,034 ballots cast representing 69.62% of the 10,104 registered voters in Allamakee County. That ballot total, according to the Auditor's office, exceeded those same counts for each of the previous three Presidential elections, with the 2012 election featuring 6,633 ballots cast, 6,580 being cast in 2008 and 6,356 being tallied in the 2004 election.

The Waukon Park and Recreation Wellness Department is seeking information on vandalism and thefts that have taken place at the Waukon City Park in recent weeks. Among those incidents was the October 30 destruction of this drop box (pictured at right) located near the Waukon City Park entrance for the collection of American flags to be properly and respectfully retired. As evident in the photo, the vandals pried open the locked bottom door of the drop box, bending it out of usable shape, and then proceeded to take the flags inside the box and leave them laying throughout the park. The drop box was one of two created by Waukon High School senior and Boy Scout Tyler O'Neill as his Eagle Scout project, and will now require replacement or extensive repair.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, November 14 to address a variety of topics including the Public Safety Center pay request, English Bench and Little Paint Watershed repairs and acknowledging the retirement of a valued Secondary Roads Department employee.