OSKALOOSA — The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors voted 2-1 on Tuesday to approve a resolution removing the county from a 28E agreement with the cities of Pella and Oskaloosa that governs the proposed South Central Regional Airport project.

The decision to remove the county from the 28E agreement may mean nothing other than symbolism, though, because the county’s possible withdraw from the agreement would have to be approved by other signors of the agreement—the cities of Pella and Oskaloosa—which is unlikely to happen, said Jim Hansen, chair of the board of the South Central Regional Airport Agency, after the vote.

“I have not seen the resolution and I’m not the attorney for the [SCRAA] board, but [the removal vote] is disappointing to me,” Hansen said. “I doubt very much that the cities will act to allow your withdraw. I appreciate your concerns and we’re trying to meet your concerns.”

Hansen also informed the Board of Supervisors and attendees at the meeting that the Federal Aviation Administration has agreed that 220th Street would not be closed until a new bypass road around the proposed airport was built and opened, allowing local farmers an access road aside from using Highway 163.

“[The FAA] will allow an access road to be build around the property line [of the airport] from the two points of disconnection [of 220th Street] and they’ve also agreed that could be available for funding,” Hansen said. “We, the [SCRAA] board have not acted on that. I thought that was a positive result. You’re not going to disconnect that road until some such time as the two pre-requisites are met.”

The vote to remove the county from the 28E agreement came toward the end of the longest Board of Supervisors meeting since October, lasting more than 2 1/2 hours. During public comment at the end of the meeting, numerous county residents made statements against the airport project.

Local resident Tim Van Maanen addressed the board for nearly 10 minutes, expressing his frustration with the proposed airport project going back almost 10 years. Van Maanen said although he is against the airport project now, he would be in favor of it if there was a definitively proven need for it and it would benefit the county.

“I don’t want to go on and on and on,” Van Maanen said, describing his family’s history in the county and his connection to Mahaska County. “I am vested in this county, from start to finish. So, I want what’s best for this county. If we need this airport, I’m in, I’ve already told you I’m in. But no one has given a reason why it is needed. They will not take it to a vote because they’ve done that. The people don’t want it.”

The possible resolution had been discussed by opponents and supporters of the airport project since Nov. 22, when Supervisor Mark Doland told FAA officials at a public hearing that he was planning on introducing the resolution.

On Jan. 14, at the first Eggs & Issues forum of the year, Doland unveiled the resolution, handing it out to members of the press at the forum. That sparked a feisty back and forth exchange between Doland and fellow Supervisor Willie Van Weelden during the forum, held at Smokey Row.

On Tuesday, Doland did what he promised, introducing the resolution for a possible vote. Doland made a motion to vote on the resolution, which was seconded by new Supervisor Mark Groenendyk. The vote was 2-1 in favor of removing the county, with Van Weelden voting no.

“Personally, I don’t feel the need to continue with that agreement,” Doland said before the vote.

Van Weelden embarked on a lengthy statement about the project before the vote, saying many years ago, he was first against the project, and then he changed his opinion to be in favor of the project after hearing arguments about why it was good for the county.

“This old dog is getting tired of getting kicked around. And I’ve been kicked around on this issue,” Van Weelden said. “There are a lot of things that went into my voting for this.”

Van Weelden said the main reason he voted for the project is because there are fewer farmers in the county, which has resulted in the economy of the city suffering. The reality of progress, he added, is the manufacturing firms in Oskaloosa create jobs and income, and the airport would help many of those businesses continue to be successful, which benefits the county and its residents.

“We’ve got a decline in farmers. What makes a city go is not only farmers coming to town, but you have to have people with jobs that buy and trade in town,” he said. “Now, you have less farmer-consumers. What’s going to keep this town alive? Look what feeds off manufacturing, you’ve got kids in school, you have a hospital that’s growing. We have services here that are as good as anywhere. We’ve got companies that do business around the world. I think the jobs [growth and retention] factor in this, [it] outweighs the negatives that are going around. There’s a lot of misinformation that’s gone around. I will not vote for this thing [the removal resolution].”

Doland said the cities of Pella and Oskaloosa would have to OK the county leaving the 28E agreement, and told Joe Warrick, the county’s representative to the SCRAA board, after the vote that he would still be representing the county at future meetings of the SCRAA board.

After the meeting was finished, Van Weelden said although he was out-voted 2-1 on the resolution to leave the 28E agreement, he believes the move by Doland is merely symbolic in nature and will not affect the pact between the county and the cities of Pella and Oskaloosa.

“The perception and foresight to see [building an airport] was a good thing for the community [was good], I still think [the airport] a good thing,” Van Weelden said. “This will go to the [SCRAA] commission and they’ll vote on it. I assume they will vote no [to not accept Mahaska County’s withdraw].”

The SCRAA board is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m., Jan. 31, at the Pella Public Safety Complex.

Story provided by Jeff Forward of the Oskaloosa Herald

Saturday marked the first session of the Eggs and Issues series of 2017, a tradition in Mahaska County for the last few years which allows community members to engage with local and state officials to discover what is going on within the community.

Local residents came together early Saturday morning to Smokey Row to hear from local officials; Oskaloosa Mayor David Krutzfeldt, Chair of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors Mark Doland, and Oskaloosa Community School District Superintendent Russ Reiter. In a time that is considered to be full of change, all three officials reflected on the political changes which will be occurring within the nation as a whole over the next few months due to the change of political power.

Oskaloosa Mayor David Krutzfeldt discussed the city’s plans for the upcoming months including road repairs and improvement projects. Krutzfeldt noted the plans for the installation project, which includes chip sealed roads in northeast quadrant and the reconstruction of the S D St. and N 17^th St. bridge.

In the city’s 2017 plans, it is noted that they intend to build up the rental community with the Rental Inspection Program. The program, which is currently awaiting approval from the city council, intends to allow the city to have more involvement in the regulations of rental properties to improve the conditions. It has been presented as an idea to help clean up the community and provide a safer environment.

A local resident asked about the increase of water and sewer bills within the community of the past few months. Krutzfeldt explained that the city is in the process of having to do improvements in the quality of service because the improvements needed to be done rather quickly and the cost jumped about twenty-five percent which is roughly equivalent to six dollars more a month for the average user. Based off of current projections of costs, it is expected that there will be more costs in the future.

Mahaska County Board of Supervisors Chair Mark Doland may have had some of the most controversial topics brought up during the session. In his opening statements, Doland discussed the mental health programs in which the community has been working on improving. With these improvements the amount of assistance for mental issues have increased through the community. The improvements have been made with an employee assistance program, which is designed to help people who are on duty when a crisis occurs. The intent of the program is to provide help with any mental issues that may have occurred, including sessions at the hospital.

The city also intends to increase the amount help with mental health issues in jails by having a full time therapist available. It has been shown through different communities with an increase of assistance within the criminal justice system the amount of suicide watches went down to nearly zero.

Moving forward, Doland stated his intent to drop out of the 28E agreement involving the airport facility with Oskaloosa and Pella. Doland said that he does not agree with the agreement and intends to discuss the drop out on Tuesday at the next meeting. Members of the community had an alarming amount of questions concerning the intent to drop out, and the aftereffects if the county did drop out. It was shortly discovered the other parties in the agreement do not need the approval from the community and can continue the project without it. The contradicting opinions of the community and Doland was assessed through questions and comments from various members of the community. Regarding the results, it will be determined on Tuesday after more information has been released during the meeting.

Oskaloosa Community School District Superintendent, Russ Reiter, discussed the school’s current positon. Financially according to Reiter, the district is in pretty good shape after the reductions that have been made over the last few years. One of the programs Reiter discussed was the Homeschool Assistance Program. The goal of the program is to have a teacher help the students through their work load.  With this program, students that wish to be homeschooled, have the option of having dual enrollment. With the dual enrollment, students are able to participate in school district events and have testing to ensure they are staying on track with their studies. The school district is also working towards building relationships with other nearby districts to give students the opportunity to attend classes that their school does not have.

The next Eggs and Issues will be on Saturday, January 28^th at 8:30 a.m. at Smokey Row in Oskaloosa.

Story provided by Alyssa Kerry, News Correspondent

On Friday January 13, 2017 at approximately 1:15a.m. Oskaloosa police officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle that was traveling on North Market Street for a registration violation.  When the officer initiated the traffic stop a 2016 Dodge Dart fled from officers at a high rate of speed northbound out of the city limits.  Assistance from the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office was then requested by pursuing officers.  The suspect vehicle was pursued northbound from Oskaloosa on Highway 63 through the city of New Sharon and then westbound on Highway 102.  While traveling westbound on Highway 102 the suspect vehicle lost control and rolled multiple times.  The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle was then taken into custody.

As a result of this incident 20 year old Juaquin Jesse Zika of Urbandale Iowa was taken to Mahaska Health Partnership and then transferred to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines for injuries suffered from the accident.

A records check determined that Zika was wanted on multiple arrest warrants out of West Des Moines and Polk County.  These warrants are for various theft charges as well as an escape from custody charge.

Upon Zika’s release from the hospital he will be transferred back to the Mahaska County Jail.  Zika has been charged with eluding law enforcement, driving while license suspended, reckless driving and multiple speed and traffic control device violations.  This incident is still under investigation and further charges are pending.

The Oskaloosa Police Department and Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office were assisted in this incident by the New Sharon Police Department and the Iowa Department of Transportation.

As a reminder, a criminal charge is merely an accusation and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

On Friday January 13, 2017 at approximately 1:15a.m. Oskaloosa police officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle that was traveling on North Market Street for a registration violation.  When the officer initiated the traffic stop a 2016 Dodge Dart fled from officers at a high rate of speed northbound out of the city limits.  Assistance from the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office was then requested by pursuing officers.  The suspect vehicle was pursued northbound from Oskaloosa on Highway 63 through the city of New Sharon and then westbound on Highway 102.  While traveling westbound on Highway 102 the suspect vehicle lost control and rolled multiple times.  The driver and sole occupant of the vehicle was then taken into custody.

As a result of this incident 20 year old Juaquin Jesse Zika or Urbandale Iowa was taken to Mahaska Health Partnership and then transferred to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines for injuries suffered from the accident.

A records check determined that Zika was wanted on multiple arrest warrants out of West Des Moines and Polk County.  These warrants are for various theft charges as well as an escape from custody charge.

Upon Zika’s release from the hospital he will be transferred back to the Mahaska County Jail.  Zika has been charged with eluding law enforcement, driving while license suspended, reckless driving and multiple speed and traffic control device violations.  This incident is still under investigation and further charges are pending.

The Oskaloosa Police Department and Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office were assisted in this incident by the New Sharon Police Department and the Iowa Department of Transportation.

As a reminder, a criminal charge is merely an accusation and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.