News

By KYLIE PORTZ
Nestled in the heart of Downtown Humboldt, sits the historic Humota Theater. A fixture of the town since 1928, the theater has served hundreds of cinephiles — a term used to describe movie fanatics — and families quality movies each year.

In 2018, the theater was threatened when it was nearly closed down by its corporate owners. Thankfully, the community was able to rally together and form The Humota Movie Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and officially reopened the theater in 2019.

Through the COVID-19 pandemic and various other challenges, the theater has continued to fight to keep its doors open.

Now, the nonprofit has a new problem, a leaky roof that’s damage makes it impossible to stay open during the rainy days that have plagued the region the past few months.

By APRIL KELLEY
Humboldt County Conservation Director Todd Lee updated the Humboldt County Conservation Board on the sale of the Reasoner Dam.

“R.I.V.E.R. Development did agree to accept the purchase agreement as it was presented after our last special meeting with the addendum included, that basically says we’ll provide them with any documentation, studies, inspection reports et cetera that pertain to the dam,” Lee said.

Both sides had agreed to create an easement through county land so that R.I.V.E.R. Development Inc. can get to the dam to work on it.

“Our attorney suggested doing something a little different called a maintenance access agreement. Fewer hoops to jump through, cheaper but just as binding,” Lee said.

Both the attorneys for the county and R.I.V.E.R. Development Inc. have agreed that the access agreement is sufficient.

Approving hiring of new police officer

By PHIL MONSON
Humboldt’s efforts to remove dead ash trees in the community have hit another snag.

Earlier this summer the council had to re-bid for the project due to a technicality. They ended up accepting a low bid from ArborPro Tree Service of Fort Dodge.

Now ArborPro has backed out of its commitment because of changes in the company and financial struggles it is facing. How to proceed from this point dominated discussion at the Humboldt City Council meeting on Monday night, Sept. 21.

“They wanted to change the payment policy but our RFP (request for proposal) clearly states they will be paid after the project is completed. That protects the city so we don’t have somebody that comes in and does half the job and then takes off,” Humboldt City Administrator/Clerk Amy Zeman said.

By KYLIE PORTZ
There was plenty for the Humboldt Community School District to discuss at their monthly meeting on Sept. 21, from updates from elementary administrators to the sale of a storage shed built by the industrial technology class.

First, the board recognized two staff members for the “Champions for Children” award, which highlights staff and members of the community who go above and beyond for Humboldt’s students.

Recognized at the meeting were Creighton Jenness, who serves as the district’s Director of Special Education and Jacob Halverson who provides maintenance for the district.

Administrator Reports
With no public forum speakers, the board heard the elementary administration team’s school improvement goals and plans for Taft and Mease Elementary Schools. Presenters were Mease Principal Jenna Haselhuhn, Taft Principal Michelle Dyvig, Taft teacher Morgan Parle and K-4 music teacher Lucinda Boyd.

By APRIL KELLEY
The following article contains information from two Humboldt County Board of Supervisors meetings due to the holiday and printing deadlines.

September 8 meeting
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors met on Tuesday, Sept. 8 due to the Labor Day holiday.

During the meeting, Alison Hauser, Crisis Liaison with Rolling Hills Community Services Region, presented her report to wrap up the first fiscal year of her grant.

Hauser reported that she served 189 people in Humboldt and Pocahontas counties.

She explained that she uses what is called the intercept model which means they initially receive referrals from anyone, not just law enforcement, to assist people who may be in crisis.

The next level is working with law enforcement, which does provide about 70% of her referrals.

The third level is through the jails and helping with the initial appearance at the courthouse.

Laina Dettmann was crowned queen and Cash McIntire king at the Humboldt High School Homecoming coronation ceremony held on Thursday evening, Sept. 17.

The rest of the Humboldt Homecoming Royalty includes queen candidates in Zoey Montag, Hayden Smith, Gracey May and Adelyn Vinsand. other king candidates include Cade Birdsell, Jaxson Kirchhoff, Griffin Groat and Luke DeWinter.

They will be introduced at halftime of Friday night's football game. The contest between Humboldt and Ballard Huxley has been moved up to a 6 p.m. kickoff due to incoming thunderstorms forecast for that evening.

By APRIL KELLEY
The Public Safety Commission heard about further updates from interim Dispatch Supervisor Nikole Bennett.

The commission approved the appointment of Nikole Bennett as the Dispatch Communications Officer at the rate of $65,000 per year annual salary, exempt.

Bennett will work in dispatch less than 20 hours per week and will work in the supervisory role the majority of the time. The Commission will work with Mike Galloway, Iowa Employment & Labor Law Attorney.

At the same time, Erin Bennett was removed as Assistant Dispatch Supervisor by a unanimous vote as Nikole Bennett is now established in her role.

The Commission also voted to remove Kyle Bissell as Dispatch Administrator.

“I think that is going to change and go to Nikole as communications officer. The duties will just be part of that role,” Shawna Crahan, Deputy Auditor and payroll/HR Administrator, said.

By APRIL KELLEY
The Dakota City Council heard from Scott Curran with Abens, Marty & Curran Agency to go over the insurance renewal rates.

As with most insurance rates, the costs have increased by approximately $5,000 from a total of $54,486 last year to $59,727 this year.

The biggest change has been in Commercial property/inland marine insurance which increased from $29,423 to $32,342, Auto increased from $5,762 to $7,408 and General liability from $11,171 to $12,002.

The only insurance rate to go down was workers compensation, from $5,230 to $4,993 because of the lack of claims over the last five years.

The council approved renewing the insurance quote for the upcoming year.

The council members also approved the second and third readings of the Amendment of Chapter 145 of Ordinance #302, outlining the definition of an abandoned building.

By KYLIE PORTZ
The Humboldt County Memorial Hospital (HCMH) board of trustees broke ground Sept. 14 on the projected $7.6 million, approximately total 6,600 sq ft., Radiology and Surgery expansion project.

Contractors for the project include; Graham Construction out of Des Moines, Sande Construction out of Humboldt, Baker Electric out of Fort Dodge and Midwest Mechanical out of Spencer.

HCMH Board of Trustees Chair, Kevin Bornhoft said, “It’s a nice expansion for the hospital. Provides more services, we relied on the truck coming around occasionally. (Now) we’ll have our own MRI machine so we can serve our community and patients.”

Bornhoft expects to see an increase in patients the hospital will be able to serve with the new project.

He said, “We expect to see an increase for our MRI patients. There will also be more MRI services provided with this machine. So, it’ll be a benefit to the community.”

Candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture holds rally, discusses water quality and agriculture reform

By KYLIE PORTZ
Clean water. That is the throughline of the campaign for Chris Jones, Democratic candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture.

This November, Jones will be on the ballot opposite current Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, a republican who has served in the role since 2018.

A newcomer to politics, Jones brings 40 years experience to the table as a research scientist and advocate for clean water and sustainable agriculture practices.

Jones spent his career managing the water quality testing laboratory at the Des Moines Water Works, overseeing operations at a major nitrate removal facility built to manage Iowa’s agricultural runoff.