Opinion Tribune (Newspaper) - January 5, 2000, Glenwood, Iowa Y2K bugs absent in Mills Co. By Joe Editor The new millennium landed in Mills County without a Members of the Glenwood County Y2K readiness team were on stand-by Friday night and early Saturday ing prepared to address any problems that the new new century and new might As it turned the Year 2000 brought nothing to Mills County except anticipation and unseasonably warm When Mills County residents awoke on Saturday they still had electrical heat and running Law enforcement officials reported few New Year's Eve Traffic class an option for ticketed motorists By Joe Editor The next time you get a traffic ticket in Glenwood you might not have to pay a The catch is that you'll have to spend a half day at defensive driving Under a new approved last month by the city motorists who are cited by Glenwood police officers for a variety of moving will have the option of paying their fine or attending a four-hour driving course in Omaha or Council The program is part of the Safety and Health of Greater Omaha Defensive Driving Matt a representative of the city attorney's said driving school would be an option in most moving violation The exceptions will be speeding tickets over 15 miles per any personal injury reckless all alcohol-related offenses and driving under a suspended license ticket will never be filed if they sign up for the course within two Woods Any person taking the driving course will be required to pay a class registration In many the fee will be less expensive than the cost of the citation and could save the driver additional money in the long run on insurance The new option for motorists became available on Jan. 1. Mills County Sheriff Mack Taylor said the county is considering a similar policy in regard to citations issued by its law enforcement Photo By Joe Foreman Clare Bangs served on the city council for 4 1/2 years and as mayor for the past 2 1/2 Former Glenwood Mayor proud of accomplishments Teachers for 2000- make proposal 2001 school year By Joe Foreman Editor When the clock struck midnight on New Year's it marked the end of the 20th Century and the end of Clare term as Glenwood's who served six months of an appointed mayoral term and one full elected presided over his final ' last Tuesday night at Glenwood City After the Bangs and outgoing city councilman Layne Parks received recognition for their service to the citizens of Both Bangs and Parks were unseated in the November general In an interview conducted prior to last week's city council Bangs said he was disappointed in losing his re-election bid to Council Bluffs police officer Gregg but proud of his accomplishments during the past 2 years as mayor and the previous four years as a city I was hoping to see the square renovation project all the way Bangs think there's been a lot accomplished in the last two It seems like we've been busy all the I don't think I missed a day at City Hall unless I was on I tried to be there at least an hour a I've had a job that allowed me to be Bangs said there is no doubt in his mind that the city moved in the right direction during his term as He singled out these accomplishments as -some of the highlights of his Improving communications between elected officials from the City of Glenwood and Mills The hiring of the city's first recreation Development of the city's first comprehensive plan the city council will follow up and implement some of the Bangs Negotiating a contract with the Glenwood Water Under the Bangs the water board will not connect any new residence within a two mile radius of Glenwood unless the proper ty owner agrees to voluntary annexation into the The refinancing of city debt and paying off the majority of the Tax Increment Financing The refinancing will save city taxpayers approximately in future interest A reduction of the city tax levy for two straight A settlement with Advanced Tool and Plastics that recovered approximately owed to the The planning and development of the square renovation scheduled to begin this Development of an annexation policy for the During his time as a councilman and Bangs developed a strong working relationship with several city most enjoyable aspect of the job is working with city he also just enjoyed being involved in the decision-making process and putting forward new Please see Page 3 By Joe Editor The Glenwood Education has made its initial 2000-2001 master contract the board of The presented to the board during its regular December addresses several including insurance benefits and personal leave in and year our major concerns are salaries and Ron the chief negotiator purpose of this proposal would leave the district with some we can work things If the State of Iowa has mandatory arbitration I At the top of the wage and salary proposals are initiatives to include state Phase II money into a teacher's base salary and to increase the annual base salary for a first-year teacher by Kohn said currently each teacher in the district receives a year in Phase II the as additional staff has been part of their salary has been supported at the expense of current For the staff of 99, each returning employee's salary Phase II was reduced by for the school the GEA proposal If the Phase II monies were to be included in this year's the base pay for teachers would be instead of The GEA is proposing a first-year base salary of for 2000-2001. The GEA is also asking the school board to change and MA both horizontally and and in the salary The To provide incentives for teachers to remain in salaries must be increased for the experienced staff in the school Base raises are not adequate to provide for retention of experienced Because of the considerable expense in obtaining upper level educational changes need to be made so that employees can recover the expenses On the health insurance the GEA is asking the district to continue paying the full premium for employees and increasing the amount it pays for dependent coverage from to per J Kohn said neither the GEA nor the school district knows at this time what the employee and dependent insurance premiums will cost in the next fiscal know they'll go he The personal leave proposal deals with both family illness leave and maternity School district employees currently receive five family illness days and the GEA is proposing that an employee be allowed to use up to five of his or her own sick leave days for family illness after the initial five family days have been The maternity leave provision would grant school district employees up to 10 days of at full for the birth of a The bottom Kohn is that the GEA is asking for approximately an 8 percent increase in its total wage and benefit package for the 2000-2001 fiscal a starting point for he The school board is expected to present its counter proposal during a special meeting this The negotiation process between the two sides will begin later this Millennium postmarks available at Emerson offices Mills County residents looking for a Year 2000 might want to pay a visit to either the Henderson or Emerson post The U.S. Postal Service has authorized a special millennium cancellation to Jan. 1, 2000. The Emerson and Henderson post offices will be offering this special cancellation at their post office counters and through mail-back service for 60 They began offering the stamp on Jan. 3. Postmasters Linda Howard and Becky Weaver EMERSON STATION IOWA 51533 A Millennium community January 1,2000 The of the said any item can receive the special as long as it contains the current first-class Photo By Joe Foreman councilman take oath of office Glenwood's Greg Schultz and city councilman Brian Fichter were both administered their oath of office last week by City Clerk - Financial Director Mary Jean Schultz and Renter officially assumed their new roles the first day of the INSIDE The Year in Looking back at the major news stories of 1999- INDEX Record Viewpoint Lifestyles Aries 2A 4A 7A 1B-3B 8B Chamber planning legislative coffees The Glenwood - Mills County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Foundation will be sponsoring four legislative coffees during the winter and spring Guests at the coffees will be State Sen. Derryl McLaren and State Rep. Hubert Legislative coffee dates have been set for Jan. 15, Feb. 5, March 18, and April 15. The coffees all begin at 10:30 a.m. in the chamber board room on the second floor of Glenwood State Members of the general public are encouraged to Library planning arts and crafts show The 19th Annual Arts and Crafts Show will be held at the Glenwood Public 109 No. Vine from Jan. 17-29,2000. To the only requirement is that the entrant be a resident of Mills There is no age limit and no fee charged to exhibit items of Items may be brought to the library for registration from Jan. 10 through January 14. More information is available by calling the library at 527-5252. Mobility assistance available in county The Senior Mobility Program of Greater Iowa announces the availability of power wheelchairs and electric scooters to senior citizens 65 and that require in-home mobility assistance at no charge for those who The wheelchairs are provided to those who require use of them in their home and meet the additional guidelines of the including an evaluation by their More information is available by calling the Senior Mobility Program at 1-800-441-1148. Glenwood Weather Report HI Dec. 27 40 Dec. 28 39 Dec. 29 52 Dec. 30 63 Dec. 31 53 Jan. 1 49 Jan. 2 35 LO Precip 25 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Trace 0.00 16 28 28 23 29 30 Weather Report Courtesy of
