Andy Hallman

The city of Fairfield has come to an agreement with city administrator Kevin Flanagan about the terms of his severance.The council accepted Flanagan?s resignation at the council meeting Monday, and finalized the agreement with him Thursday when all parties signed the resolution. According to the resolution, the two sides agreed Flanagan?s behavior did not warrant discipline, suspension or termination under the ...

A grass fire Saturday in Fairfield forced the evacuation of the Dexter Soccer Fields and a temporary shutdown of the railroad.The fire began around 3:30 p.m. north and east of Winfrey Storage on West Grimes Avenue. Larry and Laura Miller, who live near the storage facility, said they called the fire department after seeing a large plume of smoke in their backyard.?This fire was a little too close to the ...

Parents and other interested persons met Thursday at the Roosevelt Community Recreation Center to discuss challenges facing the gymnastics and trampoline program now that it appears to be severing ties with the city.Fairfield Park and Recreation director Derik Wulfekuhle and gymnastics coach Jeff Ide agreed that gymnastics and trampoline would cease to be a city-sponsored program once the club moved out of the ...

The Fairfield Police Department released statistics this week indicating arrests and criminal charges were much higher in 2013 than the prior year, although Capt. Dave Thomas said the sharp increase might be due to the department training new officers in 2012.The statistics appear to show a dramatic increase in criminal charges from 2012 to 2013, when the number of charges filed rose 25 percent, from 553 ...

Republican Ralph Holmstrom is running for the Iowa House of Representatives in District 84, the seat currently occupied by Republican Dave Heaton.District 84 encompasses all of Henry County as well as portions of Washington, Jefferson and Lee counties. Heaton announced in January that he plans to seek re-election.Holmstrom has never held elected office before and said politics is something he?s gotten into ...

The Fairfield gymnastics and trampoline club has found a new home in the former Walmart building.Jeff Ide, who runs the gymnastics club, announced he had worked out a deal with the owner of the former Walmart allowing the gymnastics club to use a portion of the building. Ide said he has already moved a few mats to the building and that all of the gymnastics and trampoline equipment will be moved there in two ...

The Jefferson County Fair Board has received $100,000 from local businesses to construct a new building at the fairgrounds.Cambridge Investment Research has donated $50,000 for the new building, and First National Bank of Fairfield and Libertyville Savings Bank are each donating $25,000.The new building will be west of the Jefferson County ISU Extension Office and will include a kitchen and two meeting rooms. ...

The Fairfield City Council elected to postpone the third reading of an ordinance that included a ban on drench insecticide for commercial applicators in the city.The council took up the issue at its meeting Monday, when it heard from Joe Ledger of the Iowa Farm Bureau. Ledger said he thanked the council for amending the original tree ordinance to exempt agricultural land from the ban on drench insecticide. He ...

Terri Ann Prevett was given a 10-year suspended prison sentence Tuesday after she pleaded guilty to first-degree theft related to charges she stole from the Fairfield Professional Clinic while acting as its office manager.Prevett, 57, of Stockport, originally pleaded not guilty in October to the charge she stole from the clinic.District Court Judge Lucy Gamon also sentenced Prevett to five years of probation ...

Delta Zeta sorority has dropped the lawsuit it filed against a house in Fairfield that it alleged was falsely advertising itself as a Delta Zeta chapter.Frederick and Oksana Shaddock own a house at 806 N. Fourth St. west of Maharishi University of Management that they call ?Delta Nu Zeta.? In September, the national Delta Zeta sorority sought a court order to bar the landlords from using its trademark materials....

A proposal to build a skate park near the Roosevelt Community Recreation Center was given wings Monday when the Fairfield City Council voted to create a request for proposal for the project.The proposed skate park would be west of the rec center and would be paid for entirely with money from a single donor. The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, has pledged up to $150,000 to build a skate park.Melanie ...

Teachers in the Fairfield Community School District toured several local businesses Friday as part of an in-service day.Eight businesses offered tours to groups of teachers, who learned about each business?s history, its products, and skills necessary to work there. The project was a collaboration between the school district and the Fairfield Economic Development Association.The eight businesses that hosted ...

Fairfield Community School District school board member Phil Miller has served on the board for about four months, and he?d like to stay on for a few more.Miller, a local veterinarian, is one of two candidates on the ballot running for the special school board election April 1. The vacancy was created when board member Amy Miller announced in October she would move to Des Moines in December. The board voted to ...

The Fairfield City Council has had to scale back its efforts to control the use of drench insecticide in the city limits.In February, the council unanimously passed the first reading of an ordinance that would have banned drench insecticides, out of a fear of the insecticides contaminating the ground water and killing bees, birds, squirrels and other animals.However, since the passage of the first reading, the ...

Administrators at the pandit campus in Maharishi Vedic City announced that five pandits volunteered to return to their home country after an incident on the morning of March 11 when a group of pandits attacked Jefferson County Sheriff Gregg Morton while he was in his patrol pickup and parked at the campus.Bill Goldstein, spokesman for the organization that sponsors the pandits, the Global Country of World Peace, ...