Mt. Pleasant News

By KARYN SPORY Mt. Pleasant News NEW LONDON ? Not passing the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST), which will be on the ballot during the special election on Tuesday, May 5, would mean tighter budgets and decreases in city services across the board, local officials say.County Auditor Shelly Barber said LOST has been in the entire county for the last 20 years, but if three communities, Mt. Pleasant, New London and ...

Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss will update the Henry County supervisors during the board?s regular meeting tomorrow (Tues.) at 9 a.m. in the Henry County Courthouse.Hotchkiss will also present a job classification change request.Other tentative agenda items include final approval of a subdivision and supervisors? sub-committee reports.

Average retail gasoline prices in Iowa have risen 1.3 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.46 a gallon yesterday, according to GasBuddy?s daily survey of 2,036 gas outlets in Iowa.This compares with the national average that has increased 8.2 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.54 per gallon, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.Including the change in gas prices in Iowa during the ...

Now it is just a distant memory, but remember when Washington Street looked like this? This photo was taken during the summer of 2012. The project was one of several street projects that benefited from local option sales tax funds. The city wants to do more projects but some of those will depend on whether voters approve the local option sales tax which will be decided on Tuesday, May 5.

By BROOKS TAYLOR Mt. Pleasant News?If the local option sales tax doesn?t pass, it will put a lot more pressure on property tax,? warned Mt. Pleasant Mayor Steve Brimhall Wednesday, seizing the opportunity at the final city council meeting before the May 5 vote to urge residents to approve the tax.Mt. Pleasant has had the local option sales tax for 20 years and receives about $800,000 annually from the tax. ...

Judging from a windshield survey, materials deposited curbside for spring cleanup may be down this year. However, that may not be all bad because due to a truck breakdown, refuse has not been able to collected as quickly. City officials, however, said it will all be gone by 5 p.m. Friday.

DES MOINES (AP) ? A proposed health services budget in the Democratic-controlled Senate has funding to save two state mental health facilities slated to close this year, lawmakers said Wednesday, though it?s unclear whether such a legislative move would garner enough support from either the House or Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City and vice chairwoman of the Senate Human Resources ...

The final Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce?s legislative forum of the year, scheduled for Saturday, April 25, has been postponed indefinitely.The final forum is intended as a review of the session, but the Legislature is still in session.Announcement of a new date will be made shortly after the conclusion of the current session.

By BRYCE KELLY Mt. Pleasant NewsHenry County Health Center has announced some upcoming changes that, according to HCHC CEO Robb Gardner, may be a major attraction to medical providers considering career opportunities at the health center.During Tuesday?s HCHC Board of Trustees meeting, the board discussed the possibility of switching to a new electronic health records system specifically for the emergency ...

By BRYCE KELLY Mt. Pleasant NewsA jail transition program is in the works for Henry County and early talks of such a program is receiving positive feedback from many county professionals thus far.A jail transition program has been occasionally discussed in Henry County for a few years, but many mental health and law enforcement officials say things are now slowly starting to come to fruition. Although such a ...

Aurora, Colo. ? Henry County Sheriff Richard McNamee completed participation in the 107 session of the National Sheriff?s Institute (NSI) held in Aurora, Colo. from April 12 ? 17, 2015. McNamee is the first sheriff in Henry County to graduate from the NSI.The NSI is the only national executive development program designed for sheriffs. The no-cost program is co-sponsored by the National Institute of Corrections ...

By DAVID HOTLEGolden Triangle News ServiceWASHINGTON ? During a meeting of all the workers at the Modine Manufacturing Company in Washington April 16, it was announced that the corporation has conditional plans to close the plant within two years.According to a press release from Modine, the decision is dependent on the conclusion of bargaining with the union at the Washington facility. The plan calls for the ...