SERVING LAKE MIlls AND THE SURROUNDING AREA FOR 145 YEARS LakeLake MillsMills GraphicGraphic Vol. 145, No. 5 Lake Mills, Iowa 50450 Wednesday, February 1, 2017 $1.00 n Area briefs Free movies Street bid awarded to The Mills Theater will be showing free movies Wednes- day afternoons (concessions regular price): Feb. 1, 2:30 p.m., “The 10th Kingdom, Epi- Rognes Brothers sodes 1-2” (2 hrs., 40 min.); Feb. 8, “The 10th Kingdom, BY TERRY GASPER not perfect. Episodes 3-4” (2 hrs., 40 min.); LAKE MILLS GRAPHIC “I will say that you could give that same estimate Feb. 15, “The 10th Kingdom, for life of either surface to 35 different engineers and Episode 5” (1 hr., 20 min.); Feb. get 35 different answers. Some is a matter of opinion,” 22, “Balto”; March 1, “Against he noted. the Wild”; March 8, “Finn on the Property owners likely to see reduction in assessments It was noted that the comments received from the im- Fly”; March 29, “Rookie of the pacted citizens at the public hearing in February 2016, Year.” One week after receiving the bids on the North 3rd indicated a preference for concrete paving, should the Avenue, East and South Winnebago Street project, Iowa wildlife city proceed with the project. Jason Petersburg of Veenstra & Kimm, presented the After a brief period of discussion, including a pre- bids for potential action by the council. “The bids we program scheduled sentation from Heartland Asphalt, received for the project were out- Iowa has an amazing array extolling the virtues of asphalt, in- standing,” he reported. of wildlife. If you’d like to We might as well pay cluding shortened construction and Out of the 26 contractors that learn more about the fascinat- cure times, the council voted unani- held plans and specifications for the ourselves back, it ing variety of mammals that mously to award the contract for the roam our state, the Winnebago project, five bids were returned—all Terry Gasper/LAKE MILLS GRAPHIC would be stupid not project to Rognes Brothers. County Conservation Board five under the engineers original es- Fifteen students lined up to take part in the After-School Archery Program last week. John Carlson was Immediately prior to awarding has just the program for you. timate for the job. to. one of the founders of the program and still takes an active interest in helping young archers. the project, the council listened to a Wednesday evening, Feb. 22, The bids received ranged from Nathan Ostrander, presentatioin from Susanne Gerlach the board will be presenting 18 to 6.6 percent under the esti- Iowa’s Wildlife on the move to borrow funds to discuss how the city could fi- at 7 p.m. at the mated cost, Petersburg told the Thorpe Park office, five miles from the electic fund for the nance the project. council. “Typically, anything within west of Forest City. The pro- upcoming street project. She outlined three options: tak- 10 percent, we consider,” he said. gram will be educational and ing cash out of the electric utility; Program hits a bullseye, Referring to the low bids overall, he entertaining for young and old performing an internal loan from surmised that several factors may have been at play. “In alike. the electric fund; or, issuing General Obligation Bonds. this case, you can say it was a bad estimate, or a com- Winnebago County Natural- She noted that out of the three options, the issuance ist Lisa Ralls will discuss the petitive bidding environment. It was probably a little of of GO bonds would be the most costly for the city, many mammal species that thanks to Carlson both. “ He went on to note that some items were esti- while tapping into the $8,000,000 in the electric utility call Iowa home, from tiny wea- mated on the high side, while the economic environ- BY BONNIE KAY BALDWIN fund would be the easiest and cheapest alternative. sels to coyotes and deer. The ment and time of bid letting created competition. “I feel LAKE MILLS GRAPHIC The council felt that they did not wish to totally de- presentation will include furs, there is a lot of competition out there for work.” plete the electric fund, as it provides them with financial antlers, tails, skulls, and other Despite the low bids, property owners will likely hands-on objects. She’ll also flexibility in situations such as this, and opted to pro- only see a one or two percent drop in the assessments talk about some iconic animals Archery has been a major passion ceed with an internal loan, so they would be replenish- they were originally quoted, due to much of the cost of Iowa’s past, such as bison for John Carlson, Lake Mills, who ing the electric fund for future electric or other lawful savings being realized on items that were not assess- and pronghorn antelopes. And, tipped off his archery ‘career’ at the city uses. She noted that the only danger of doing the in- able. “As such, the favorable bids will have a relatively in addition, everyone will have age of 14. ternal loan, would be if there are drastic changes ahead minor impact on the assessments,” Petersburg noted. the opportunity to view the Carlson, who grew up in Kensett, in the current TIF laws and the city is not able to tap Conservation Board’s numer- The low asphalt surface bid of $2,769,270.57 was re- won his first tournament in 1962. Some this for repayments, and even then the city would only ous mounts and displays. ceived from Heartland Asphalt, Mason City and the low of his other accomplishments include: owe themselves money, not another entity. “It gives you The program will last about concrete surface bid of $2,858,129.60—a difference of placing second at a National Archery flexibility, but does not just take the cash out of that an hour and there will be $88,859.10—was received from Rognes Brothers, Lake event; winning numerous Iowa State fund,” she said. Council member Clark reminded the handouts available for peo- Mills. archery tournaments; receiving many council that they had used this method in the past for ple to take home afterwards. As a part of their work on the project, Veenstra & Refreshments will also be medals at the Iowa Games Archery the purchase of the Cummins property. Kimm performed, at the request of the city, an analysis served. The program will be summer events, including a gold medal After brief discussion, the council approved the in- on the long-term maintenance cost of the two surfaces. free of charge and there is no this past summer. ternal loan from the electric fund to use for financing “We performed a life-cycle cost analysis of the two sur- need to preregister. Taking a look around his home of- the project. , faces, looking ahead 30 years,” Petersburg noted. He For more information peo- fice, it is awe-inspiring to see the walls moose, a bear, a caribou, a pronghorn antelope, a bull In earlier business, the council approved their sec- ple can contact Lisa Ralls at full of medals, plaques, trophies, and certificates from said that their calculations indicated that including that lralls@win- elk, a javalina, a wild feral pig, as well as numerous 641-565-3390 or at 60 years of competition. cost, the concrete would be $102,368 less than the as- nebagoccb.com. phalt surface, although he conceded that the analysis is See COUNCIL, Page 3 The avid archer stated he has harvested 73 deer, a See CARLSON, Page 3 n Weather THURSDAY Sunny 19° 8° FRIDAY AM Clouds/PM Sun 22° 9° LMCS grad bids farewell to military life SATURDAY Reprinted with permission from the Monitor-Recorder hauling equipment and munitions Fehr attended and graduated from Austin Vocational and Technical Cloudy 27° 23° near the border. He also spent time in Institute in Austin, Minn. in May 1985 with a degree in Carpentry BY CASSANDRA LEFF Kuwait and Bahrain. Proficiency. In 1988, he was married to Jolene Schamhorst, and they had SUNDAY MONITOR-RECORDER In 2003-2004, Fehr spent six three daughters, Emily, Sarah and Jessica. He also has two granddaughters, Partly Cloudy 30° 25° months in Kuwait at a base camp, Emma and Adissyn. and for the second six months, he Before joining the National Guard full-time, Fehr worked for Lohuis MONDAY Cloudy 30° 28° Fehr retires after over 30 years with National Guard was stationed outside Baghdad, help- Construction in 1985, Winnebago Industries from 1987-1990 and then for For almost 35 years, the Iowa National Guard was an important part of ing to haul supplies to soldiers. Fieldstone Cabinetry in Northwood from 1990-1999. Sergeant First Class Daniel Fehr’s life. On Jan. 30, 2017, Fehr will retire Finally, in 2008-2009, Fehr was That was when he joined the National Guard full-time. During his after 34 years of service with the National Guard. deployed to Kuwait, hauling equip- time in the service, he has received a Meritorious Service Medal; Army Official temperatures and pre- The son of Pete and Deloris Fehr of McIntire, Daniel first entered the ment and supplies to Iraq. He helped Commendation Medal, 3rd Award; Army Achievement Medal, 3rd Award; cipitation as recorded by the Lake service on March 10, 1982, while he was still a junior in high school in move units out of the country as Army Good Conduct Medal, 6th Award; Army Reserve Component Mills Power Plant are as follows: Lake Mills, as part of a split-option training program.