The Covid-19 pandemic and a derecho will stand out as memories of 2020.
Although the first diagnosis of Covid-19 in Iowa was March 8, the first case wasn’t identified in Greene County until April 5. As of May 1, there was still only one case, although schools and many downtown businesses were closed due to a state declaration of public health emergency. Covid numbers remained low throughout the summer. When school opened in late August, the 14-day positivity rate of testing in the county was less than 6 percent and there were fewer than 100 cases.
The positivity rate was 6.9 percent Oct. 16, and then numbers began climbing. The positivity rate jumped from 12.5 percent on Nov. 6 to 23.3 percent on Nov. 11. Greene County Schools went to remote-only learning from Nov. 16-24.
The first death attributed to Covid-19 was reported Nov. 13.
The positivity rate peaked at 26 percent Nov. 20. The total number of cases surpassed 500 on Nov. 23, as Greene County public health director Becky Wolf reported 504 cases.
Although the number of cases continues to grow, the 14-day positivity rate has decreased in recent weeks. Wolf’s Dec. 31 update showed 668 total cases of Covid-19; 7.5 percent of Greene County residents have had Covid-19. The positivity rate was 9.2 percent. Seven county residents, six of whom were older than 80, died from Covid-19 in 2020.
Virtually all community events were scuttled for the year, including the Bell Tower Festival. The Rippey sesquicentennial was delayed a year, making it a 151-year celebration. Events that weren’t cancelled, like high school graduations and school sports, had a much different look.
Vaccines against Covid-19 arrived in the county in late December and the job of administering them has started. Wolf ended the year pleading with residents to continue following Covid-19 mitigation guidelines and to get vaccinated as more vaccines are available.
The derecho will be a bold side note to the year. On Monday, Aug. 8, hurricane-force winds swept across the county at mid-day. Jefferson and Rippey, and the surrounding areas, were the hardest hit, with Rippey residents being without electricity for several days. Greene County emergency management director Dennis Morlan estimated damage at more than $10 million, before crop damage was tallied.
West central Iowa farmers were already challenged by extreme drought conditions. The derecho was an exclamation point to a tough growing season.
The highlight of 2020 is the completion of the regional career academy and new Greene County High School. There was still construction equipment on-site and the gymnasium and auditorium weren’t complete, but high school students started the school year in the new building on N. Grimmell Rd Aug. 31.
Classes in the adjacent career academy, operated by Iowa Central Community College, started before high school classes. Iowa Central reported having 45 students enrolled in advanced manufacturing, agriculture, internet technology/computer science, culinary arts and health science. The enrollment includes Greene County and Paton-Churdan seniors.
The Ram volleyball team was the first to compete in the new gym, hosting a triangular with Southeast Valley and Ogden on Oct. 1. The Rams enjoyed their first match win of the season, topping the Ogden Bulldogs 25-6, 25-9.
The state-of-the-art auditorium wasn’t completed until December. No performances have been held there yet, but students will begin rehearsing the musical “Beauty and the Beast” when they return to school Jan. 4. Performance dates are March 6-9.
Middle school students moved to the former high school on Ram Drive for their first day of school on Sept. 10. There was still work to do on the repurposing, including work on the HVAC system, but the classrooms were ready. Work on the gymnasium and the district administrative offices was slated for completion during the holiday break.
Both projects were completed within budget.
A new Greene County animal shelter has not enjoyed the same success as the school.
Volunteer Don Orris, who has spent several years raising funds for a new shelter, proposed in August building a smaller, metal building rather than the $1.134 million facility initially planned. He has raised $592,000, and using the new Jefferson Veterinary Clinic as a point of reference, said the scaled-back project would fit within that budget.
The Jefferson city council gave him the go-ahead and took ownership of the property for the shelter. The property was donated by Greene County Development Corporation.
Bids were let and opened in November. Orris anticipated bids to be $450- to $550,000, but the lowest of five bids was $1,007,000. He said building costs have skyrocketed due to the pandemic, and that bidders were not eager to commit to such a detailed project when there is still plenty of work available repairing or replacing derecho-damaged farm buildings.
Also, site preparation and running utilities to the building are higher than expected due to the soil type and the distance from the road (N. Elms St) to the building.
Orris once again scaled back the plans and will get bids again after the first of the year. He said fundraising has reached its limit and he will not continue with the project beyond that point, should be new bids also be high.
The city council years ago refused to fund construction of a new animal shelter, but said it would take ownership of a shelter and operate it once it was built.
At this time, the future of a new shelter is unknown. However, the city needs the site of the current, extremely dilapidated shelter for a state-mandated expansion of the wastewater treatment plant.
Separate from discussion of an animal shelter, the city council once again heard from residents about the need for a program to deal with unowned (aka “feral”) cats. The council’s cat committee has spent many hours discussing the issue but has not yet proposed a solution.
The Jefferson police department was challenged by a serious shortage of personnel, which was temporarily remedied by entering into a 28E agreement with Greene County and the sheriff’s office. Beginning Oct. 1, sheriff’s deputies covered shifts the JPD was unable to cover at a cost to the city of $1,000 each. Included in the 28E agreement was a stipulation that if the JPD didn’t hire two officers by December the county could terminate the agreement and begin the process of taking over all law enforcement.
Police chief Mark Clouse was able to meet the hiring requirement, adding Bohden Bigler and Jamie Brenner to the department in November.
Low wages were seen as a reason for the staff shortage. The city began negotiations with AFSCME Local 3949 in September, although the contract was not set to expire until June 30, 2021. The city and the union agreed to a new contract in November. The new contract is effective Jan. 1, 2021, and includes significant wage increases for the JPD.
Jefferson Matters: Main Street and the Jefferson Area Chamber of Commerce merged. The new entity is known as Jefferson Matters: A Main Street and Chamber Community. Reegan Hanigan was hired in July as director of the merged entity, after the retirement of Jefferson Matters director Peg Raney. The Chamber had been without a director for a year.
The Jefferson city council agreed to provide $70,000 in annual funding for Jefferson Matters: A Main Street and Chamber Community, with $50,000 of that coming from hotel/motel tax revenue.
Things to watch for in 2021 – The Covid-19 pandemic will continue for the next several months or possibly longer, promising uncertainty for the new year.
However, in the coming months watch for “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on the new animal shelter.
Also, the Greene County Schools board of education has not yet finalized a decision on the disposal of the 1921 school building, which is vacant with the relocation of middle school students to the 1965 building on Ram Drive.
Developer Nate Adams is interested in repurposing the school as upscale apartments, but he has no interest in the attached gymnasium. The board in December approved a contract for asbestos abatement in the school and the gym; that is required regardless of the buildings’ future. The board is leaning toward deeding the school over to Adams and having the gym razed.
The future use of that property will lead to more discussion and planning of the proposed Three Block Project.
Included as part of the Three Block Project is a new Greene County Early Learning Center. With the relocation of the Greene County Schools administrative offices to the middle school, the plan is to build a new Early Learning Center adjacent to the current site (but with a north-south orientation rather than the current east-west orientation), and then raze the current building (which is owned by the school district). Fundraising for the new building was impacted by the pandemic.
