Perhaps the best news of 2022 – certainly the most impressive monetarily, was the news received in January that Alice Walters, who died in June, 2021, at the age of 104, left in her will nearly $500,000 to the Greene County Community Foundation and an equal amount to the Jefferson-Scranton Community Schools Foundation.
Walters’ donation to the Community Foundation went into the foundation’s endowment fund. The GCCF board used the outsize bequest to launch the “I’m With Alice” fund drive to build its endowment fund. The drive netted another $56,000 from area residents. The Community Foundation board can draw from the endowment fund each year to augment funds received from Grow Greene County, greatly adding to its funding capacity for projects around the county.
After several years of fundraising, construction began in March on the new animal shelter. The city of Jefferson is paying $400,000 of the total $1.16 million cost for the 3,000 square-foot building. Wallace Teagarden, who died in December, 2021, at the age of 98, had offered to match up to $75,000 in donations to the project shortly before his death. The combined $150,000 finished fundraising for the project.
Substantial completion for the animal shelter was slated for late September, but it was discovered in May that the foundation that had been poured in December had settled due to soil compaction. The steel framework was taken down and soil surveys were done. Helical piers were placed in July and work continued. Substantial completion was finally reached in December with move-in set for early January 2023.
A plan to build the local workforce, grow the county’s population, and promote multi-cultural vitality was introduced to county residents through a series of town hall meetings in May. “Nueva Vide en Greene County” is spearheaded by Greene County Development Corporation with Chuck Offenburger playing a key role. Four committees were formed with participation from dozens of county residents – cultural history and integration; food, arts and culture; interfaith activities; and soccer events and facilities.
Jefferson’s sesquicentennial was celebrated during the annual Bell Tower Festival in June. A carnival was again part of the fun after being missing for several years. A “Downtown Dinner Party” fundraiser was added Friday evening, with the $50/per plate dinner replacing the community barbecue, which had also been absent in recent years. Chuck Offenburger received the Bell Tower of Fame Award.
The 2022 Bell Tower Festival parade was the last to pass in front of the courthouse. The addition of large sun shades on Lincoln Way made the corner of Lincoln Way and Wilson too tight for floats to make the turn, so floats dropped out of the parade a block early and other units followed the traditional route. In 2023, the parade will turn east at Lincoln Way and disband at the historical museum.
The Centennial, in the former location of Angie’s Tea Garden, hosted an open house during the Bell Tower Festival and opened for business in early July. The project of rehabilitating the building and returning it to use as a tea room was undertaken by Why Not Us?, a women’s investment group. Sara Ostrander, a 2002 Jefferson-Scranton graduate, is chef.
Why Not Us? had obtained a $75,000 Challenge grant from Main Street Iowa and also tapped into city funding for façade improvements.
The Centennial Block (home of The Centennial), the building to the north (Funky Zebras), and the Stitch (formerly the Pizza Ranch across the street from Funky Zebras) were named to the National Register of Historic Places in November.
In another plus for downtown Jefferson, Jefferson Matters: A Main Street & Chamber Community learned in July that Jefferson has been designated as an Iowa Great Place. The designation opens several funding opportunities to support new and existing infrastructure that cultivates arts and culture, architecture, business, community diversity, historic assets, housing options and the natural environment.
After a year-long feasibility study done with professional assistance by Franks Design Group of Glenwood, the Jefferson public library board of trustees recommended to the Jefferson city council that fundraising begin for a one-story, 24,000 square-foot addition to the library. The plan includes retaining the historic Carnegie building, razing the 1966 building, and the putting new construction to the north, utilizing the entire east half of the block where the library is located. Cost is estimated at $9.7 million. Susan Laehn, president of the library trustees, said the group prefers to pursue grant funds and donations rather than seek a bond issue for the project.
The Jefferson park and recreation board studied adding an indoor swimming pool to the Greene County Community Center. OPN Architects and Counsilman-Hunsaker facilitated a community survey and then provided estimates for construction and operation of three different options ranging from $4.2 million for construction and annual operating costs of $295,000 for a 2,163 square-foot pool, to $9.4 million for construction and annual operating costs of $479,100 for a 3,435 square-foot pool.
The board decided not to take the lead on the project, but to support a community effort should others come forward.
A ribbon cutting and open house was held at the new location of The Children’s Center, formerly the Greene County Early Learning Center, in November. The 9,848 square-foot building was designed specifically for infants and children. Funding for the $2,015,000 project included $500,000 from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation, $469,941 in state grants, $250,000 from Greene County in economic development funds, and many local business and private donations.
The Children’s Center has a capacity of 145 children, increased from 94 children in its former location.
The Greene County Medical Center board of trustees announced in July the closing of the long term care unit effective Sept. 28. Medical center administrators listed changes in the long term care industry, the outdated building and the prohibitive expense of bringing it up to current building codes, and declining resident counts as reasons for the closure. There were 34 residents and 39 full- or part-time employees at the time of the announcement.
Medical center staff assisted residents’ families in finding other placements for the residents.
Both the Jefferson city council and the Greene County supervisors made expensive decisions.
The Jefferson city council laid the groundwork for a $17 million upgrade to the city’s wastewater treatment facility. The upgrade is needed to meet state requirements for discharge. The council in August approved 11 percent increases in sewer rates for July 2023 and ’24, with 9 percent increases for July ’25 and ’26 to pay for the project. At that time the cost of the upgrade was estimated at $15 million.
In November the council upped the increases to 15 percent in each of those years when the cost was re-estimated at $17 million.
The council awarded the bid for the project to Shank Constructors Inc of Brooklyn Park, MN. Construction will begin in the spring.
The county supervisors approved after a public hearing spending $3.8 million for a new radio towers and new radios for emergency responders.
At the same time they approved that purchase as an “essential county purpose,” they placed on the Nov. 8 ballot a request for a $12.685 million bond issue for a new jail. The jail would be constructed on property at the new LEC. With very little campaigning for the bond issue, 57.45 percent of voters approved the measure. In Iowa, though, a large expenditure requires a 60 percent super majority so the proposal failed.
Greene County sheriff Jack William said he may request another election next September.
The supervisors and county attorney Thomas Laehn spent many hours on a recodification, with much of the discussion centering on zoning for utility-size solar energy projects. The new Code of Ordinances was approved in October. Earlier in the year the supervisors approved a social host ordinance, setting penalties for persons who provide alcohol to persons under age 21. That supervisors approved the ordinance on the first reading and then waived the second and third readings.
