[0:03] Jared Wallick, Chief.
[0:04] Thank you, Mayor.
[0:06] Mayor and council, so this is
[0:08] our annual presentation, just
[0:11] kind of talk a little bit about
[0:13] some of the goings on
[0:15] in the fire department and
[0:17] some of the things that are
happening.
[0:20] Um, typical to the to the
[0:22] other years, we're going to
[0:25] talk about calls, we're going to talk
about kind of the general
[0:28] um generalities of of what goes on
over there.
[0:32] So as you remember in Dakota
ordinances,
[0:35] uh the fire department is established
to prevent and
[0:39] extinguish fires, protect lives and
property against fires,
[0:42] to promote fire prevention and fire
safety.
[0:45] A lot of fire stuff, right?
[0:48] Uh then there's a caveat at the end.
[0:49] And to answer all emergency calls for
which there is no other
[0:52] established agency.
[0:55] So that is kind of the the thing that
drives the fire department
[0:58] is is that last statement because
[1:01] in reality, when people don't know
who to call, uh they call
[1:04] us to try to help solve a problem.
[1:08] And so we take that very seriously.
We are very service-oriented.
[1:11] Uh we go above and beyond to make
sure that we try to solve people's
[1:14] problems on a daily basis.
[1:19] Um, our mission statement, I'm not
going to read all of these.
[1:22] I just I include them all in in most
of the presentations that
[1:25] we do, um because it does drive what
we do.
[1:28] There are times, one of the things
that you'll see in there is um
[1:31] utilizing the highest professional
standard and actually our people
[1:36] even come back and they quote our
mission statement when we're talking
[1:40] about different projects and
different pieces of equipment.
[1:44] Different things that we're looking
at adding to the department.
[1:48] And they'll use that because the
highest professional standard is
[1:50] a high standard. Right?
[1:54] Uh it's not just the minimums. And
our people believe that
[1:57] and our people bring that up up to us
repeatedly.
[2:01] And so one of the things that we have
is our vision statement is
[2:04] we provide connected care through
consistent service.
[2:07] And I'm a firm believer that uh a
trust relationship is required
[2:10] of your city in order for our people
to provide the services
[2:13] that we provide.
[2:15] We're going into people's homes in a
day that they're very vulnerable.
[2:19] And so they have to trust 100% that
those people coming through
[2:22] the door are the ones that are going
to help not only solve their
[2:26] problems, but they're going to treat
them with respect and dignity.
[2:29] And I think our people do an
excellent job and they display
[2:32] this daily.
[2:35] Um, our value statement is the same
as as the city's. Uh the
[2:38] council adopted these a number of
years ago and and we've
[2:42] maintained those as well. Uh we
define them for our people and
[2:45] make sure that they understand uh
what we're expecting out of them.
[2:49] So our organization, uh the
[2:52] chart that we use to kind of take a
look at it.
[2:54] Uh we are currently staffed. We have
uh my position, I have an
[2:57] assistant chief position who
basically is the assistant chief of
operations,
[3:02] he runs that that division.
[3:06] Uh he was new to this uh position in
March. He has done an excellent
[3:09] job. Uh his focus or his drive to run
operations is through
[3:13] training.
[3:18] And so he's doing an excellent job to
provide a consistent platform
[3:21] for training.
[3:22] And that's a big deal in the fire
service.
[3:25] We have three different crews and a
lot of times three different
[3:28] crews will do things slightly
different.
[3:31] Consistency is a big one for me,
that's one of my major values.
[3:35] I want to make sure that it doesn't
matter whether it's A-shift that's
[3:38] on duty, B-shift or C-shift, doesn't
matter. Uh when we come
[3:41] through the door, the way we tackle
things, the way we handle things
[3:44] is consistent. Okay?
[3:48] Uh and we are staffed, so with a fire
chief and assistant chief,
[3:51] and then we have a fire marshall.
[3:53] Currently the fire marshall is
assigned to shift work. Uh we've
[3:57] been running a little bit short of
paramedics and engineers.
[4:01] Uh our fire marshall is both of
those.
[4:03] And so he has been reassigned to
shift uh in the short term.
[4:08] We're a little bit unsure, a little
unclear as to when that's going to
[4:12] change. Uh but he has been working
shift work.
[4:16] Uh then we have three shifts and our
three shifts, A, B, and C.
[4:20] Uh one, one is staffed at eight
people. So there's a captain
[4:23] and seven firefighters.
[4:26] The other two shifts, A and B, have a
captain and six firefighters.
[4:33] Um, years of service, you I'd pass
this out in uh in the um
[4:37] handouts that I'd sent out last week.
Uh so you can kind of look
[4:40] through that.
[4:42] Uh there are uh quite a list of
people, right? We have 27 total
[4:45] staff, that includes our two office
staff.
[4:50] Um varying in ranges from almost zero
uh experience up to uh
[4:55] Mike Browning currently has 17
[4:59] 0.9 years.
[5:03] Mike Browning is actually
[5:04] looking at retiring. I'll talk
[5:05] about that in just a, just a minute
here.
[5:07] but, um, once he retires,
[5:09] uh, I'll be the next one in line on
the seniority list.
[5:12] with a little over 15 years.
[5:15] And so, we are a young department,
[5:18] which has shifted over the years.
[5:20] Uh, but a very good department.
[5:24] Uh, we do have one, uh, volunteer,
[5:26] our Chaplin, Chaplin Bow Church.
[5:28] He's been with us for a number of
years.
[5:31] Uh, does a great job. Uh, that's
[5:33] a picture of Bow up there in the
[5:34] center, working on one of our fires.
[5:36] He, he comes out and helps do rehab.
[5:38] He's very involved in our department.
[5:40] I couldn't ask for a better person
to, to be in that position.
[5:44] Uh, nearly every Friday he spends
[5:47] the entire day with crews and goes on
calls and
[5:50] kind of helps, helps him out.
[5:52] So it's a, it's a wonderful thing
that, that we have there.
[5:56] So you can see our average years of
[5:57] service have trended downward.
[5:59] Uh, you know, the, the interesting
part is every year we have 27
[6:03] people basically adding another 27
[6:05] years to the, to the program.
[6:07] But over time, you can see as that's
trended down,
[6:10] uh, to the, to last year where we
were at one of our lowest levels of,
[6:15] of our average years of service.
[6:16] And our total years of service have
done the same thing,
[6:18] they follow that obviously.
[6:20] Um, but with the turnover that we've
experienced, like I said,
[6:23] we're a very young department.
[6:27] In 2025, 2026,
[6:30] uh, in that fiscal year we hired 13
employees.
[6:34] Uh, that's the largest number of
employees that I've hired
[6:36] in one given year.
[6:39] I have currently 52% of my staff has
less than three years of experience.
[6:44] Last year, it was 52%.
[6:47] The year before that, it was 63%.
[6:50] So we're starting to trend in a
little different direction.
[6:52] I think some things that we've done,
[6:54] the new paramedic class that's in
position right now,
[6:57] that we're going to start with nine
people.
[6:59] Uh, coming up, we're, we're waiting
on a date yet because the
[7:03] accreditation has slowed the, the
process down.
[7:06] We're hoping in the next week or two
this class will actually get
[7:10] off the ground.
[7:11] Uh, if not, as soon as it gets
started, it'll, it'll move forward.
[7:16] I believe that that is going to help
us significantly because we're
[7:21] putting a large number of people
through that program
[7:22] at the same time.
[7:24] Which gives them the benefit of being
able to work with other people on
[7:28] their shift who are doing the same
thing.
[7:32] It's a difficult thing to do,
[7:34] there's a lot of ride time, a lot of
clinical time,
[7:37] uh, not to mention a, a pretty
difficult class that goes along with
that.
[7:41] And so the internal support that
they'll have by working with one
[7:45] another, by working with the other
staff that are currently there,
[7:49] I think we'll really, um, bond those
people together.
[7:53] Can, can I interrupt and ask a
question?
[7:55] So you said 52% have fewer than three
years of service.
[7:59] Does that mean they're brand new,
three years altogether, or they
[8:03] came from somewhere else but only
three years with Newton?
[8:07] So it's a little bit of a mix.
[8:08] Uh, the majority of those are coming
in with zero experience.
[8:13] Um, we have a handful that have come
from other volunteer departments,
[8:17] this is their first full-time
position.
[8:22] but the majority are coming in with
zero experience.
[8:27] One of the things I tell them when,
when they come here is,
[8:30] we are a busy department for a single
station unit with the
[8:34] staffing level that we have, we run a
lot of calls.
[8:37] 3600 calls keeps them, keeps them
hopping all day long.
[8:41] And I tell them that literally in two
years of experience, they're
[8:45] going to get five years of experience
on some other departments.
[8:49] I would say the average for a, uh,
uh, fire station is roughly 1500
[8:54] to 1700 calls per year.
[8:58] So we're running more than double
that amount.
[9:01] So they are getting, they're getting
good experience.
[9:04] And I believe that, um, it's a
challenge, right?
[9:07] It is, it is challenging for them.
[9:14] 26, 27, we will have an upcoming
retirement, uh, one of our
[9:19] firefighters, uh, Mike Browning will
retire in October,
[9:22] we believe at this point.
[9:24] Um, and so he'll retire with 18 years
of experience.
[9:29] So kind of looking at our district
where the brown center in the section
[9:32] or brown center in the middle of the
county.
[9:35] Uh, that denotes the City of Newton
and the the, um, City of Lambs Grove,
[9:40] which we contract for fire
protection.
[9:43] And then it's also the Newton rural
benefited fire district.
[9:46] City of Newton itself has about 11,
12 square miles.
[9:50] The rural benefited fire district is
about 53 square miles.
[9:55] Uh, population, Newton is just over
15,000.
[9:59] the rest of our district outside of
the city is about another 5,000.
[10:03] So we're just over 20,000 for a total
population that we cover within
within the county.
[10:09] And then you can see all the other
different colors that are out there
are all the different departments
that are within the county itself.
[10:18] I supposed to say 25, 26. I don't
know how that got that got left from
before.
[10:22] Um, but we ended up with 3,569 calls.
[10:27] As it's been in the past, um, the
majority of the calls that we respond
to are EMS calls.
[10:33] So you can see 3,065 calls were EMS.
[10:36] Uh, 504 were actual fire responses.
[10:40] Pretty, go ahead. Sorry.
[10:42] When you say 3,065 are EMS, do those
include transfers in those calls?
[10:47] It does, yes.
[10:48] Each transfer is is its own call.
[10:50] Yes, that's correct.
[10:51] These are all of our responses that
we do.
[10:53] Thank you.
[10:54] Mhm.
[10:56] So that one year call volume, 3,569,
9.778 calls per 24-hour shift.
[11:04] Um, this is where we've seen a
significant change over the years.
[11:08] Uh, when I came here in 2011, uh,
that was down around 2,000 calls.
[11:14] And so, um, significantly different
than what we're seeing today.
[11:18] This is about one call every two
hours and 45 minutes.
[11:22] Average call length, uh, in town's
about an hour
[11:24] by the time they go to the call, take
care of the patient, transport to the
hospital, restock, do all the things
that they need to do.
[11:31] It's it's a little over an hour.
[11:34] Um, you have reports to do.
[11:36] We have lots of other stuff that's
going on.
[11:38] We have inspections, we have, um,
training, we have hydrant testing,
[11:43] there's there's a wide variety of
things that we that we have outside
of that.
[11:48] Five-year call volume. Oh, sorry.
[11:50] So, I guess to go off of your
question,
[11:53] when you we said those include
transport numbers,
[11:56] what number of those are specifically
transport numbers?
[12:01] I I think I'll I'll have that in a
second.
[12:02] Oh, okay, coming up.
[12:03] Coming up.
[12:04] Sorry.
[12:05] No, that's okay. Good question.
[12:07] Lot of numbers.
[12:08] Yeah, it is a lot of numbers.
[12:11] Um, so our five-year call volume, uh,
still continues to rise.
[12:15] You can see it lags behind and that's
just because that over time
[12:18] the call volume went up, uh, fairly
rapidly, um, and it's kind of
plateauing out.
[12:24] So we're seeing it kind of plateau
out around the the 3,600 mark.
[12:31] And again, I go back to the to the
2,000 numbers, that was one call
every four hours and 18 minutes.
[12:37] It's about an 80% increase in calls
over that time period.
[12:41] Which is a significant number
considering staffing levels are
[12:43] relatively close to what they were at
the time that I came here in 2011.
[12:51] So you can kind of see the the chart
of see the the chart of of the calls
and kind of how that's increased over
time.
[12:55] This only goes back to 2016,
obviously then, you know, it's just
[12:59] down pretty drastically from there.
[13:03] So when we look at the call
disbursement within our within our,
um, our area,
[13:08] you can see it's concentrated over
the the Newton area.
[13:12] Which you would expect, right?
[13:15] Um, fire calls, uh, have gone up a
little bit.
[13:19] Uh, we're seeing more, um, false
alarms. That's one of the things
we're seeing.
[13:24] One of the things that I would say is
adding to that is
[13:28] many people now have fire alarms in
their homes.
[13:31] Um, so lots of systems that are being
monitored,
[13:34] uh, by an independent agency
[13:36] and and so that's increasing, um,
some call volume there.
[13:42] The fire run concentration again,
pretty concentrated around the the
Newton area.
[13:47] If you zoom in a little tighter to
the Newton space,
[13:49] uh, you'll start to see some hotspots
that show up in different locations.
[13:53] And a lot of those actually parallel
up to some of the the
[13:56] fire alarm responses that we're
talking about.
[14:00] EMS calls, you can see the EMS calls,
uh, again,
[14:04] we saw it go up, uh, around that
COVID time is when we started to
[14:09] see calls drop.
[14:12] Uh, and that was more I think about
fear of actually
[14:16] you know, we we told people that, uh,
we can take you to the hospital.
[14:20] There is COVID there.
[14:22] You can, you know, you will be
exposed to it if you if you go
[14:25] there.
[14:27] That was a sentiment that we heard
from people.
[14:31] Um, and so we saw people really
saying yes, I I would just as soon,
[14:35] you know, stay at home.
[14:39] Which also led to other problems
because we saw a lot of the calls
[14:43] that we were getting then become more
severe.
[14:45] People were waiting longer
[14:47] um, to call because they were they
were somewhat afraid of the
[14:49] healthcare system.
[14:50] Whoops, sorry.
[14:53] On the bottom, the green graph that
you see is actually our
[14:57] our transports, the the
[14:59] facility transfers,
[15:00] the ones that we do to other
facilities.
[15:03] So facility to facility.
[15:05] You can see the numbers were much
higher back in the late uh 2010s.
[15:11] Uh, you can see we're up around that
817 number for for transfers.
[15:17] Uh, they've come down some since
then.
[15:22] Um and it's it's a cyclical thing,
[15:24] right? It it goes up, it goes down.
[15:26] Uh, it changes over time.
[15:30] As we've talked before, you know, one
of the things that we see,
[15:34] Um, we just ran numbers here
recently,
[15:37] the, the the number of calls is
roughly
[15:42] um, 25%.
[15:45] The, the amount of revenue that the
transfers bring in is about, oh,
[15:49] 35 to 40%.
[15:54] With the numbers down a little bit,
those numbers have kind of
[15:56] dropped down a little bit as well.
[15:58] Uh, but still a significant portion
of revenue.
[16:03] EMS run concentration similar to what
you saw in fire.
[16:07] Uh, quite a bit of concentration
right within the community.
[16:11] The difference here is when we zoom
in, uh, it's
[16:14] it's not pocketed quite as much.
[16:16] But you're talking about 3,600 calls
versus 500 calls.
[16:21] Um, so that's why you see that
concentration,
[16:23] it's more red right over the entire
city.
[16:27] So we break down our responses.
[16:29] Um, every year we take a look kind of
at these.
[16:32] You know, the the biggest single item
that we see is miscellaneous medical.
[16:38] So these are medical reasons why
people call and want to go to the
hospital.
[16:43] Um, that's our single biggest
portion.
[16:46] The inner facility transfers then
typically are the are the next.
[16:50] And so you see that's about 20%
roughly, 19% of of what we do.
[16:55] When we look at the reasons for why
they call,
[16:58] uh, falls are still probably the
leading category
[17:01] outside of the miscellaneous medical.
[17:04] Falls are a big, a big thing that we
see.
[17:07] Roughly 30% of the calls uh that we
receive are for patients
[17:10] who don't end up being transported.
[17:15] And that number, we've seen that rise
up a little bit
[17:17] over the last couple of years.
[17:20] Um, I think we're seeing people
staying in their homes
[17:22] as long as they possibly can,
[17:24] and I applaud them for that.
[17:26] Uh, but it becomes difficult.
[17:28] And so we end up, we end up going on
a lot of um, helping people up.
[17:34] Um, and so those falls account for a
pretty large segment of that.
[17:39] So you see in our um in our transport
versus no transport.
[17:44] Um, you know, we, we end up
transporting the vast majority of
people.
[17:51] Uh, this one's shows 77%, 23% that
were, were not transporting.
[17:57] I would say those numbers change
month to month,
[18:00] but over the, over the period, that's
what we saw.
[18:04] We also see different days of the
week having different call volumes.
[18:07] With um, higher higher numbers on
weekends.
[18:12] Um, really this goes hand-in-hand
with when people are at home.
[18:17] Uh, that's the significant times that
we see it.
[18:19] So, during the day, um, our call
volume is higher than at night.
[18:25] Um, but we don't see enough of a
change in either of those
[18:28] to really change a staffing model.
[18:32] So, if, you know, if we had specific
times and and and days
[18:35] where we could establish a distinct
pattern,
[18:40] we could talk about changing our
staffing model to try to cover that.
[18:45] But in this case, we don't see it
drop low enough where we could start
[18:48] shunting more of the people towards
the times where we're seeing
[18:51] more calls. There's just not that
much change.
[18:57] If you look at those numbers, um,
we're not talking about variances of
[19:01] like there's not, there's not 2,000
of the calls happen in this band
[19:04] and it, and then there's only 1,000
here.
[19:09] It's pretty, it's a pretty distinct
average over the entire amount.
[19:14] And then our inter-facility transfers
again, the times increase over the
day.
[19:21] Pati-patients by age group, um,
again, obviously,
[19:25] uh, as we age, we tend to use these
types of services more.
[19:30] And so it's not a, it's not something
that is
[19:31] too shocking to see where that is.
[19:34] And it's a pretty even split as far
as gender of the patients
[19:36] that we serve as well.
[19:40] Now a couple of things that we've
noticed, uh, are overlapping calls.
[19:45] Uh, last year we showed a total of
592 calls that had
[19:47] two overlaps going on at the same
time.
[19:53] And so that means we've got an
ambulance out on a call,
[19:55] uh, we then get a second ambulance
call.
[19:59] uh,
[20:00] that would be an overlapping call.
[20:02] Or the same if we're out on a fire,
and we end up with an ambulance call,
[20:07] that's an overlapping call.
[20:08] And so we keep track of these because
uh this is where our resources
sometimes
[20:14] tend to get thin.
[20:15] Um, and what we're doing is we're
running the same report year over
year
[20:21] just to take a look at where we're
at. And what we're finding is the
numbers
[20:24] are relatively close.
[20:25] Okay?
[20:26] So from last year to this year,
[20:28] total number of calls is not a whole
lot different.
[20:30] Last year I believe the number of
calls we were at 3644 calls.
[20:35] Uh this year we're at 3569, I think
was the number.
[20:39] Um, so not a lot of difference and
we're seeing those numbers over that
first
[20:44] six months. Um,
[20:47] matching what we saw last year.
[20:49] The reason I only have half of a year
this year that we're looking at for
26.
[20:54] They changed our um reporting system,
we went from the National Fire
Incident reporting system, now we're
in the National Emergency Incident or
National Emergency Response Incident
system.
[21:07] They changed the the system and
they're not compatible.
[21:11] So it's really hard to get
information out of the system right
now.
[21:15] Uh in fact, Nirus, which is the
acronym for the new system.
[21:20] They don't they still don't have the
overlapping calls report that we need
[21:24] in order to run this.
[21:25] And so that's why you're only seeing
six months of data from last year.
[21:29] Um, we had occurrences with four
overlapping calls.
[21:33] Uh you again can see the numbers are
relatively close.
[21:37] And we did have some with five or
more overlaps.
[21:41] In some ways it's not overly shocking
because uh if we take a transfer to
Iowa City,
[21:48] that can be a four-hour transfer.
[21:51] So for four hours, I have an
ambulance um in transit.
[21:56] A lot can happen here in four hours.
[21:59] Um,
[22:00] I think there's been times where
we've had tours going on where um we
had everybody in the station when the
tour started, by the time it was
over, it was me.
[22:10] Yeah, it happened last year within a
30-minute span.
[22:13] Yeah.
[22:14] All three went out.
[22:15] Right.
[22:16] And for some reason we see that
[22:18] we see that happen, well, you can see
how many times that happens um in a
year.
[22:23] I will say that over the last couple
of years, we've seen more incidents
where we are bringing in outside
resources to cover calls.
[22:31] Um,
[22:32] just last week.
[22:34] Uh we had a an incident south of town
and it it basically took up all of
our resources, while we were out on
that particular call, we had two
emergency calls in town.
[22:47] And we had to distribute um other
cities to come in and help take that
call volume.
[22:52] Um, so we're seeing that happen,
feels like a little bit more, the
numbers are showing that it's about
the same, um but we are we are having
that happen.
[23:03] So if you get that call that says,
hey, why was there a Kofax ambulance
in town taking a an EMS call,
[23:10] it's typically because all of our
other units are out.
[23:13] So.
[23:16] All combined if you take in totals
those those up, so if you take 592
times two, 139 times three, that
totals roughly 50% of our calls.
[23:29] So we compare ourselves to the
national standard and take a look
kind of at the times um and what
we're doing is we're looking at 911
calls within the community.
[23:37] So, uh from the time the units
notified until it's in route, um 3.34
minutes.
[23:45] Uh this number is actually down from
last year, um it's down 27 seconds
from where we were.
[23:51] It's something that we watch, it's
something that we watch, it's
something that we're measuring and it
does come down.
[23:56] The national standard for that is
less than a minute.
[24:00] Less than a minute is a short amount
of time, right?
[24:02] Like we want people on ambulances as
quickly as possible and going out and
helping the public.
[24:08] Part of the reason why we're seeing a
higher number is because we are doing
other things, right?
[24:13] We are doing training, we are doing
inspections, we are doing testing,
we're doing lots of other things that
um slow down that that immediate
response.
[24:24] And so we are off on that number.
[24:28] Our in route to on scene time, this
is basically travel time from station
to the um to where we're going.
[24:36] Uh 4.86 minutes, uh we're a little
higher than than last year.
[24:41] Uh the standard is four minutes.
[24:44] Now, the standard is actually to put
a BLS ambulance on scene.
[24:48] BLS ambulance is two EMTs.
[24:51] Uh we are typically putting uh for
anything that is dispatched with a um
with a reason that is con
[25:00] considered an ALS type call,
[25:02] difficulty breathing, cardiac issues
or those.
[25:05] Uh, they want ALS on scene within
eight minutes.
[25:09] We're putting ALS on scene in that
same time frame.
[25:13] And so that we believe that this is
still a good number.
[25:15] It's a good response time.
[25:17] Uh, we're putting the right people on
the scene in the times
[25:19] that they need to be there.
[25:22] Once arrived on scene to left scene,
[25:24] uh, the national average they're
targeting 15 minutes,
[25:27] 90% of the time.
[25:29] Uh, we're at 19.4 minutes, 4 8
minutes.
[25:33] uh, which was an increase from last
year.
[25:35] Uh, we believe that it's because
they're they're doing more on scene,
[25:39] getting the patient ready to go to
the hospital.
[25:42] And so it's a we we believe that it's
a good number, um,
[25:47] and it still shows that they're
they're getting close to those.
[25:51] Is that due to some of the nature of
the calls you have?
[25:54] Like you've got a lot of falls, a lot
of falls, a lot of things that
miscellaneous that maybe...
[25:59] It's like 30% of people don't come to
the hospital, so
[26:02] Correct. Those you probably do take a
little longer with because you can,
right?
[26:05] Right. Because we spend time making
sure, you know, it's it's common
[26:08] for them to, you know, they'll ask if
they can help them with some vitals.
[26:13] Can we can we check you out just make
sure that you're doing okay and
[26:17] And so they do spend time with them
and they do try to help them to
identify the things that are
[26:21] potentially causing false, right?
[26:24] So, yes, that's possible.
[26:27] And then from the time they leave the
scene to the destination, so
basically going from
[26:31] from the response to the to the
hospital.
[26:34] Uh, the goal is four minutes, 90% of
the time.
[26:38] We're about seven seven and a half
minutes.
[26:41] Um, again, that's just a product of
of um traveling
[26:45] from the from the home to the to the
ER.
[26:50] Um, there's not a lot you can do to
to change that time.
[26:55] Uh, one thing that can skew those
numbers, um,
[26:59] if we included information about the
transfers.
[27:02] Obviously, those numbers are vastly
different.
[27:05] Um, there are times where they'll
call for a transfer, uh,
[27:08] it may not go out for 30 minutes to
an hour.
[27:11] It just depends on whether the
patient is ready to go or not.
[27:15] And so those are not included in
that.
[27:19] Fire Marshall's office, our fire
Marshall investigated
[27:22] 36 fires last year.
[27:24] Uh, I would say that that's a it's
not a completely accurate number.
[27:31] Um, all of the fires that we go to,
uh, we try to, um, come up with a a
cause
[27:36] determination, right?
[27:39] Um, there are certain ones that we
have to investigate,
[27:42] uh, larger losses and so on.
[27:44] Those are the ones that will, um,
spend more time on.
[27:48] Uh, we didn't have any deaths last
year. We did have four
[27:50] civilian injuries last year.
[27:53] Um, and we responded to 147 false
alarms.
[27:58] Oops.
[27:59] Fire Prevention office every year,
um, we send cruise out into the
schools in October.
[28:03] They're planning on doing that again.
[28:06] um, and spend time teaching fire
prevention to our third graders.
[28:13] So a little bit on the business side
of the fire department, um,
[28:17] we we track our numbers over the
years, we keep an eye kind of on
[28:20] on what things are looking like and
what the trends are doing.
[28:23] Um, our revenues have increased, you
know, we've we've we've increased
revenue just about every year, it
[28:29] it'll oscillate up and down a little
bit, but our trend line is positive.
[28:34] By far our biggest revenue is is our
ambulance revenue.
[28:39] Uh, you remember three years ago, we
started with our billing company.
[28:44] Um, our billing company has done a
good job to help us
[28:47] uh get as much revenue as possible.
[28:50] Uh, 1.24 million last year.
[28:53] Uh, the second biggest piece is our
ground emergency medical
[28:56] transport, which is also an ambulance
function.
[29:01] Uh, the ambulance function that pulls
in about $370,000,
[29:05] so that's a significant portion of
our revenue just right there.
[29:09] The other piece that's a big one is
the 169,000, that's our
[29:13] contract fire perfect protection.
[29:16] Um, so that would be the city of
Lambs Grove. We have a contract
[29:19] with them and then also the Newton
Row benefited fire district.
[29:25] So you can see how our ambulance
revenue, uh, the first year that
[29:28] they came online with our billing
company.
[29:32] Um, it went way down, um, and that
had to do with timing.
[29:36] Um, the next year they came back up
closer to where we were prior to.
[29:40] You can see this year, I believe that
this is more of a
[29:43] full implementation
[29:44] and that we're I think we're doing
well with our with our recovery.
[29:51] Again, we talked about the ambulance
calls, uh, number of transfers
[29:54] and so on in the previous slide.
[29:57] So other items that you see I'm
doing, you know, I've
[29:59] ferences a few times training.
[30:01] Um, every day is a training day.
[30:03] I think our captains are committed
and they do a
[30:05] really good job of of training our
people.
[30:07] and they spend a lot of time doing
that.
[30:10] Uh we do some hydrant testing.
[30:12] Those numbers are probably down
compared to
[30:14] previous years.
[30:16] Um, but but we still do that every
year.
[30:20] Our host testing.
[30:21] We pull all the hose off, fill it
full of water,
[30:23] pressure test it,
[30:25] drain it all out, put it all back on,
[30:26] that happens every year.
[30:28] And then again with our ladder
testing.
[30:30] This year was actually a year where
we hired a
[30:32] contractor. Every five years we bring
them in to
[30:35] actually do a third-party basically
inspection
[30:38] and testing.
[30:40] Uh, it makes sure that we're not
missing
[30:42] something as we do our own testing.
[30:44] But every so four years we test,
fifth year
[30:46] they come in and and help us test.
[30:50] Uh, I just received this um email
last week
[30:52] on Friday.
[30:55] Uh, this is our new Pierce apparatus
is now
[30:57] in production.
[30:59] And so we finally have something to
show.
[31:02] Uh, this will be our new tower
ladder.
[31:04] Almost done.
[31:06] And so you can see there they've got
the cab
[31:08] assembled.
[31:10] It doesn't have a roof yet, but
[31:11] there is a engine tunnel, there is
[31:13] kind of some front end work that's
being done.
[31:17] So it's exciting to actually see that
in play.
[31:20] Uh, by the sales estimate, uh, they
say that
[31:22] this will take roughly nine weeks to
build.
[31:27] So we've been waiting almost four
years
[31:29] and it'll take them nine weeks to
build it.
[31:33] So I don't have any current pictures.
[31:35] We have an ambulance that was due. We
thought
[31:37] we were getting it in July.
[31:39] Um, they had a slow down in
production and it
[31:41] looks like that's going to be
somewhere between
[31:43] October and December.
[31:46] So we have an ambulance that's also
being built
[31:47] at this time.
[31:52] Okay.
[31:54] With that, obviously lots of co or
lots of numbers,
[31:57] lots of things again. Um,
[31:58] but I'll open it up for questions.
[32:01] Uh, I'll start unless somebody else
has a
[32:02] question.
[32:04] Um, so I have a question, and this
one probably
[32:05] hits home this time of year.
[32:08] Um, but a few years ago, uh, we can
recall,
[32:10] uh, what my nieces had go through at
the Perry
[32:13] school district.
[32:15] So, um, just general question for
Chief
[32:17] Wellick and or maybe Chief Perdest.
[32:19] What what sort of partnership and or
[32:21] uh outreach do we do at the school to
align
[32:24] ourselves on emergency response,
should there be
[32:27] an active shooter or uh fatality or
some sort of
[32:29] incident at our schools and and how
often do we
[32:32] do walk-throughs of those school
buildings?
[32:38] So I can speak for the uh,
[32:39] Please.
[32:40] the fire department side.
[32:42] What month was that Rob, we did the
training?
[32:46] out at Community Heights?
[32:48] Was that in May?
[32:51] Mhm.
[32:51] Yeah, in May we had a um response
training that
[32:54] Okay.
[32:55] was brought in.
[32:59] We had most of the department was out
[33:01] there for because it was three days
worth of
[33:03] training.
[33:04] Uh, most of the department was out
there
[33:06] for at least one of those days.
[33:08] Um, so we do some response type
training that
[33:10] goes along with that.
[33:13] Uh, we just opened a school, uh,
Aurora
[33:15] Heights just opened.
[33:17] Uh, it was right down to the wire to
get it
[33:19] opened up.
[33:20] Uh, some of the major concerns that
were on
[33:23] the table towards the end were
security.
[33:26] Yep.
[33:27] Um, and again, that's led both
through um the
[33:30] police and fire departments here in
[33:32] Newton.
[33:34] So,
[33:35] Um, I would let Rob talk about more
of our Chief
[33:37] Perdest talk more about the the
actual response
[33:40] for like the question specifically
you are,
[33:43] were asking.
[33:44] Yeah, and then maybe with that, um,
on a lighter
[33:46] note, um,
[33:48] what's the frequency you you
mentioned the uh
[33:50] the hydrant testing?
[33:52] Is it an annual,
[33:53] Um, just thinking of a couple of
hydrants that
[33:55] I know of around town that have
spotted, um,
[33:57] that are either like partially
submerged or,
[34:01] you know, the landlords or whatever
land owners
[34:03] have taken upon themselves to maybe
not
[34:05] care so much about that particular
hydrant. So,
[34:08] how frequently do all of the hydrants
get tested,
[34:10] I guess is the question.
[34:12] So the hydrants in the past were
supposed to be
[34:14] tested every three years.
[34:15] Okay.
[34:16] Um, so we had the city divided into
three
[34:19] separate districts.
[34:20] One of the things that's currently
being done is
[34:23] they're doing a flow model.
[34:25] Mhm.
[34:26] They're modeling the flows that are
in town.
[34:29] One of the interesting things that
they found
[34:31] during that was, uh, by testing
[34:33] what was it Jody, 12 hydrants?
[34:37] 15?
[34:38] Yeah, 15.
[34:39] They they actually identified issues
[34:41] within the system that were adjacent
to
[34:42] the actual flow areas.
[34:45] And so, part of, um, we do what's
called an
[34:47] ISO inspection.
[34:50] Uh, every every three to eight years,
they come
[34:52] in and assess basically what the what
the
[34:54] department is doing and the water
system and
[34:59] dispatch center and so on.
[35:01] Uh, those those things are all
combined
[35:04] to come up with a fire suppression
rating system.
[35:07] So, um,
[35:12] There's a push to go to more computer
modeling
[35:15] instead of actual flow testing.
[35:18] Okay.
[35:19] So, they do flow, they flow the
hydrants every year
[35:22] to flush things out.
[35:24] When we try to do our hydrant
testing, we also end up
[35:27] turning up a lot of debris within the
system.
[35:31] And so there's some question as to
whether or not it's advantageous to
do that
[35:34] or if it's better to computer model
and spot check.
[35:38] Sure.
[35:39] So we're in kind of a, would you call
it a transition stage,
[35:44] phase?
[35:45] Right.
[35:46] Um, where we're we're looking at
doing that.
[35:47] And then also does the fire
department paint said hydrants
[35:51] or how does a hydrant that needs
paint or needs attention,
[35:55] you know, how do residents get a hold
of or what happens then?
[35:58] If it needs, you know, painted or,
you know,
[36:01] I've seen some silver ones around
town and it's like,
[36:03] wow, I don't know that that's been
tested or painted recently.
[36:05] So, you know, people ask me those
questions and I,
[36:08] I don't know, it's a.
[36:10] Yeah, we we do not paint hydrants.
[36:12] Okay.
[36:12] That would be done through the
utilities department.
[36:14] Okay.
[36:15] Got you.
[36:16] That's great.
[36:19] Um, that's all for now.
[36:20] Thank you.
[36:21] Yeah, you're welcome.
[36:23] Any other questions for chief?
[36:24] I understand.
[36:25] Oh, go ahead.
[36:26] Yeah, just the false alarms. You had
147.
[36:28] I saw that heat map. It seemed to be
concentrated around
[36:30] a lot of industrial or commercial
business areas
[36:32] because I know what the hot spots was
right behind
[36:33] my house.
[36:34] I'm like, or right on my house. I'm
like,
[36:36] how's just false alarms, so it must
be a business close by.
[36:39] Mhm.
[36:40] So, do we have any? When those false
alarms come in,
[36:43] is there a service fee that you guys
charge for having to attend those if
they exceed so many?
[36:48] Like, hey, after three, we probably
ought to be.
[36:51] We've we've discussed that.
[36:53] Okay.
[36:54] I thought you had, but we.
[36:55] Yeah, we've talked.
[36:56] We talked about that as part of our
cost recovery program.
[36:59] Yeah, yeah.
[37:00] Um, and to this point, we haven't had
an appetite
[37:02] really to move forward with that.
[37:04] Okay.
[37:05] It does take up time. 147 is quite a
few.
[37:07] It is.
[37:07] And what's average time what's the
false arm, I mean, you look at the
service,
[37:11] you know, the call time, you've got
those national standards. They all
apply to that, right?
[37:15] So you're looking, you know, 20
minutes at least.
[37:17] And that's fire truck out,
potentially an ambulance.
[37:19] I mean, it's
[37:21] Right.
[37:22] So, I mean, there's there's some.
[37:24] As we start talking about budgets and
having enough money,
[37:27] that seems to be a place where maybe
some people are taking, I want to
say,
[37:31] taking advantage, but there's
opportunity there, right?
[37:33] Yes.
[37:34] For using our resources wisely and
maybe putting some carrot to the
stick
[37:38] kind of thing to help drive that.
[37:40] Yeah, like what we've talked about in
the past, you know, is,
[37:44] um, failure to successfully maintain
or continually
[37:48] maintain sometimes results in more
alarms.
[37:55] And so, um, I definitely think there
is some potential there for
[37:59] reducing some of those times,
[38:01] reducing some of that, those
responses,
[38:04] by having some sort of fee if you
start going
[38:07] over a certain amount. I mean, that's
a.
[38:10] Yeah.
[38:11] Cuz I'd be interested in entertaining
that.
[38:12] If it's, you know, there's always
that threshold where
[38:15] you know, we are, you're very service
oriented, so we don't
[38:17] want to be at the point to nickel and
dime people.
[38:19] We got to balance it.
[38:20] But it does come down to practical
things when we're talking about
budget
[38:22] and, you know.
[38:24] Right.
[38:26] Yep, thanks.
[38:27] So, just a follow up for that, how
many is repeat
[38:30] repeat false alarms?
[38:33] Uh, it varies from year to year.
[38:36] Um, we've had, I'm trying to think of
what the highest
[38:39] number I've seen.
[38:40] I think we've had uh, 12 from one
particular
[38:44] place in town.
[38:49] Um, you know, so having some sort of
scalable amount, you know, where,
[38:54] uh, maybe you get four free or five
free a year.
[38:58] Two.
[38:59] We have a.
[39:00] Two.
[39:01] What did I say?
[39:02] Oh, right.
[39:03] I mean, honestly, we have some that
we don't ever go out on
[39:05] false alarms too.
[39:08] Some systems are way more complex
than others.
[39:11] Yeah.
[39:12] So, I mean, there's a lot that goes
into some of those
[39:14] calculations
[39:16] because it's
[39:17] you know, I have systems that have
water for part of it,
[39:21] air that holds it back so it's not
freezing in the attic. I mean,
[39:25] There's lots of moving parts in all
of that.
[39:28] Yeah.
[39:28] I think it it is detailed. So I mean,
[39:30] you know, schools had maybe a couple.
[39:33] Yeah.
[39:34] And I know of one particular business
that you've spent a lot of time.
[39:36] You and your fire marshal spent a lot
of time this year at.
[39:38] Yeah.
[39:39] Uh, that the business just hasn't
been able to maintain whatever
they're
[39:41] supposed to be doing.
[39:43] So I mean, yeah.
[39:44] It could, you've got probably
nothing, all the way from
[39:46] businesses that don't have anything
to some that are just
[39:48] like, 'you know, this is the tenth
time I've been here' and.
[39:51] We could always do an increasing
scale.
[39:53] You know.
[39:54] An increase in.
[39:55] An increasing scale.
[39:56] Progressive scale.
[39:57] Yeah. is this and then it goes up
every time after.
[40:00] Mhm.
[40:01] Yeah.
[40:02] But that also
[40:03] speaks to
[40:04] the ports of our inspection programs,
right?
[40:06] You're gonna find some stuff.
[40:07] You're gonna advise people when you
do inspect.
[40:09] Hey, you know, you might want to look
at this because of
[40:11] This is potentially have a false
alarm.
[40:13] You know? Right. Anyway, yeah.
Thanks.
[40:15] another question.
[40:16] Speaking of the heat map, thank you
for pointing out that heat map.
[40:18] On the EMS run concentrations.
[40:20] Looks like the Department of
Corrections facility, um,
[40:23] we have to go out there for EMS.
[40:25] So is my understanding, do they not
have their own
[40:28] onsite EMS at the prison?
[40:31] They have, um, yeah, they have
medical care there. Okay.
[40:35] Uh, but there are certain things that
they can't handle. Got you.
[40:38] That need to go to a hospital. Okay.
[40:40] Um, so we do respond there a fair
amount.
[40:44] Okay. Thank you. Mhm.
[40:47] Uh, so I have some questions about
the inter facility transfers.
[40:52] Can you talk a little bit more about
exactly what that is
[40:55] and what specific ones those are
majority at the time?
[40:58] Are those Demoin runs, Iowa City
runs,
[41:01] how far out are we going with those?
[41:03] So we have a limit, we set a number,
a number of years ago,
[41:07] uh, 100 miles is our radius that will
go.
[41:09] So we don't go to Rochester or we
don't go to Kansas City.
[41:13] Uh, we stay within 100 miles.
[41:17] Historically, that's been split
between Demoin and Iowa City.
[41:23] Uh, over the past since COVID
started,
[41:26] bed space has become very difficult
to come by.
[41:30] Uh, we're seeing more to Waterloo,
that's right at 100 miles for us.
[41:35] Uh, Cedar Rapids, Ames,
[41:38] um, all of the Demoin area hospitals.
[41:43] Used to just be the majority went to
Mercy or Unity Point.
[41:47] That was kind of the program.
[41:50] Um, now we're seeing them spread out
a little bit more just because of
[41:55] need for bed space.
[41:58] Uh, about 85% of our calls go to the
Demoin area.
[42:02] Uh, roughly 10% go to Iowa City
[42:07] and then about 5% go to other areas.
[42:11] Um, but that's a fairly small number.
[42:14] Okay. And then can you just give a
breakdown of what shifts are what?
[42:21] Um, like what's the morning shift,
what's the afternoon shift,
[42:23] like how does that?
[42:25] You mean like what goes on in a
normal?
[42:26] No, like what are what's the times of
the shifts?
[42:29] So our shifts are 24 hours in length.
[42:32] So they start at 7:30 in the morning,
[42:34] and then at 7:30 the next morning
that shift is done,
[42:37] the next crew comes on.
[42:40] So they start at 7:00 in the morning
[42:42] And then 7:30, yep, 7:30 to 7:30.
[42:45] So is it possible then that some of
these transfers that I'm looking at,
[42:49] 168 of them took place between 9:00
p.m. and 6:00 a.m.?
[42:54] Um, so we have people that
[42:58] have been awake for quite a long
time, correct?
[43:03] Um, and just trying to wrap my head
around is
[43:09] is that something that's worth the
revenue?
[43:16] And maybe this isn't a conversation
for it's pre-tape.
[43:18] No, it's a perfect time.
[43:20] You know, you you you've raised some,
I mean, you talked about,
[43:23] you know, we have a lot of new
people. Yep.
[43:28] So, we're hiring new people in that
they
[43:31] the good news is they get a lot of
experience. Mhm.
[43:37] Flip side of that is that they're
doing 3,000 calls instead of
[43:40] 1,500 calls.
[43:44] And they're getting paid less than
what the Metro pays.
[43:48] So we have some that leave early, go
to the Metro, work
[43:51] half as much for more money.
[43:55] When they're working twice as hard
for more work here.
[43:58] Potentially, right?
[44:00] Um, and then the length of
[44:03] if someone's doing an if we're doing
a transport
[44:07] at 9:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. to 6:00
a.m.
[44:10] Even if you take out the 9:00 p.m.
one, you know,
[44:14] you still got a lot of transports
that are happening in those wee hours
[44:19] of people that have been potentially
awake for a long time. Right.
[44:25] Um, so some of the things we do to
manage that.
[44:28] Yeah, I'd like to know where we're
going.
[44:29] So, uh, in the past two years, we've
implemented time frames where
[44:34] we do non-emergent we don't do the
non-emergent transfers overnight.
[44:39] So non-emergent means, uh, they're
maybe just going to another hospital
[44:43] because they don't have the services
here.
[44:46] Uh, they're going up for an
evaluation tomorrow at Mercy and
Demoin, for example.
[44:52] We would delay that until the next
day.
[44:58] And what we do then is there are
emergent calls that need to go right.
[45:04] now, like somebody's having a heart
attack
[45:06] and they need to go to the cath lab
in Demoin.
[45:08] Um, we take those.
[45:10] Uh, but those that's paired down some
of the the calls.
[45:15] So you saw how our numbers have come
down over the last few years.
[45:18] Part of that probably has to do with
that because some of them
[45:21] they want to clear out of the
hospital regardless.
[45:25] And so they'll work to try to find
somebody else to take those.
[45:29] Um, we keep a close eye on our people
during the day.
[45:33] So we know the captains know how many
calls they've been on,
[45:36] how many runs they've done and so on.
[45:39] Uh, we've had instances where the
captain has said, look,
[45:41] we are not going out of town
overnight.
[45:44] Because everybody's been on multiple
calls throughout the day.
[45:48] Nobody has had any any rest or any
downtime.
[45:52] and they need some sleep, right?
[45:54] Yeah. Cuz those, those do happen.
[45:57] We rely on our supervisors to keep a
pulse on on what's happening.
[46:02] And so, um, all of those things
combined have
[46:06] I think changed a little bit of of
what that looks like.
[46:10] Um, but quite honestly, you know,
these people are still our citizens.
[46:17] right? And they need definitive care
that they can't get here.
[46:21] So it is an important thing that
we're doing for them
[46:23] to get them where they can get the
definitive care.
[46:27] Uh, what we're doing is we're trying
to we're trying to manage that risk
[46:29] a little bit better,
[46:33] uh, to keep to keep us from going
past that point
[46:35] where somebody gets hurt.
[46:39] I don't know if that answers your
question.
[46:40] Yeah, I guess, yeah, I just get
[46:44] My concern is that, you know, we get
[46:47] paramedics, EMTs, all this
[46:50] leaving to do something at 4:00 in
the morning.
[46:55] And they've I don't know, are they I
I don't know enough about fire
[46:57] service or how this shift works, like
[47:02] When are they sleeping? Are they
expected to be up for that amount
[47:05] of time? Or what does that look like?
[47:08] So, we typically try to end our day
somewhere around 4 or 5 o'clock.
[47:14] Um, and we try not to schedule any
any major events at night.
[47:20] Um, I've had people here who go to
bed at 7:00 at night
[47:24] to try to get some rest, um, in case
they have calls overnight.
[47:30] Everybody manages their sleep
differently.
[47:32] Okay.
[47:33] And so, um, there are days, uh,
[47:37] I think the highest number outside of
disasters,
[47:40] the highest number of calls that I've
seen are 26 during a 24-hour period.
[47:46] That's a lot of calls and when you
come in in the morning, you see the
[47:49] people that are going out pretty
tired.
[47:53] because it's just it it's a lot to
do.
[47:56] Um, but there are also days where we
may run only six calls or four calls.
[48:02] I will tell you in uh 2011 when I
started here,
[48:07] we, I would say a handful of times a
year, we didn't turn a wheel.
[48:12] Um, I can't remember the last time
we've not turned a wheel for EMS.
[48:18] Well, that's a good one.
[48:19] We continue, we continue, that
continues to turn.
[48:24] Right? I mean, it it just is it is
what it is.
[48:28] Um, but I think the again, it's
trying to do the things we can
[48:33] to manage the risk that goes along
with that. Okay.
[48:40] Chief, on a follow-up note, if we
choose at some point
[48:44] not to do these transfers out of the
city,
[48:48] who would then be available to do
those?
[48:52] Because you mentioned the service to
our our citizens.
[48:54] Right.
[48:55] Um, so there are private ambulances
that do uh, transfers.
[49:01] Um, so there's one of those that's
uh, come into Grenell and is doing
[49:04] some of that now.
[49:08] Uh, Mercy does have some ambulances,
but Mercy has very limited staffing
[49:11] in the overnight hours
[49:14] and limited availability for for that
work.
[49:19] My understanding is the the GEMTs,
um,
[49:23] There's a fine balance here because
they do generate revenue.
[49:26] probably more revenue than the
regular ambulance
[49:29] because we're not they're they pay
better, I would assume.
[49:32] So there's a certain amount of those
that for revenue stream help us
[49:35] to have that.
[49:37] But too many of them, then you're
you're shorting your staff.
[49:39] So there is a juggling match there, I
assume to to keep that level.
[49:43] Uh, I assume you wouldn't want to
recommend we get rid of them
[49:45] all together
[49:48] because I think we would have a
pretty big revenue shortfall
[49:49] at that point then.
[49:51] Right. Yeah.
[49:52] So,
[49:53] And also, if it's your loved one
sitting in the hospital
[49:55] waiting for a transfer,
[49:56] Yeah.
[49:57] in a rural hospital in in Iowa.
[50:00] and we provide this service, you're
going to be a lot happier.
[50:03] with the amount of time that it takes
to get that transfer
[50:05] than if we didn't have it.
[50:07] Well, I said benefited for a
transfer. It was middle of the
afternoon.
[50:12] They got there pretty quick.
[50:13] that's always the case. I mean
[50:14] No, no.
[50:15] It was overnight once. Sometimes you
don't have a choice but uh
[50:17] Yeah, yeah.
[50:19] And terrible things happened the
middle of the night.
[50:21] [laughter]
Frequently. Yeah.
[50:23] So, yeah.
[50:24] Any other questions for Chief
Wellick?
[50:26] Chief, I would I would be remiss if I
did not ask you to talk
[50:31] a little bit about your 9/11
celebration this week or not.
[50:35] Yeah, so our 9/11 service is just 25
years.
[50:39] Um
[50:40] What's interesting for me is, uh,
I've been in the fire service
[50:44] that's going on 35 years for me.
[50:47] And, um,
[50:50] I got a lot of laughs, uh, a few
weeks ago we were talking about
[50:55] kids and and I said that my youngest
had just turned 30.
[50:59] And the majority of the people in my
department are less than
[51:02] 30 years old.
[51:04] Um,
[51:05] Many of the people that are providing
service here today
[51:09] are not alive when 9/11 happened.
[51:12] Um,
[51:13] So, it's a big year. 25 years is a
long time.
[51:16] Uh, you know, our we vowed to never
forget.
[51:21] You know, we have it on our trucks on
our our emblems that are on
[51:24] the side of the truck and
[51:26] Um, you know, we continue to to honor
those.
[51:29] Uh, it will be a nice service this
year. The American Legion
[51:33] has offered to be a part of it again.
[51:34] So, they're going to offer the 21-gun
salute as part of the
[51:37] the ceremony.
[51:38] They did that same thing and for the
15 year and the uh 20 year.
[51:43] And so, uh, that'll be exciting to
see.
[51:46] Uh, it'll be the similar program to
what you've seen in the past.
[51:50] That September 11th at what time?
[51:52] It's on September 11th at 5:30 p.m.
[51:57] Any other questions?
[51:59] [cough] Thank you, Chief.
[52:01] Yes, thank you.
[52:05] Item number 31 this evening, we are
blessed with another
[52:08] staff report.
[52:09] This is the library annual report, so
we would ask Ms.
[52:13] Nicole Terry to come forward, please.
[52:15] [cough]
[52:22] Hello, Nicole Terry, library
director.
[52:26] So, we will dive right in and
hopefully try to get out before
[52:29] the next wave of the storm hits.
[52:31] Um, so I'm not going to read through
all of our strategic plan,
[52:34] but we did adopt it just last year.
[52:35] This year, we're highly focused on
the incident and emergency
[52:38] response planning.
[52:39] Um, we have some money through the
CIP that we're putting into
[52:42] all of that for security,
[52:44] um, changing locks, changing our
panel if we can, and those
[52:47] sort of things.
[52:49] So that's what we're hitting on hard
this year.
[52:54] Library staffing, we have five
library board trustees. They are
[52:57] voluntary, but they are a governing
board,
[52:59] and I like to include them in there
so you can see altogether who's
[53:02] running the library.
[53:03] We have four full-time staff with
three librarians.
[53:07] Um, the three librarians are myself,
the public services librarian
[53:10] and the youth services librarian.
[53:11] We do all of the collection, the
programming, um, managing of the IT,
[53:16] um, a lot of those facets of the
library.
[53:19] And then our administrative assistant
who does a lot of the
[53:22] acquisitions, interlibrary loan,
[53:23] um, and then all of those
administrative, uh, duties like
[53:27] they have in every other department.
[53:29] Then we have nine part-time staff,
including one cataloger,
[53:33] two information assistants,
[53:34] four library assistants and two
pages.
[53:38] So our bottom left-hand corner is us
getting, um, training on
[53:42] CPR and stop the bleed
[53:43] over at the Jasper County offices.
[53:47] and then we took a photo with our
Halloween booth that is going
[53:50] to be coming back at the end
[53:51] of September.
[53:52] So, that'll be coming up very soon.
[53:57] Uh, we had 895 new library cards
users this year.
[54:02] It's about double our normal.
[54:04] So we usually have about 400, but
we're seeing an uptrend
[54:07] in a lot of our numbers
[54:08] across the board and I'll dive into
those in a little bit.
[54:10] Um, we have 12,464 total card
holders.
[54:15] And then we just debuted our new
design on September 1st for National
[54:18] Library Card Signup month.
[54:20] Um, that's the lower left-hand
corner, and then we still have
[54:23] Grogu
[54:23] on our other library cards that you
can get as well.
[54:27] Um, both of them have the wallet and
the key card.
[54:30] Uh, this month if you come in to get
a new library card, like you
[54:34] haven't had one before at the
library.
[54:36] You can enter in to win Booknooks or
some Legos.
[54:39] Uh, we bought some for those people
getting cards or you, if
[54:42] you already have a card, you can
refer someone.
[54:44] And if they come in and say, hey,
Nicole Terry came told me to come
[54:47] get a card,
[54:48] then that person's name will go in
for a drawing as well.
[54:52] So, um, a couple things to get some
people in and interested
[54:54] and we'll be posting about it.
[54:56] We also have spotlights of avid
library users up on our Facebook
[54:59] page who are talking about why they
[55:01] um, cherish and use their
[55:03] library. So if you're interested,
check that out.
[55:07] Who can get a library card?
[55:09] So at our library, anyone can
throughout the whole state of Iowa.
[55:13] However, we do prioritize our Newton
residents,
[55:16] so we have 8,127 Newton residents.
[55:19] We have just over 2,000 rural
residents
[55:22] and we have an agreement with the
Jasper County
[55:24] Board of supervisors to provide
library services to them
[55:27] along with all the other libraries in
the county
[55:28] who do the same thing.
[55:30] We have 99 Lambs Grove residents,
[55:32] we have a 28E with Lambs Grove to
provide those services.
[55:36] And then just two years ago, the
board opened it up
[55:39] that all teachers in Jasper County
can get a library card
[55:42] because we know a lot of school
libraries are closing
[55:44] or they have limited items,
[55:46] so we're opening that to all teachers
in Jasper County
[55:48] to come and check out as many items
as they want
[55:50] for their classroom or professional
development.
[55:53] And then we have about a thousand
residents that are
[55:56] in cities throughout the state of
Iowa,
[55:58] so if you live in Baxter, you can get
a card through Newton,
[56:01] but you have a different level of
service,
[56:03] so you're not getting the same
services as Newton residents
[56:05] and we get a percentage of that
reimbursed through the state
[56:08] because we offer it to your other
services.
[56:11] So open access can come in and attend
a program.
[56:14] They can check out books, but they
can't use Libby,
[56:17] they have to go through their own
library for that,
[56:19] they can't place holds or request
materials.
[56:21] So that's some of those levels of
services that differentiate.
[56:25] Um and then this last year we also
did
[56:27] um change our programming to where
you had to have
[56:29] a library card to get first dibs.
[56:31] Um a lot of our programming gets
filled up right away
[56:34] and we were noticing we were having
people from Demoin,
[56:37] Pella, um sign up and come and they
didn't have library cards
[56:40] and we really wanted to prioritize if
you have
[56:42] a library card, you get first dibs,
so
[56:44] um it helped our numbers a little
bit.
[56:46] Um and trying to prioritize those who
pay more
[56:49] for the services should get more of
the services.
[56:54] Physical circulation, um I always put
the last couple years
[56:56] so we can kind of see the trend.
[56:58] Um we are almost double what we were
in 2021,
[57:01] which is coming off the tail end of
COVID.
[57:04] Uh we used to average about 115,000
physical
[57:07] circulations back pre-COVID.
[57:10] And so this is the first year we've
broken over 100 again,
[57:13] um and I believe that the last time
we hit that was 2018.
[57:17] So about we're up 10% in circulation
altogether.
[57:21] Kits and games are exploding, um so
we're seeing
[57:23] a lot of those go out.
[57:25] And um RSBP talked earlier, a lot of
their volunteers
[57:28] help us count those kits and games,
so every kit
[57:30] that comes back and game we check for
all the pieces,
[57:33] make sure everything's there, so when
it goes to the next
[57:35] resident, um they can play the game
or do the stem
[57:38] appropriately.
[57:40] So they are a lifesaver in that
because it's a very tedious
[57:42] um task.
[57:47] Digital circulation, uh continues to
go up,
[57:50] we've seen 17% increase.
[57:52] Um audiobooks are continuing to
explode,
[57:54] it's our number one requested format.
[57:57] Magazines, you can download anytime
as many as you want,
[58:00] everyone can download the same
magazine at once,
[58:02] but all those other formats we're
limited to say,
[58:04] um a limit 12 months of the new James
Patterson
[58:07] or we can only have 100 checkouts of
it before we have
[58:09] to buy it again.
[58:12] Uh audiobooks are also the most
expensive on the digital format,
[58:15] so they're averaging about $100 a pop
and when you're only
[58:17] getting a limited amount of
checkouts, we just can't keep
[58:21] up with the demand.
[58:23] So we have a limited budget that we
spend on it and we
[58:26] prioritize the holds um on those
items.
[58:30] So like yester year, right now it's
24 holds,
[58:33] we bought a copy of that, we actually
have two copies of it.
[58:36] Um but just to kind of go over some
of those numbers in 2020,
[58:39] this last year, 2026, Libby had 284
new users
[58:42] out of the Newton card holders and we
had 6,448 unique
[58:46] Newton card holders downloading.
[58:51] Um so that's just our town and then
if you to uh separate
[58:54] that out across the whole state,
you're going up to
[58:57] against all those residents
downloading.
[59:00] So right now the average weight time
is about 50 days
[59:03] for those hot titles, like yester
year,
[59:06] um but you can place 10 holds at a
time and they'll come in.
[59:11] [cough]
[59:13] Uh and so right now with Newton card
holders alone, we have uh
[59:16] 1,231 holds on audiobooks and 669 on
ebooks.
[59:21] So there's no way that we can
actually keep up with the demand,
[59:24] but we are putting money into that
each year to make sure
[59:26] that we are getting um books to our
patrons in a timely
[59:29] manner as much as we can.
[59:31] And the digital accounts for 25% of
our circulation.
[59:34] And if you haven't heard of Dungeon
Crawler Carl,
[59:37] he's huge, he's everywhere.
[59:39] Um we've bought two copies um for the
library of hard cover
[59:41] and paperback because they came out
in paperback first
[59:44] and then now hard cover.
[59:47] Um I wanted to say something else
about that, but I'm
[59:50] forgetting it at the moment, so we
will move on.
[59:53] Oh, that's what I want to mention.
[59:54] Most of the time, if you put a hold
on a digital copy,
[59:57] um you might have that 50-day weight,
[59:59] the book is generally on the shelf
and the
[1:00:02] library.
[1:00:03] So, um, I know people want to read on
their tablet on the go, listen in
their car.
[1:00:08] But if you're really antsy to get a
title
[1:00:11] and you don't want to wait those 50
days,
[1:00:13] there's a good chance you can call
the library and get the book within a
week.
[1:00:15] Um, because they're just on the shelf
and people are reading them
[1:00:19] and returning them quickly and you're
not fighting against the whole state
to get that item.
[1:00:24] Collection size right now, we have
81,315 barcoded items.
[1:00:29] On an average year, we're getting in
about 4500 items, we're deleting 4500
items.
[1:00:35] We have a limited amount of space,
[1:00:37] so every item that comes in another
item has to go.
[1:00:40] Um, and so you'll see us, uh, having
books for sale,
[1:00:43] um, we try to sell them all so they
don't end up in the landfill, but
[1:00:47] On average, we're ordering quite a
bit every day.
[1:00:50] uh, Phillis and I are putting in
orders on through our vendor on the
daily,
[1:00:54] and we're cataloging each day so that
number is in flux.
[1:00:57] It's constantly increasing,
decreasing
[1:00:58] depending on what we're putting into
the collection.
[1:01:01] Digital collection size is the same.
We're adding stuff all the time
across the state.
[1:01:05] Um, I just purchased this last two
months for the state for their adult
fiction titles.
[1:01:11] Um, my budget was $5,000, that only
gets you about 50 items.
[1:01:15] for the whole state.
[1:01:16] And then they have another budget to
buy, you know, 50 copies of the book.
[1:01:20] I was just picking the titles.
[1:01:22] So, um, in our collection we added
116 this last year with our funds
[1:01:26] and we discarded 52 because they
reached their amount of circulations
[1:01:30] or timeframe that they would be up
for circulation.
[1:01:32] Um, I do get a report every time one
of our titles is expiring
[1:01:36] so I can choose to buy it again if it
still has holds.
[1:01:39] And our titles that we do buy and
say,
[1:01:41] we buy yester year in six months, no
one else wants to read it,
[1:01:44] I can open it to the state to then
use.
[1:01:46] Um, so that way we're getting the
full use of our money throughout the
state
[1:01:50] and our our users.
[1:01:52] Um, our library card has access to
254,062 free items.
[1:01:57] So when people say I can't find
anything to read on Libby.
[1:02:00] I want to say you're not looking hard
enough.
[1:02:02] There's a lot of titles to down
there. There's a lot of items in the
library.
[1:02:05] There's always something to read
while you wait for your hold to come
in.
[1:02:11] Library interactions. So I break it
down into door count.
[1:02:13] But interactions, you know, we are
happening on our website, um, through
Facebook.
[1:02:18] We're getting lots of questions.
[1:02:20] So, um, we had 68,000 people come in
this last year, 21% increase in our
door count.
[1:02:26] Um, our meeting room uses were at
4086, 261 for the conference room.
[1:02:31] 9,000 internet station sessions, and
then 7,753 Wi-Fi logins.
[1:02:38] So with those interactions, you have
people coming in to read the
newspaper.
[1:02:41] A lot of people coming in to just
print really fast off their phone and
do mobile printing, um,
[1:02:47] we have job help. So on that, what is
it?
[1:02:50] We had 50 hours in last year, or 500
hours since we've started it.
[1:02:54] um, of people coming in and doing
one-on-one sign ups with Becca to get
[1:02:59] help making a resume, applying for a
job, that sort of thing.
[1:03:03] Um, so there's a lot going on at the
library.
[1:03:05] Door count is just one of those
markers that we use to kind of see
what we're averaging.
[1:03:12] Information statistics, uh, we have
just a few databases left.
[1:03:17] Um, our two that we did have were
ancestry.com and I will legal forms.
[1:03:21] Ancestry is really pushing their use
for users to use at home because you
can save your tree,
[1:03:27] you can message your family members,
you can continue to grow that tree.
[1:03:31] When you use it in the library, you
can't save anything.
[1:03:34] So you can only look things up, save
them by printing them, um,
[1:03:37] and continue to build it in paper.
[1:03:38] So we just see a huge decline, um, in
the use of way of the way ancestry is
being used.
[1:03:44] I will legal forms, we keep because
it's a good starting point for legal
questions.
[1:03:48] Um, and then we have our digital
archive which is all of our
yearbooks.
[1:03:52] And then we have our digital
newspapers,
[1:03:55] which is everything of the Newton
Daily News
[1:03:57] and also now the Kellogg newspapers,
um, up to 2013.
[1:04:02] So we have the 1950s off being
digitized right now.
[1:04:05] We realized we missed a few when we
went up to 1975.
[1:04:08] So we have up to 2013, working on the
1950s right now.
[1:04:13] Um, and our microfilm computer
actually just crashed
[1:04:16] and I'm waiting to fix it here in the
next week,
[1:04:18] so it's really nice that we have it
available online.
[1:04:21] So when people are coming in to get
the microfilm, we're like,
[1:04:23] did you know you can go online?
[1:04:24] You can search by family name instead
of scrolling through 10 microfilm
reels.
[1:04:29] So the use of that is really
increasing.
[1:04:31] We're seeing a lot of increase of
people from overseas doing their
family research as well.
[1:04:35] and bringing them to Newton for our
newspaper articles. So it's kind of
interesting.
[1:04:39] [cough]
[1:04:41] Um, reference transactions and this
last year we had almost 25,000
questions
[1:04:46] answered at the desk.
[1:04:47] And that ranges anywhere from like,
how do I apply for this job?
[1:04:50] How do I print my Amazon, um, return
label
[1:04:54] to more in-depth genealogy questions
[1:04:56] or just something as simple of like,
do you have this book?
[1:04:59] Can you get it for me?
[1:05:00] So, uh, huge
[1:05:02] across the board of questions,
[1:05:04] um that we see each day,
[1:05:05] tech help.
[1:05:06] A lot of Libby questions,
[1:05:08] a lot of how do I use my phone?
[1:05:10] There's a big disconnect
[1:05:12] between um people coming in
[1:05:15] and just saying,
[1:05:16] "Here, I don't know how to use it,
[1:05:19] you fix it for me."
[1:05:21] And we're like, um, we don't know how
to use your phone either.
[1:05:26] They are tailored to each individual
person.
[1:05:29] Uh, but we try to help them as much
as we can, while still respecting
[1:05:35] privacy and the need of all the other
patrons that are at the desk.
[1:05:41] And then we did 266 notary stamps
over the last year.
[1:05:47] And so, just kind of putting in that
graph to show you
[1:05:50] that everything's trending up or
staying similar.
[1:05:52] Um, we're not really having anything
that's going down.
[1:05:55] If we do have a service that's going
down like ancestry.com,
[1:05:58] we really evaluate and make sure that
we don't need it or we try
[1:06:02] to advertise it more to make sure
that people who need it are accessing
it.
[1:06:07] Children programs and events, so over
the last from July 1st,
[1:06:10] 2025 to June 30th, 2026, we had 369
programs for children,
[1:06:14] um with 17,956 attendees.
[1:06:19] So all these pictures are from over
this summer
[1:06:22] of our summer reading program.
[1:06:24] Um, I have like a couple pictures
with the same staff.
[1:06:27] We just have some photographic babies
in there.
[1:06:30] And then we had Pete the Cat at the
kickoff.
[1:06:32] Lots of snakes, lots of bats, lots of
reptiles.
[1:06:34] I don't know why people love those,
[1:06:36] but um they're always a big bringer
in for the kids.
[1:06:39] So,
[1:06:41] Summer reading program, we had 809
children registered
[1:06:44] this last summer, 415 complete,
[1:06:46] so that's over half, which I think is
a great statistic.
[1:06:49] We're keeping them involved
throughout the summer,
[1:06:52] and they read 124,000 minutes or
2,080 hours
[1:06:55] just in those eight weeks of summer
alone.
[1:06:59] So we still have kids coming in that
whole month of August,
[1:07:02] but this is just those eight weeks
that we're tracking their use and
reading.
[1:07:07] Um, 583 attended story times in June
and July.
[1:07:11] Um, 3,294 children attended the
special programs in June and July.
[1:07:16] 650 at the kickoff, which was
sponsored by Van Hemmert Family
Dentistry.
[1:07:20] And then the Mermaids and Moana,
which we partner with
[1:07:23] the Parks Department to have.
[1:07:25] And that is our highest attendee
event every year with 620 kids.
[1:07:29] So.
[1:07:30] That one the last day our phone is
ringing off the hook
[1:07:34] with people trying to find tickets
and it's uh it's crazy.
[1:07:39] Uh, we do have year-round children's
programs though, so we have
[1:07:42] Monday baby storytime, Tuesday
toddler and twos.
[1:07:44] Thursday preschool storytime.
[1:07:46] Our story times are exploding.
[1:07:48] We used to have about six kids at
each one on average, now we're having
20.
[1:07:52] So we're having to increase our
crafts, we're having volunteers help
us out.
[1:07:55] When P is gone,
[1:07:57] some of the moms have taken it up on
themselves to lead
[1:08:00] a story time because they find it as
a networking social group
[1:08:02] to support one another.
[1:08:04] So we always make sure we have a
couple books out
[1:08:06] and the scarves or the balls
[1:08:07] so the moms can read
[1:08:09] and do the same story time if P
happens to be sick
[1:08:11] or is out on for something.
[1:08:14] Um, she also does a lot of outreach,
so she goes out to the Y daycare,
[1:08:18] all the daycares in the city, she
goes to the schools
[1:08:21] and helps the teachers and do story
times there.
[1:08:23] Um, she's been going out to the
County Conservation building
[1:08:26] to do story times and partnering with
programs there, which is great.
[1:08:29] Um, and then of course we have a lot
of people come into
[1:08:32] our story times to do guest sponsors.
[1:08:34] So we've had advantage Credit Union.
[1:08:37] Um, a lot of the dentists in the
area, and then we've had
[1:08:39] this last week we had the fire
department out.
[1:08:42] We expected 50 kids. I think we had
150 kids.
[1:08:46] So it was a big showing and we're
looking forward to October
[1:08:48] when they come back again.
[1:08:52] Some more programs that we have is of
course the story walk that
[1:08:56] we switch out every month to keep it
interesting.
[1:08:58] Um, we also have the 1,000 books
before kindergarten program.
[1:09:02] So we have 403 enrolled right now,
156 total finishers.
[1:09:06] So 156,000 books read by those
finishers.
[1:09:10] However, we have a lot that fall out
after 500, 700.
[1:09:14] So you could probably double that
number and that's how many
[1:09:17] books the kids are reading in Newton
right now.
[1:09:20] And that's my little guy finishing
his 1,000 books.
[1:09:23] So. [laughter] Good job.
[1:09:24] Um, and then we did the summer snack
for kids, RSVP was
[1:09:27] a huge help, we had a couple other
volunteers as well.
[1:09:29] To hand out those daily all through
June, July and August.
[1:09:33] 822, 940 in July and then August, it
did taper off a little bit.
[1:09:38] We did put a sign up at the Splashpad
and that brought in a lot
[1:09:41] of new people that wouldn't normally
come in.
[1:09:44] And we were lenient if they're just
coming in for the snack,
[1:09:47] they could dip in in their wet
swimsuits and run
[1:09:49] right back out with their snack.
[1:09:52] So, um it was great to see a lot of
happy kids over the summer.
[1:09:57] And then I always just like to show
pictures of our
[1:10:00] children's area because everyone
always thinks libraries are
[1:10:01] quiet. You have to be quiet.
[1:10:02] We're going to shush you.
[1:10:03] Um, if you're screaming, yes, we're
gonna shush you.
[1:10:06] But we also want you to come in and
enjoy our children's area.
[1:10:09] So we invested a lot of time in that,
making it a place where on a day
[1:10:13] that it's 98, you want to get out of
the house, where do you go?
[1:10:15] Go to the library with air
conditioning where there's
[1:10:17] new toys for your kids to play with.
[1:10:19] You can check out a couple books,
attend a story time.
[1:10:22] Same thing in winter, if you want to
get out, it's super cold but you
[1:10:24] don't want to go to the metro.
[1:10:26] Come into the library, play with our
LEGO table, our trains,
[1:10:29] um, jumbo magnetiles, we have
dinosaurs that you can build.
[1:10:32] So there's a lot of stuff over there
that we keep rotating out to keep
[1:10:36] things fresh and keep kids
entertained.
[1:10:38] [cough]
[1:10:40] Adult programs and events.
[1:10:42] Um, we had 167 programs this year,
averaging about three per week.
[1:10:46] 966 uh in the winter reading program
and
[1:10:50] 1500, um, a little bit over 1500 in
summer reading program.
[1:10:54] That was another record summer
number.
[1:10:56] Um, she had 9,924 people attend
programs over the
[1:11:01] last year. So big numbers.
[1:11:03] Um, we have a lot of painting
classes, a lot of plant swaps.
[1:11:06] We do a lot of partnerships with the
plant dealer.
[1:11:09] We have our tiny art show coming up
in October.
[1:11:13] And so this time we did a Halloween
themed one.
[1:11:15] So they all have spooky um themes
going along with the artwork.
[1:11:19] And you can buy those and all the
money is going to be donated to
Lucy's
[1:11:22] Pet Pantry for um the art that's
purchased.
[1:11:28] Uh, Becca made this infographic to
show off her amazing work.
[1:11:31] So, um, like I said, 167 programs
this last year, over 9,000 attending.
[1:11:36] Um, her mystery bags and craft kits
which are huge.
[1:11:39] They go out. We have 50 about each
month.
[1:11:41] People will bring us at when it opens
at nine,
[1:11:43] by usually about 10:30 it's filled.
[1:11:46] Um, and so, um, it's a great craft
kit, but it's also getting our books
out.
[1:11:51] So we have over 1600 books that have
gone out in those mystery bags.
[1:11:54] They are patrons that just ask us for
recommendations now
[1:11:57] because they liked the books they got
in the mystery bags.
[1:11:59] And now they've been alerted to
another service
[1:12:02] that we offer is recommending books,
of course.
[1:12:05] Um, and so we partner a lot with uh
businesses and so she's had
[1:12:08] 21 different program partnerships.
[1:12:12] Um, 80 plus hours of resume, job
application and career assistance.
[1:12:16] Um, so it's a great infographic to
give out and hand out
[1:12:19] to people that don't know what
programs we're offering.
[1:12:24] This year we added new mobile
shelving that was funded by the
library foundation.
[1:12:28] So on that first picture in the top
left, uh, you'll see the boxes coming
in.
[1:12:33] And then I didn't put a picture of
the shelves.
[1:12:35] They look pretty similar, they're
just on wheels.
[1:12:37] So we can move them out of the way
[1:12:39] and we can use that whole center area
now for a program.
[1:12:42] So we've had the magician during
Newton Fest.
[1:12:44] We've had um a baby story time over
there with the umbrella
[1:12:46] that was in a previous picture.
[1:12:49] And then this last week we had Ghost
Towns of Jasper County.
[1:12:53] We had 240 people come.
[1:12:54] We pulled every chair in the entire
library into that middle area.
[1:12:59] Um, we still did have lanes to get
through. You can't see it too well,
[1:13:03] but we did have make sure that you
could get out if there's an
emergency.
[1:13:06] Um, so that was quite a showing.
[1:13:09] We did have a dip in programming, um,
about two years ago in adult,
[1:13:12] and I think it's because we maxed out
our space.
[1:13:15] Same with our children, we are
hearing a lot from people that
[1:13:17] I don't want to come, it's too
crowded, it gets too hot in that
room.
[1:13:20] You know, I don't want to bring my
kids to the bug show because
[1:13:22] there's just too many people.
[1:13:24] We can't see it and experience it
like we want.
[1:13:26] So we took that to heart. We got some
mobile shelving and we
[1:13:29] and we opened up that bigger space.
[1:13:31] So now we have smaller programs in
the meeting room
[1:13:34] and we put the bigger ones into the
um main area of the library.
[1:13:39] And we haven't had any complaints. We
advertise
[1:13:41] when it's going to be there, it's
going to be loud,
[1:13:42] there's going to be music events.
[1:13:43] Um, everyone really enjoys it.
[1:13:45] And I think we've had we've had
record numbers of attendance
[1:13:49] because people know that there's a
little bit more space now
[1:13:51] to that you can breathe and it's
cooler.
[1:13:55] So some of our popular programs are
of course the swaps,
[1:13:58] we do the book swap, plants.
[1:13:59] We're doing another toy swap in
November.
[1:14:03] Um, and then we did a puzzle sale.
[1:14:05] A lot of paint classes, a lot of
plant classes with the plant dealer.
[1:14:09] And then those mystery bags
[1:14:11] and then the one that brings a lot of
people is the
[1:14:13] as the historical speakers.
[1:14:15] So we always have a few of those
planned and we have more
[1:14:17] coming up throughout the year.
[1:14:22] Um, I always put this slide in of how
stellar's our programming.
[1:14:24] So compared with the other libraries
in the state of Iowa
[1:14:27] with a population of 10,000 to
25,000,
[1:14:30] we're number one in kids age 6 to 11
program attendance.
[1:14:34] Number two in programming attendance
geared towards adults.
[1:14:37] And number five in total program
attendance.
[1:14:39] So some of those libraries that were
competing against
[1:14:42] are Altoona, Coralville, Grimes,
Indianola, Johnston,
[1:14:46] North Liberty, Pleasant Hill and
Waukee.
[1:14:49] And so to beat them out in program
attendance, I think
[1:14:51] speaks volumes of what our staff is
doing.
[1:14:54] And really tailoring the interests of
our community to get people to come
in.
[1:15:00] And I just put in another graph to
show you, it just keeps going up
[1:15:03] and like I said, we had that little
dip in adult programming,
[1:15:06] and I think it just came down to um,
the limited space that we had,
[1:15:10] and now that we've opened it up,
[1:15:11] we're going to keep going right back
up.
[1:15:16] And then of course, we always have
more.
[1:15:18] We're not just programs, we're not
just books.
[1:15:19] Um, we have board games for all ages,
we're continually adding ones.
[1:15:23] Um, we're working with Kraken's Crate
to kind of keep on top of
[1:15:25] the new fads.
[1:15:26] Um, and make sure that we have a good
collection rotating
[1:15:29] in and out.
[1:15:31] Stem kits, we're always adding a few
of those each year.
[1:15:34] They are kind of expensive, so um we
only add a handful each year to
[1:15:38] make sure um, we're getting a fresh
um, supply.
[1:15:42] And then we have the photo and video
digitisation station
[1:15:45] where you can um, turn those old
Kodachrome, um, Polaroids,
[1:15:49] you know, the little tiny ones, and
digitise those to keep your
[1:15:52] families, um, memories alive.
[1:15:55] And we show you how to do it. After
that, you can come in
[1:15:57] anytime and get the items at the desk
and just
[1:15:59] go over and sit and um, convert DVDs
to digital,
[1:16:02] VHS to digital, all of those formats.
[1:16:07] We have laminating. We just purchased
a new laminator.
[1:16:09] Old one was like 20 years old,
[1:16:11] and underneath of it, you can see all
of those die cuts and
[1:16:13] accu cuts that you can check out.
[1:16:14] We have about four different
alphabets,
[1:16:17] so teachers, we have any design that
you want.
[1:16:20] Um, that you want to cut out to make
a bulletin board or
[1:16:22] hand out a bookmark. We have
everything.
[1:16:26] Um, and then we also have a blood
pressure cuff and radon detectors.
[1:16:29] So I looked those up the other day.
They've gone out to
[1:16:31] 46 homes already.
[1:16:33] We have five. We can't even keep them
in.
[1:16:35] There's usually a list of five to
eight people waiting to get them.
[1:16:38] They go out for three weeks because
you want to have a
[1:16:40] long reading in your home of what
your radon level is.
[1:16:44] because I just put mine in my new
home
[1:16:46] and it was reading at like 26
[1:16:48] and I panicked and now it's come down
a lot.
[1:16:51] Um, and so we still might have to be
have follow up on if
[1:16:53] we need to have our house checked
out, but
[1:16:55] It's saving a lot of people a lot of
money
[1:16:58] instead of calling a professional
right off the bat, you can check
[1:17:00] these out and see if you need to
enlist a professional.
[1:17:03] And we hand out information from the
State Health Department to
[1:17:05] follow up on those professionals or
get a reading.
[1:17:11] Uh, we always want to do a shout out
to our friends,
[1:17:13] um, of the Newton Public Library
[1:17:14] so they ran run the little library or
little friends,
[1:17:17] aka Imagination Library from Dolly
Parton.
[1:17:21] Um, they have 950 enrolled right now.
[1:17:23] They've been here for five years now,
so they've reached their
[1:17:26] first graduating class
[1:17:28] and have had over 900 graduates.
[1:17:31] So, um, they've been here a whole
full cycle.
[1:17:33] Um, they've had a good turnout of it.
[1:17:36] Um, and so they are looking for
donations with Dolly's passing,
[1:17:39] just trying to keep it going for all
those kids.
[1:17:43] Um, the books come to them for free,
but the friends pay,
[1:17:45] uh, the organization pays the postage
to mail those out
[1:17:48] to the kids.
[1:17:50] So that's where they look for
donations to keep it going
[1:17:52] as for the postage.
[1:17:54] Adventure passes. The friends have
purchased another one.
[1:17:57] Right now we have two to Blank Park
Zoo,
[1:17:59] you have the Science Center, the
Botanical Gardens.
[1:18:02] I believe we bought a third Zoo one.
[1:18:04] So in the summer when we have like a
really heavy use, um,
[1:18:07] three families can be going multiple
times a week to the zoo.
[1:18:11] And then we have our first grade
tours that they fund and those
[1:18:13] will be coming up in October.
[1:18:15] And RSVP also helps, um, to lead
those with some volunteers
[1:18:17] for the day as we have a lot of kids
come through.
[1:18:23] And then our Library Foundation funds
all of our programming.
[1:18:27] So all those programs that we have
for the craft kits, um,
[1:18:29] the supplies needed for the storytime
crafts,
[1:18:33] um, those historical speakers or the
plant dealer coming in,
[1:18:36] the foundation funds all of that.
[1:18:38] So they are a huge saver, um, um, and
getting us to allow us
[1:18:41] to buy such, um, great presenters to
come in.
[1:18:47] And then they also are funding our
Wonderbooks.
[1:18:49] So they gave us 3,000 this year to
replenish our Wonderbook collection.
[1:18:52] It's a book that reads you the audio
book while you follow
[1:18:54] along in the physical book.
[1:18:57] So there's a lot of learning aspects
for that. And then at the
[1:18:59] end, it can ask you questions about
the book.
[1:19:01] So, um, you can have your kid answer
those and listen to
[1:19:04] tidbits on the non-fiction book.
It'll give you more history--
[1:19:07] uh, not historical, but more
information.
[1:19:10] Uh, and then we, they funded the
Spring Break movie this last year,
[1:19:12] which had 326 attendees over two
showings.
[1:19:16] And of course, they've digitised all
of our newspapers up to 2013
[1:19:20] and the Kellogg newspapers that were
donated recently.
[1:19:22] So those will all be available soon.
[1:19:28] Um, and then I just want to end on
uh, one of our slides that
[1:19:30] I added this year is that
[1:19:31] libraries will get you through times
of no money better than
[1:19:34] money will get you through times of
no libraries.
[1:19:37] Libraries are known to extend your
dollar of every tax dollar spent
[1:19:39] in the community.
[1:19:41] So, Newton residents paid $47.43 for
library services in FY25.
[1:19:47] Um, what that would get you if you
went to the store,
[1:19:49] Barnes & Noble, is two adult fiction
books.
[1:19:53] one and a half adult non-fiction, 2.5
teen books, or
[1:19:55] 2.5 children's picture books.
[1:19:58] That's all it would get you for
[1:20:00] a whole year for your family.
[1:20:02] But you can go to the library and you
can turn that $47 into
[1:20:06] thousands of savings.
[1:20:07] So the bottom right is my um, slip
from today.
[1:20:11] checked out one teen book and I've
saved $5,000 just by checking out
books
[1:20:15] from the library.
[1:20:16] and those are all children's books.
[1:20:18] I'm a big Libby user for myself.
[1:20:20] So that's just children's books for
my little guy.
[1:20:23] And then we had another staff member
who on average reads one book a
month,
[1:20:27] has one or two checkouts a month,
which is kind of a normal Newton
resident user
[1:20:31] and she's still saved $1,200 by using
her library card.
[1:20:36] So, looking at what you pay for
library services as a Newton
resident,
[1:20:39] and what you can get out of it is a
huge cost savings,
[1:20:42] especially when you look at that
number and say, that doesn't include
Libby.
[1:20:46] So all those books I listen to, that
number doesn't go into that, that's
only
[1:20:49] physical checkouts.
[1:20:51] And then it doesn't include the
programs we have, the job assistance
we provide,
[1:20:55] all the staff assisting patrons,
printing, applying for jobs, just
doing the normal
[1:21:00] day-to-day stuff on the computers.
[1:21:02] internet, printing, technology, and
then also heating and cooling.
[1:21:05] We have residents who come in to
enjoy the air conditioning in the
heat
[1:21:08] in the very hot months and the very
cold months so they can save on their
[1:21:12] um expenses at home.
[1:21:14] So all that is wrapped into that $47
that Newton residents pay for a year.
[1:21:19] So, with that,
[1:21:21] um, I want to say thank you on behalf
of myself and the library board.
[1:21:26] um, and then leave you with a
beautiful picture of the blue roof.
[1:21:28] [laughter]
[1:21:31] So, any questions?
[1:21:33] Any questions or comments for Nicole?
[1:21:35] No questions. Uh, thank you for what
you do and certainly the rest of the
[1:21:38] library staff and all the volunteers,
um.
[1:21:41] What an excellent facility. Uh,
again, it was just a no-brainer.
[1:21:44] Um, one of the main reasons why I
chose Newton nearly ten full years
ago.
[1:21:49] Um, because it's like, yeah, it
helped us get connected and utilize
the library.
[1:21:52] Um, uh,
[1:21:53] and have our daughter enjoy all of
the things and all of the programs.
[1:21:57] and as uh, Karen and I continue to
age,
[1:21:59] undoubtedly, we will uh, continue to
use the library and and hopefully
someday,
[1:22:03] Lord Willing, be able to volunteer a
little bit more around there.
[1:22:06] So, thanks for everything.
[1:22:07] I don't know how people are bored in
this town, uh, with the library, uh,
as
[1:22:12] probably the pinnacle of activities
year round that are available.
[1:22:16] Right? So, thank you.
[1:22:19] clearly there's a lot of people who
use it already, but I wish every
resident in this
[1:22:23] town knew exactly what you could do
at the library.
[1:22:27] Because I don't think a lot of them
do or or realize what you provide and
what
[1:22:31] you offer and the amount of things
that you have that that you can do
there.
[1:22:39] Uh, yeah, so I was not like an avid
reader or anything like that.
[1:22:43] My wife was always the one that was
always doing the stuff.
[1:22:46] But this over the last like year,
year and a half, like, I've trained
myself
[1:22:51] to start using the library more.
[1:22:53] and um, yeah, it's phenomenal.
[1:22:55] Like, you guys do incredible.
[1:22:58] People who maybe don't know that much
about the library need to do some
more
[1:23:03] looking at the library because of how
fantastic it is.
[1:23:06] and everybody there that does an
awesome job.
[1:23:09] [laughter]
[1:23:11] How do we go about setting up story
time with Jeff?
[1:23:14] [laughter] Oh, I know it's free! Bro,
that is fun.
[1:23:16] I saw that. Yes!
[1:23:18] I have a blast doing that.
[1:23:20] I was like, Jeff has gotten
compliments from the U services
librarian that he
[1:23:23] is a great story time leader.
[1:23:25] Yeah, I have a good time.
[1:23:26] We're like mentally the same age and
we just connect a lot.
[1:23:36] Thanks Nicole, nice job.
[1:23:38] [paper shuffling]
[1:23:39] So, now we will roll into
[1:23:42] [sound]
[1:23:44] item number 32 for this evening,
[1:23:48] which is Mayor and Council comments.
[1:23:51] Council, we will start with you this
evening.
[1:23:53] [rustling paper]
[1:23:58] I mean, hey, I will throw it out
there.
[1:24:00] Uh, I am to talk a little bit more
about the library. You know, we had
the passing
[1:24:05] of of Miss Miss Dolly Parton.
[1:24:07] And uh, I have two children, uh,
[1:24:11] my first was uh, my oldest boy was
four and a half when we moved here.
[1:24:16] Um, and so, uh, the town that I lived
in had the Dolly Parton Library, uh,
where
[1:24:22] they sent you books every month.
[1:24:23] And I thought, oh my gosh, this is
awesome.
[1:24:26] Like, it was so cool.
[1:24:28] Um, and then at the time Newton did
not have that.
[1:24:30] Luckily I had all the all the books
from the first kids. So, I was fine.
[1:24:35] Um, just, you know, with that, uh,
you know, with that, uh, you know,
her passing and what before that
[1:24:43] vision of providing all those books
to kids and now being able to offer
[1:24:46] those in Newton is just excellent.
[1:24:49] one of my favorites.
[1:24:54] Yeah, so, uh,
[1:24:56] I haven't got- hadn't had a chance to
drive by, but the splash pad.
[1:25:00] restrooms in. Looks nice.
[1:25:02] Glad it's there. We got a little bit
of time left, I saw some people still
there.
[1:25:06] Uh, as I drove through, didn't see
didn't see didn't look that close to
the restroom.
[1:25:09] Um, so in two weeks we've got our
budget, our goal setting coming up.
[1:25:14] So a couple of things I wanted to
kind of throw out there.
[1:25:17] If you haven't had a chance to drive
by and look at some of these things.
[1:25:20] So I know there's a long list of
things.
[1:25:21] But a couple I want to bring to your
attention.
[1:25:23] So, uh, the sidewalk on the 12th
street, so it comes from Sacred Heart
Church.
[1:25:27] That's one of the projects is looking
at, how do we put a sidewalk along
there?
[1:25:30] We've had multiple incidents of
people in electric scooters.
[1:25:33] And chairs going down through that
road.
[1:25:36] So drive by and take a look and see
what.
[1:25:39] We've got there. There's a big vacant
spot. We don't have any sidewalk.
[1:25:41] You can look at how narrow the street
is, amount of traffic.
[1:25:44] Uh, the other road I guess what have
you look at is drive the.
[1:25:47] Gravel road that goes out to our
waste treatment facility.
[1:25:52] If you haven't been, I know we go out
there, but drive on it. Take a look
at it. Look at it really well.
[1:25:56] It's an old road that we've used
millions and millions of miles
probably over the years.
[1:26:01] Never had any service.
[1:26:02] And if we have a goal of looking at,
I know we have one separate project.
[1:26:05] To look at putting some money aside
to just pave gravel roads in general.
[1:26:08] I would put that as a high priority
because of the use that our city uses
it.
[1:26:12] And the other one I'd like to
highlight is, I know we've had folks
come in here.
[1:26:16] Um, Mr. Farver talking about the
gravel road.
[1:26:19] I think it's 8th, 7th Street hooks up
to 8th Avenue, right there.
[1:26:22] Near the bottom over where the
Baptist church is. We get a lot of
rocks there.
[1:26:25] I'm encourage you to drive up that
lane and look at it.
[1:26:29] Look at that road.
[1:26:31] Uh, as you drive up there, notice
that where the gravel ends.
[1:26:34] There's the curb valve.
[1:26:36] There is all sorts of stuff this rose
very small.
[1:26:38] There's lots of opportunity for
improvement there.
[1:26:40] Those are three I just want to
highlight that I think you get a
chance.
[1:26:43] It's worth going and physically
seeing and looking at them.
[1:26:46] And I think they're going to be a
high priority for me. So, anyway.
[1:26:51] Good points. Thanks Stacy.
[1:26:53] Mr. Hallum.
[1:26:54] Nothing for the good of the order
this evening.
[1:26:57] Mr. Stoman. Same.
[1:26:58] Mr. Rolls. Okay.
[1:27:00] Um, yeah, fire department, amazing,
library, amazing.
[1:27:03] I just I'm just kind of in awe of all
the things that you guys do.
[1:27:07] And how well you present what you do
to us.
[1:27:11] Um, I was going to give a little
update. I know last time I was at
home, um,
[1:27:17] Listening and and speaking over the
phone. But, um,
[1:27:21] So I did have some skin cancer, some
melanoma on my face.
[1:27:24] Um, you'll be happy to know, I hope
you know as I am that.
[1:27:27] Um, they got all of the cancer out.
[1:27:30] And uh they had to do a skin graph to
um cover the the wound on my face.
[1:27:35] So that, but that should be healing.
[1:27:37] I don't have to go back to any
surgeons or doctors.
[1:27:39] For like three months.
[1:27:41] So, it was kind of a scary thing, but
[1:27:43] Since I, since I said something about
it at the last meeting.
[1:27:46] I thought I'd just give you all an
update and um, so.
[1:27:48] Everything's going well with that.
[1:27:51] Good. Very good here.
[1:27:52] Mr. Mills.
[1:27:54] No further questions or comments.
Thank you.
[1:27:57] Well, I've got a few things tonight I
want to touch base on.
[1:28:00] Um, first of all, this morning I had
an opportunity to teach.
[1:28:03] Uh, three classes at West Academy.
[1:28:06] Um, and it was interesting because
they had asked me to talk about
local.
[1:28:09] Politics and how the structure of
city government works in Newton.
[1:28:14] Uh, but it was really neat to sit
down and those kids were so
attentive.
[1:28:19] And had so many good questions about
why do we have a fire department?
[1:28:21] How does the fire department work?
[1:28:24] How does the city government as a
whole work?
[1:28:29] Uh, they had a lot of questions when
I asked them to try to explain.
[1:28:31] Economic development. They had no
idea.
[1:28:34] Uh, but we talked about HR and we
talked about how all that flows up.
[1:28:37] To our directors and then from our
directors to our city administrator.
[1:28:41] And then to the role and the
responsibilities of the mayor.
[1:28:44] And the city council.
[1:28:46] And ultimately explained to them that
our bosses was them as citizens.
[1:28:50] Uh, but it was incredible to just sit
and talk with the kids.
[1:28:53] At West Academy again today.
[1:28:55] They are really uh, some great kids
and I know sometimes.
[1:28:58] Uh, West gets a little stigma to them
because it's not the normal high
school.
[1:29:04] But I tell you what, those kids today
was very attentive.
[1:29:08] Had great questions and really looked
forward to becoming voters.
[1:29:11] Voting members of our community.
[1:29:16] I have some positive news to pass
along tonight.
[1:29:19] Uh, spoke with uh the executives
today.
[1:29:23] Uh, there is a small group out of
what's literally a mom and pop.
[1:29:27] Organization out of South Dakota.
[1:29:31] That has gleefully purchased KCOB.
[1:29:35] Shall KCOB AM FM and our FM station
as well.
[1:29:41] Uh, the goal is by October 1st, and
but sometime in October.
[1:29:44] That should go live again.
[1:29:46] Which is phenomenal news for the city
of Newton.
[1:29:50] Uh, to have local news, to have local
sports.
[1:29:53] I think we're probably too late for
this year's football season.
[1:29:56] But hopefully basketball, baseball,
next year's football.
[1:29:59] back on KCOB where it belongs.
[1:30:01] Also, we'll highlight.
[1:30:03] I know that I've uh uh spoken to them
quite a bit extensively.
[1:30:07] to say, hey, the city supports this,
[1:30:10] and anything we can do, whether it's
our get to know Newton
[1:30:12] program with Craig Armstrong,
[1:30:15] whether it's one-on-one discussions
with the mayor or the city council.
[1:30:18] Whatever we can do to promote local
news back on the radio,
[1:30:22] but that's fantastic news for the
city.
[1:30:25] Hopefully you'll hear more about
that.
[1:30:27] We spoke briefly about Bucky's
earlier.
[1:30:29] Uh we did throw a group together. We
are pursuing Bucky's
[1:30:32] along with 100 cities within 100
miles of Demoin.
[1:30:37] Uh in the initial talks with Bucky's,
we are farther
[1:30:41] east than they would like to be.
[1:30:43] They would really like to be on that
3580 combination corridor.
[1:30:47] Uh between the East and West
Mixmaster.
[1:30:49] That's where they would really like
to be.
[1:30:51] Uh but um, we're not giving up.
[1:30:54] We're still staying in there, having
some discussions.
[1:30:57] Uh again, thanks to the people that
dropped their schedule, Craig
Armstrong,
[1:31:02] uh, and actually uh Tom from uh
Project Fastpitch joined us.
[1:31:07] Um along with the NASCAR
representatives. And NASCAR
[1:31:11] also made calls, uh on our behalf on
this project.
[1:31:14] So, it was it was nice to see a true
partnership
[1:31:16] come together of that.
[1:31:17] I know Frank was there again with
NDC,
[1:31:20] uh, and our city was well, well
represented, so that's good to know.
[1:31:25] Matt and I, uh, last week, had an
opportunity to go out to Newcore
Rebar.
[1:31:31] Which if you've not been out there,
what an awesome addition to
[1:31:34] our community.
[1:31:36] Um, I think Matt and I were both
shocked at the efficiency
[1:31:39] and the safety of their programs.
[1:31:42] Uh, but also they're one of the few
companies again that somebody
[1:31:46] can graduate in May and go to work in
June, and they have some openings.
[1:31:51] And over the long course, uh, the pay
is pretty good,
[1:31:53] but they also talked about an
incentive program that they have
[1:31:58] that could be up to as much as 50%
additional salary.
[1:32:02] So, uh, somebody 18, 19 years old
that doesn't want to go to college,
[1:32:05] doesn't want to go to trade school,
[1:32:07] it's nice to have that local option
where somebody can go to work.
[1:32:11] Uh, several people, uh, worked there
with uh, people that,
[1:32:13] I mean, Lisa Fraser has a couple
children working there.
[1:32:18] Uh, Hasdorfer has a child there.
[1:32:21] I mean, there's a lot of Newton
connections, and Jasper
[1:32:23] County connections there,
[1:32:25] but what a great tour and uh it was
pretty fascinating, I thought,
[1:32:29] to just see the things they do.
[1:32:32] Don't forget this Thursday night is a
red and black bach party.
[1:32:35] Downtown Newton couldn't be prouder
of that.
[1:32:37] We'll have uh the parade going on, it
looks like it goes from
[1:32:40] DMac up to the square.
[1:32:42] And then we'll have the Pep Rally,
uh, up on the square,
[1:32:45] I believe the parade starts at 6
o'clock.
[1:32:48] Something else new that I know we've
talked earlier about some
[1:32:51] new activities that's coming down the
line.
[1:32:52] I can't talk about this one enough.
[1:32:55] It's the and I make sure I get this
title right,
[1:32:58] Landmark Arts Festival.
[1:33:01] Oh yes, yes.
[1:33:02] Wow. I mean, if you've seen the
layout of the vendors
[1:33:04] that they have for this.
[1:33:05] This is the first year for this
event.
[1:33:08] But I tell you what, uh, Rachel
Brayfart and some of the other
[1:33:11] people that's really been working on
this project.
[1:33:14] Um, it it's an amazing day.
[1:33:16] And for them to bring something like
that to Newton, Iowa, I I highly
[1:33:20] suggest you put that on your calendar
and try to make a visit
[1:33:22] because it's it's pretty cool event.
[1:33:25] And it's when?
[1:33:26] 19 September 19th.
[1:33:28] September 19th.
[1:33:29] on a Saturday.
[1:33:30] All day on the DMACC campus.
[1:33:32] And if you go on their Facebook site,
they actually have a vendor list
[1:33:34] already that kind of blew me away.
[1:33:36] It's big and they've got a map on
where the vendors are. They
[1:33:39] tried to get every art that they
could think of.
[1:33:41] So some of it'll be visual art, some
of it will be musical arts,
[1:33:45] Some of it will be food arts.
[1:33:47] Uh, but they tried to get all kinds
of glass blowing,
[1:33:50] uh, different arts are represented at
this at this, so
[1:33:54] Uh, what a what a highlight for our
community.
[1:33:56] We should absolutely be all over
this.
[1:34:00] With that, as always, uh it's a lot
of fun.
[1:34:04] being in the city of Newton right
now. We have a lot of exciting
[1:34:06] things going on.
[1:34:08] So, uh, thanks for everybody you do.
Thanks again for our staff.
[1:34:13] Uh, we are wrapping up the open part
of this meeting.
[1:34:18] So as always, go cards and God bless
Newton.
[1:34:21] Do I have a motion to go into a
closed session?
[1:34:25] So moved.
[1:34:26] Second.
[1:34:27] All those in favor? Oh no, we'd
better take a roll call.
[1:34:31] Mills.
[1:34:32] Aye, here.
[1:34:33] Wolshue.
[1:34:33] Aye.
[1:34:34] Roth.
[1:34:36] Aye.
[1:34:36] Dalton.
[1:34:37] Aye.
[1:34:38] Hallen.
[1:34:39] Aye.
[1:34:40] Zimmer.
[1:34:41] Aye.
[1:34:42] And finally, Mr. Attorney, do we have
the request and authority
[1:34:46] to go into close session?
[1:34:49] Yes, pursuant to Iowa Code chapter
21.5.1, you have a
[1:34:54] written authorization to go into
close session.
[1:34:57] Okay, with that at 9:08, we will
resume.
[1:35:02] Thank you everybody.