Recovery from Siouxland flooding has moved into a seventh week.
One larger Northwest Iowa town impacted by flooding is Spencer, where the city council in a Monday meeting will consider adding new city employees to help process recovery steps.
The Spencer City Council members will consider adding disaster support positions in the Planning Department. If approved, the goal is to add those positions within two weeks.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has placed a Disaster Recovery Center in Spencer, a town with a population of 11,400, after severe flooding by the Little Sioux River.
Area rivers started flooding after substantial rains on June 21 and 22.
Relatedly, there is a new Northwest Iowa county that has been added to the list of those where residents can get assistance from some federal programs.
Monona County has been given that designation, and joins many other counties that can receive proceeds from the FEMA Individual Assistance Program.
The others included the counties of Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Humboldt, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pottawattamie, Sioux, and Woodbury.
In other news, the South Dakota Supreme Court has reversed a lower court’s decision on a case challenging an abortion ballot measure.
The case, Life Defense Fund V. Dakotans for Health, questions the validity of an abortion rights amendment being put to voters in the November election.
Life Defense Fund is an anti-abortion group seeking to disqualify the petition and ultimately get the question removed from the ballot.
Previously, a lower court dismissed the case, with the judge describing it as a “collateral attack” on the amendment. The South Dakota Supreme Court reversed that decision, sending the case back to circuit court, Life Defense Fund organizers announced Friday.
Constitutional Amendment G would place the right to abortion care in the state constitution and has the required number of petition signatures to move forward.
South Dakota has a restrictive abortion policy, with the procedure outlawed entirely – including in cases of rape or incest, unless the life of the mother is at stake.
Additionally, the Woodbury County Attorney office continues to have many less workers than are needed. To solve that staffing crisis, the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors this week will consider increasing pay and benefits.
A Tuesday board meeting memo by Chairman Matthew Ung cites that only 10 of the 18 assistant county attorney positions are currently filled. The hiring has become more problematic, as the office only had six open positions in early 2023 as County Attorney James Loomis took office.
Ung said staffing for government attorney positions is a national problem, and that Woodbury County officials need “to be creative with their compensation package, including wages and benefits.”
The county already pays a $3,000 bonus when some attorneys reach one year of employment. Some of the options to be discussed Tuesday include those that worker union leaders support to alter a current labor contract. One would put raises in place as soon as six instead of 12 months, while others would allow the attorneys to do remote work and give more personal days off.
completion of a new Woodbury County jail in Sioux City has again been delayed.
The Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center was expected to open by early August. The project has been plagued with mechanical and construction problems.
Authorities now estimate the new “substantial completion” date will be the middle of August.
Voters approved the $54 million project in 2020, and it was originally projected to open in spring 2023. With all the delays and cost increases, the estimated cost is now $70 million.
