A diversity position in Sioux City city government is being restructured three years after it was created, and a few months after the first city worker in the post was fired.
The Sioux City Council on Monday approved changing the job title from Diversity and Inclusion Liaison to Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, The post was also moved from getting supervision by the City Manager instead to the Human Resources Department.
That change came recommended by the Inclusive Sioux City Advisory Committee, which met last week. The job description shows the position begins in a pay range from $17 per hour on up, and the employee will develop, implement, and monitor programs that promote diversity and inclusion with city staff and the committee. The person in the job also shold work with community leaders to foster increased diversity.
Back in February, the first person in the position, Semehar Ghebrekidan, was placed on administrative leave. She was then terminated in late May, and shared her termination notice with media members.
The letter cited multiple violations and levels of violations by Ghebrekidan, but did not specify them.
Ghebrekidan supporters in March and April city council meetings spoke in defense of her, saying she organized or participated in many events that boosted inclusion of many groups in the city.
*Rebounding from damaging situations caused by substantial summer flooding continues in Siouxland. In Vermillion, South Dakota, the city council is working to replace all three sanitary sewer force mains, which were damaged beyond repair by the flooding.
Last week, the Vermillion City Council learned that it could cost about $150,000 to buy the land on which to put that infrastructure. That would be a more permanent solution to the temporary fix that the city first carried out.
The land targeted for purchase is on the north side of the Vermillion River. The $150,000 projected cost does not include the cost for the sanitary sewer pieces, and the city is checking into whether the cost can be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Another flood-related expense could run to about $140,000 in Spencer, Iowa. Residents removed a huge number of damaged home and personal possessions, that at one point were trucked to the Clay County Fairgrounds.
Those items significantly damaged the fairgrounds parking lot, so the Spencer City Council on Monday began working to get an asphalt repair in time for the highly popular fair in September. Just like in Vermillion, Spencer officials are checking to see if the parking lot repair cost is reimbursable by FEMA.
In related news, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds on Tuesday announced the first round of awards that will enable people to build 175 homes in disaster-impacted towns. That money comes from the State Disaster Recovery New Housing Grant Program, and it will go for projects in such towns as Cherokee, Crescent, Minden, Rock Rapids, Rock Valley and Spencer.
Additionally, South Dakota businesses and residents now have access to low-interest federal disaster loans following President Joe Biden’s major disaster declaration. That recent disaster declaration took longer for South Dakota, when compared to many Northwest Iowa counties who received that designation by early July.
Businesses of all sizes and private nonprofit organizations in South Dakota can borrow up to $2 million to repair damaged or destroyed property from the flood earlier this summer. Additionally, homeowners can apply for two different loans to help repair costs for damaged real estate and personal property.
*Northwest Iowa Republican Congressman Randy Feenstra will host a State of the Economy Town Hall in Pocahontas on Friday.
People can ask questions, and Feenstra plans to discuss his work to extend pro-growth tax policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and reduce our $35-trillion national debt. The event will start at 2 pm and take place at the Pocahontas County Courthouse.
Feenstra is also running for re-election to the Iowa 4th District Congressional seat, and his Democratic opponent is Ryan Melton. Melton is slated to speak in the area in a Plain Conversation event in Sioux Center on September 5.
