Wright County

COVID numbers in the county continue to rise

Published by editor on Wed, 10/14/2020 - 9:47am

At the Monday meeting of the Wright County Board of Supervisors, in her weekly update from the Emergency Operations Center on COVID-19, Sandy McGrath said numbers of positive cases are still “steadily going up” in the county. As of Monday, the case count stands at 660, up from 616 last Monday. McGrath said the cases are widespread across the county and not necessarily traced to a single event or location. She added that the positive testing for the county schools stands at 13.3% which keeps them in the same category of alertness. This would change should the positives reach 15%.

Supervisor candidates answer questions

Published by editor on Wed, 10/07/2020 - 8:48am

 

The Monitor invited the four candidates for Wright County Board of Supervisors to answer questions to help inform voters before the upcoming election. The candidates for supervisor in district 1 are incumbent Rick Rasmussen and challenger Jason Wessels. For district 3, the candidates are incumbent Karl Helgevold and challenger Mike Boyd. All answers were submitted by the candidates, unedited and in their own words. The general election is November 3, with mail-in voting already taking place.

 

Jason Wessels

Wright County Public Health focusing on community-based programing

Published by editor on Wed, 10/07/2020 - 8:45am

“Public Health is not going away,” stated newly named Wright County Public Health Administrator Sandy McGrath who has been with the organization since 2004.

This comes after a difficult decision was made this summer to decertify the Home Health Care portion of the operation.  

“We just couldn’t compete with the private sector,” said Board of Health Chair Mickey Cooper when this happened.  “A lot of Public Health agencies are going this way.”

County over 600 mark for COVID cases, board hears

Published by editor on Wed, 10/07/2020 - 8:41am

                In a short Wright County Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday, Sandy McGrath gave her regular COVID update for the county. In all, she noted there has been 616 positive cases with 80 currently active cases. There were 17 positives over the last week, which she said were scattered throughout the county and not related to a single event or location. Right now, schools in the county are at around a 7.2% positive testing threshold, which McGrath says keeps them at the same level of alert that they have been at. Eagle Grove schools resumed in person this week.

Supervisors hear report about COVID in county, Eagle Grove

Published by editor on Wed, 09/30/2020 - 9:05am

At the Monday morning of the Wright County Board of Supervisors, Sandy McGrath gave an update from the Emergency Operations Center on COVID-19 in the county. At the meeting of the EOC last Thursday, the county’s superintendents joined in. Eagle Grove Supt. Jess Toliver discussed their situation. After many teachers and students were quarantined last week, Eagle Grove schools were canceled on Thursday and Friday. The school will be doing online remote learning throughout this week. McGrath noted they will reassess the situation at the end of the week.

Deputy run over in Eagle Grove, suspect apprehended

Published by editor on Wed, 09/23/2020 - 10:23am

*NOTE- This version of the story contains the corrected name of the passenger in the vehicle, Keaton Collins. DCI press releases incorrectly indentified him as Keaton Robinson. 

Last Tuesday, Sept. 15, at approximately 3:08 p.m., the Eagle Grove Area Community School District issued an announcement that the schools were going into lockdown mode at the request of the Eagle Grove Police Department.

According to a press release from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation:

Supervisors talk about possible changes in mental health regions

Published by editor on Wed, 09/23/2020 - 10:09am

At their Monday meeting, the Wright County Board of Supervisors discussed filing an application to move from the Mental Health County Social Services (CSS) Region to the Central Iowa Community Services (CICS) Region. The state mandates that counties be part of these regions to manage mental health tax levies for the counties. Supervisor Karl Helgevold, who sits on the board of the CSS region, explained that Wright County and other surrounding counties might soon be cut off from the more eastern counties in the region as Cerro Gordo County is seeking to leave the region.

Supervisors commit to tax abatement for City of Clarion

Published by editor on Wed, 09/16/2020 - 9:23am

At the Monday meeting of the Wright County Board of Supervisors, Clint Middleton, Clarion City Administrator, and Clarion City Attorney Zach Chizek presented a petition for the abatement for unpaid real estate property taxes for two lots in the Gates Subdivision in Clarion. In 2016, the city entered into an agreement with IHB Technologies, Inc., formerly known as Superior Coating Group, LLC out of Minnesota to develop property in the subdivision, which never came to anything. The city has now come to an agreement with the company to get the property back.

Eagle Grove traffic stop leads to WC deputy struck by squad vehicle

Published by editor on Tue, 09/15/2020 - 6:47pm

On September 15, 2020 at about 2:00 PM, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on Hwy 17 at 10th St NW in Eagle Grove, Iowa. A deputy suspected the vehicle was the suspect vehicle from a disturbance in Goldfield, Iowa that the deputy was responding to.

The deputy identified the driver as Sean McMillan, age 31 of Fort Dodge, Iowa. The deputy determined

Supervisors again face questions on decertification of home care

Published by editor on Wed, 09/09/2020 - 10:23am

At the Tuesday meeting of the Wright County Board of Supervisors, the issue of Public Health’s decertification of skilled home nursing care was again a big topic. Many people tuned into the meeting via Zoom, though there were fewer public comments than last week. Alice Rector, former public health nurse and administrator, again spoke. She explained that she has received feedback from all across the state and country about the decertification. Overall, Rector continued to push for transparency and community input.

Wright County Monitor

P.O. Box 153
Clarion, IA 50525
Phone: 515-532-2871
Email: news@wrightcountymonitor.com

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