Monday, Clear Lake School Board members toured construction of an addition at Clear Creek Elementary School which will house first and second graders next school year.
    Principal Mike Barkley said work was slowed by rainy weather last month, but the project remains on schedule. The goal is to have the addition enclosed by Nov. 1 so that interior work can take place throughout the winter.
    Metal decking is being installed over the new classrooms and cement floors are being poured in the academic addition and are about 60 percent complete.  The project is very similar to the existing classrooms in the school, which use a pod system.   Barkley said once the academic portion of the project is roofed, Dean Snyder Construction crews will move to the lunch room addition.  Footings will soon be poured for that area, with block work to follow.
    The newly relocated and expanded playground at the school was opened Friday and is being enjoyed by all the students, Barkley reported.  Play space will be enhanced more later, as backstops are installed at fields.
    Barkley, Superintendent Dwight Pierson and board members also stopped in the Clear Creek gymnasium to examine the wood flooring.  As a result of the construction project, water flowed onto the gym floor when 10-inches of rain fell on Clear Lake in August.  Early indications are that the flooring was dried properly and no sustainable damage occurred.
    Clear Lake students in grades one to five will attend classes at Clear Creek next fall.  Lincoln School will be closed.

Plan to go beneath Ventura Cemetery is met with resistance
Clear Lake Sanitary District Board of Trustees was expected to direct its engineer to gather cost estimates associated with using an alternate route for placement of a force main in Ventura when it met Tuesday, Sept. 25. The action comes on the heels of a tumultuous week between the Sanitary District and residents upset by a proposal to run the force main under the Ventura Cemetery.
Board members met with cemetery trustees and public objectors to the project Friday at the cemetery, which is located on County Road S-14, just north of the Grade.
Sanitary District Superintendent Kevin Moler explained the district board had been talking with cemetery trustees since March in anticipation of needing an easement to locate a line under the cemetery in association with the planned dredging of the “Little Lake” at Ventura. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has asked the Sanitary District to abandon the current line because it sits on the bottom of the Little Lake and would be disturbed by the dredging. Once re-routed, the old line will be removed.
Acting on the engineer’s recommendation, the proposed new line was to have run from the lift station on the lake, underneath the cemetery and County Road S-14 to the parking lot across the street. It would then proceed under the Ventura Marsh and S-14 and tie into a force main in Ventura Heights.
Moler said after Friday’s meeting it was apparent the Board would need to look at other options.
“We just asked for the easement. We weren’t pushing it or threatening condemnation or anything of the sort,” said Moler. “We were just pursuing the most efficient route.”

The Clear Lake School Board approved the first reading of a Civility Policy Monday night. The policy applies to all persons attending a school event and is not limited to students.
Superintendent Dwight Pierson told the Board the Iowa Association of School Boards states that all schools in Iowa must have a civility policy. He noted the law states school boards must review and modify existing policies related to student discipline and student conduct that are designed to promote responsible behavior on school property and at school functions.
The policy, which will be published in the student handbook, will specify the responsibilities of students, parents and guardians and practitioners and the consequences for unacceptable behavior.
The Board voted to establish a committee to draft a civility policy. The proposal will then be brought to the Board and its attorney for review.
In conjunction with that action, Pierson also recommended the district’s Good Conduct Policy be reviewed.
“There is also the need to make sure the policy is consistent with the requirements from the State Board of Education found in their ‘no pass, no play’ provisions for eligibility in state sponsored activities.,” said Pierson, adding the policy has not been reviewed for eight years.
Board members Paul Stevenson and Deb Betz volunteered to serve on that committee, along with representatives of the school staff, administration, students and parents.

Clear Lake residents are being advised to pay special attention to lock their homes and vehicles and be on the lookout for suspicious activity in the wake of a series of burglaries.
Police Chief Greg Peterson said reported thefts and break-ins have been on the rise in the past month and have intensified in the last week and one-half. The area north of Highway 18, between Fareway Stores (North 9th Street West) and Lions Field (North 8th Street) has been the primary location of the crimes.
“We have had reports of burglars and thieves walking in unlocked (house) doors, or coming in windows, and taking billfolds, purses and jewelry. Small valuable items have been taken. On occasion empty purses have been recovered in the area,” he said.
Peterson also noted unlocked cars have also been targeted.
“We are asking people to please not leave valuables in cars, and lock windows and doors in their homes. We want people to be careful. This seems to be happening late at night, and we don’t want someone to wake up and discover someone in their home.”
The public is asked to call the department at 357-2186 to report any prowling or suspicious activity.

Texas firm gets bid on second try
The Clear Lake City Council has awarded Landmark, of Fort Worth, Texas the contract for construction of a new water tower in the city’s Industrial Park.
Landmark submitted the lowest of three bids for the 1 million gallon composite tank. It’s bid of $1,974,000, was 7.6 percent more than the engineer’s estimate.
It was the second successful bid submitted by the firm. When the project was previously bid on May 1, 2007 Landmark bid $2,015,000 for a composite tower. The Council rejected that bid and directed its engineer to look for ways to trim the cost of the project. Tim Moreau, of Veenstra & Kimm identified some alternates which could be bid to lessen the price. He also said the company is willing to work with the city to negotiate the price.
The project involves the construction of an elevated water storage tank, including excavation, backfill, site work, pavement, granular surfacing buried piping, chain-link fencing, seeding, reinforced concrete foundation, steel fluted support column or reinforced concrete support column, steel 1,000,000 gallon water storage tank, painting, electrical, and other miscellaneous work.
Moreau said the addition of the 1 million gallon water storage tower to the water distribution system provides for some additional future community growth, especially to the east of the Interstate-35 corridor.
The need for an additional water storage tower was first identified in a study done by WHKS & Co. consulting engineers in 1995. The Main Avenue tower (500,000 gallons), which is more than two miles away, is currently the closest tower located to the I-35/Highway 122 growth corridor and the new Larry Luker Memorial Industrial Park.

    City crews will flush water mains in Clear Lake next week, which may cause some changes in service for residents.
    The flushing of the hydrants will begin Monday, Oct. 1, and continue through Friday, Oct. 5.  
    The water is safe to drink, but people may note some discoloration.  The discoloration may affect laundry.  People may also notice a loss of pressure at some times.  The crews will be starting in the middle of the city and working outward.

Missed opportunities haunted the Clear Lake Lions in the second half of Friday’s district football matchup with Waverly-Shell Rock. The Lions’ 7-0 halftime lead could have been as much as 21-0, if not for some timely Go-Hawk defense. Instead, W-SR made some critical adjustments at the half and rattled off 21 fourth quarter points for a 21-7 victory.