Newton Independent

REG Newton donates to St. Nick's Christmas Club

Representatives of REG Newton, LLC, presented a $500 donation to the St. Nick's Christmas Club to assist in its efforts to provide toys, clothing and food to more than 650 needy Jasper County children this holiday season. Pictured, left to right, are Tom Meade, lead operator at the Newton biodiesel plant; Peter Hussmann, president of the St. NIck's Christmas Club; and Phil Abels, plant manager.

- Newton Independent

St. Stephen's donates to St. Nick's Christmas Club

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Newton provided a $500 donation to the St. Nick's Christmas Club to assist with its efforts to provide food, clothing and toys for more than 650 needy Jasper County children this holiday season. Pictured, left to right, are Dick Wobst, treasurer at the church; Peter Hussmann, St. Nick's Christmas Club president; Polly Malson, a church member and co-coordinator of the Christmas Club's gift inventory committee; and Ron Helms, a St. Stephen's church member.

- Newton Independent

LeGrand man sentenced to prison for distributing oxycodone resulting in death

Newton Independent

A LeGrand man has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for distributing oxycodone that resulted in the overdose death of a Kirkwood College student in March 2010.

Scott Douglas Seward, 49, was sentenced to prison on Monday in Davenport by Chief United States District Court Judge James E. Gritzner, who also ordered that Seward serve three years supervised release following his imprisonment.

In March 2010, the Iowa City Police Department investigated the death of the community college student. During the course of the investigation, it was found the student died from an overdose of oxycodone.

Police also discovered that Seward traded his oxycodone, which he was legally prescribed because of a medical condition, for marijuana. Seward's oxycodone was eventually distributed to the student and was the cause of his death.

TPI to upgrade its Newton wind blade manufacturing plant; short-term furloughs will result

By PETER HUSSMANN

Newton's wind energy manufacturer TPI Composites said today that it will reconfigure its Newton plant to manufacture a significantly larger size wind turbine blade beginning next year that will allow it to become a "game changer" in the industry, but the move also requires the temporary reduction of its Newton workforce.

Mark Parriott, general manager at the Newton plant, said the transition is being made at the request of one of its original equipment manufacturing customers - General Electric and Mitsubishi are listed on the company's web site - to improve the efficiency of the process of generating electricity through wind power, putting it on par with such energy producing inputs as natural gas.

Parriott said plans call for the Newton plant to undergo an internal reconfiguration of its current operation to accommodate for the production of wind blades 20 percent longer than those currently being manufactured. New molds, new equipment and new materials will be installed and start being used at the Newton plant in the first half of 2012 with new wind blade production then expected to "ramp up" in the second half of the year.

In the short term, however, the change to the larger wind blade design will result in the temporary furlough of approximately 200 "temporary associates." Reduction in force information was provided to workers throughout the company's three-shift operations today, Parriott said. Layoffs will begin Dec. 29.

TPI, which currently employs more than 700 associates, uses a temporary-to-permanent hiring process. New workers are hired by a temp agency before transitioning to full-time TPI employment. No worker currently working as a full-time TPI employee will be impacted by the temporary workforce reduction, Parriott said.

During the transition to the new wind blade design, the Newton workforce will never fall below 504 employees, Parriott said, the threshold required by the state and local financial assistance and incentives that brought the Arizona-based company to Newton four years ago.

Parriott said workers impacted by the temporary furloughs, who will be eligible for unemployment benefits, are planned to be called back to work between March and April 2012.

"We're not trivalizing the impact to the workers on the short-term furlough," Parriott said of those hit by the job interruption, while noting that the current 700-plus job levels should quickly return once the plant retrofitting is complete.

The decision to make the transition to a longer wind blade manufacturing facility in Newton enables TPI to continue its role as a major product supplier to the ever-evolving wind-energy-generating market, the long-time Newton resident and former Maytag plant operation director said.

"TPI Composites is excited to be part of this new product offering," Parriott said. "Our customer's customer is calling it a 'game changer' in the industry."

However, TPI's decision to invest millions of dollars into its Newton plant comes despite the uncertainty surrounding the future of the federal wind energy production tax credit program.

Last month, Gov. Terry Branstad called on federal lawmakers to to quickly decide upon the program's fate, saying failing to extend the tax credit could jeopardize Iowa's burgeoning wind energy industry. The credit is set to expire at the end of 2012.

Parriott said he is "not handicapping" the future of the tax credit program, but said its extension, which he said has the wide support of Iowa's federal, state and local lawmakers, would be "better for the industry" as it seeks to expand.

"We'd rather see an extension now," he said.

Closure of two Jasper County post offices delayed

By PETER HUSSMANN

Two Jasper County communities planning for the loss of their U.S. Post Offices were granted a reprieve today when federal postal officials announced the delay of the closing of any retail outlet or mail processing facility until May 1.

The Postal Service said the decision was made in response to a request made by multiple U.S. Senators after it announced plans in July to conduct studies on the need for the possible closure of approximately 3,700 of 32,000 nationwide retail outlets to fight its multi-billion dollar losses from operations each year.

Post offices in Reasnor and Mingo were tagged along with 176 other Iowa post offices in small communities around the state for future study, the postal service said in announcing the possible closures last summer.

The Postal Service, however, said it will continue all necessary steps for the review of these facilities during the interim period, including public input meetings.

"The Postal Service hopes this period will help facilitate the enactment of comprehensive postal legislation," the statement announcing the delay today stated. "Given the Postal Service's financial situation and the loss of mail volume, the Postal Service must continue to take all steps necessary to reduce costs and increase revenue."

Gov. Terry Branstad, who called for a moratorium on the closure of post offices in Iowa, said he was pleased with the U.S. Postal Service's decision today.

"I am pleased to learn that the United States Postal Service has reconsidered their consolidation and closures of Iowa  post offices," Branstad said in a prepared statement released shortly after the Postal Service's announcement. "I would like to thank Postmaster General Donahoe for his attention and thought. I look forward to continuing our discussion and coming up with a solution that will reduce the Postal Service's costs while continuing to serve Iowans. This is about the economic vitality of rural Iowa, and I am glad the United States Postal Service has moved forward with this decision."

Gov. Branstad owns approximately a dozen buildings that house rural post offices in Iowa. Only the one in Lohrville, whose mayor co-authored with Branstad the correspondence urging the moratorium, was slated for closure under the Postal Service's plan.

 

Council gets bit of bad financial news at budget workshop

By PETER HUSSMANN

The Newton City Council got a bit of bad financial news from city staff on Monday - the annual reconcilliation payment it receives from the Iowa Department of Revenue for the local option sales and services taxes collected throughout the year won't be enough to cover the cost of the city's interest payment to the county for bonding associated with the TPI project.

Newton City Administrator Tom Wardlow reported the bad news to the council during a short meeting on the status of the budgeting process for the next fiscal year.

Back in 2007, as part of the development agreement that brought the wind blade manufacturer to Newton, the county agreed to include the city's required local match share for state grant assistance in the principal amont of the bonds to be issued. In return, the city agreed to pay the county half the interest payments due on the bonds from from fiscal years 2009-10 through 2012-13.

In past years, the city has made that payment - which amounts to $132,000 annually - with the reconcilliation payment made by the state to the city from its local option sales tax collections. This year, however, the reconcilliation payment totalled just $36,600 - compared to $103,500 last fiscal year and $146,800 the year before, according to Department of Revenue statistics.

The shortfall will need to come from the city's general fund.

Though the reconcilliation payment was down significantly, the city actually saw its local option sales tax collections grow from the previous fiscal year. State statistics show the city collected $1.26 million in the fiscal year ended June 30 compared to $1.23 million the year before.

Wardlow noted to the council that hard budget crunching can't yet be done until the Jasper County Auditor's office releases actual value numbers for the city, figures that are released each year in early January.

However, a few things are known, including the residential rollback figures, which this year are up 2.22 percent to 50.75 from 48.52. The rollback figure identifies the portion of a residential property's value subject to taxation.

Wardlow noted that should the council keep the levy rate the same at $15.30/$1,000, a residential property owner in Newton with an average value of $90,000 would pay $31 more in city property taxes next year, $699 compared to $668. The city's portion of a homeowner's total tax bill is about one-third.

As the council continues its budget work, Wardlow also noted a few other known aspects including:

• the CPI has moved upward toward 3.9 percent
• utility costs are up about 10 percent
• IPERS contributions by the city will jump from 8.07 to 8.67 percent
• police and fire pension city contributions will be up from 24.6 to 26.1 percent
• the final year of three union contracts call for 3.75 percent wage increases
• debt service should drop from $877,000 to $628,000

Wardlow said that after receiving final values from the auditor's office early next year, city staff will crunch numbers and set a budget guidelines meeting for late in January. The council will need to adopt the budget sometime in February in order to meet the state's March 15 certification deadline.

The meeting also provided residents an opportunity to give input on city services. Only one person availed themself the opportunity.

Joyce Moen asked whether the city planned to improve the sound system within the council chambers so that it would be easier for those hard of hearing to better hear council conversations. She said that while she can hear conversatons clearly while watching council meetings on cable television at home, she has difficulty hearing when attending council meetings in person at city hall.

Wardlow said an upgraded sound system is included as part of city capital projects though council approval of the expenditure has yet to be made.

Nelson Manor toy drive benefits St. Nick's Christmas Club

Nelson Manor on Saturday was host to an open house toy drive to benefit the St. Nick's Christmas Club's efforts to provide toys, clothing and food to more than 650 needy children in Jasper County this holiday season. The first year effort of the Newton nursing home's open house toy drive project that involved residents and their friends and family netted nearly 100 new toys for the Christmas Club to distribute. Pictured, left to right, are Nelson Manor Administrator Gena Franklin, Peter Hussmann, president of the St. Nick's Christmas Club; Rhonda Van Brogen, activities director at the nursing home; Brenda Reynolds, dietary supervisor, and Amber Evans (kneeling in front), charge nurse. Not pictured is Dayle Tessner, director of nursing, who also played a significant role in the open house toy drive.

Brad Paisley lends his support and voice to 'Hard Life,' a song written by Joe Kindregen about life with A-T

By PETER HUSSMANN

Brad Paisley has just recorded a new song, "Hard Life," that is available for purchase here and on all digital music outlets with the proceeds going toward research for A-T.

What makes it important to me is that the song was written by Joe Kindregen, 23, from Springfield, Va., who, like my son, Zane, has A-T (ataxia-telangiectasia), a rare, fatal genetic disease that combines the symptoms of cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, immune deficiencies and cancer.

The release of the new song marks a special initiative on behalf of the non-profit A-T Children's Project where for the next year Paisley's artist royalties from U.S. digital sales of the song will go to help find a cure for the disease.

Brad Paisley and Joe Kindregan met in 2005 at a fundraising event hosted by former professional hockey player Shjon Podein at his Team 25 benefit in Rochester, Minn., an event Zane and our family have been attending for about a half dozen years. At the event that year, Joe's friend, Brian Christiansen, who also had A-T, talked Joe into joining him on stage to sing with Brad Paisley.

From there, Joe developed a love of country music. Over the ensuing years, Joe stayed in touch with Brad Paisley and attended many of his concerts. But when Brian lost his battle with A-T a few years later, Joe decided to do something to honor both of their love of music. With the encouragement of Paisley, he decided to put his story into song.

Joe wrote about enduring life with A-T, the good and the bad. He talked to others with the disease and then put his thoughts on paper. Once Brad Paisley saw the lyrics, he knew he had something important.

"I've known Joe for several years and he is one of my favorite people," Paisley said. "His disease is physically debilitating but obviously creatively and mentally Joe has such tremendous depth. It's an honor for me to be the person to give voice to his creativity and cause."

Joe Kindregen twice traveled to Paisley's Nashville studio to be part of laying down the tracks and to see his song being produced firsthand. And he knows that his buddy Brian would be proud and excited to know that he had written a country song about their struggles produced and sung by Brad Paisley.

Here's the first verse and chorus of the song:

"Stop starin' at me
Leave the sad looks at home
Everybody feels bad,
And you don't understand
It's not like I'm alone

'Cause everyone has battles to fight
And I don't need your sympathy tonight

Yeah, it's a hard life
But I'm okay
If I didn't have this, I wouldn't be who I am today
And I have lots of friends
Oh, and I have love
And yeah, I have a hard life, but in some ways everybody does."

Foundation launches web site to report bullying, harassment in Iowa schools

By PETER HUSSMANN

Just months after the Director of the Iowa Department of Education called the bullying incident reports submitted by schools across the state "unbelievably low," a foundation has stepped in to offer students, parents, teachers and staff an online bullying reporting method.

Last week, the Des Moines-based Eychaner Foundation, a non-profit organization promoting tolerance and non-discrimination, launched a new web site that allows for reporting bullying and harassment in Iowa at reportbullyingiowa.com.

"Iowa law requires both public and private schools to establish policies prohibiting harassment and bullying against students by other students, employees or school volunteers and to quickly investigate any reported incidents," said Eychaner Foundation Executive Director Michael Bowser in announcing the web site. "Regrettably, it is often difficult for students and parents to find reporting procedures, forms and contact individuals. This online form makes it easy for victims to collect and submit information about the incident to the school, so the school can begin their investigation."

The form will automatically be sent to the school district for the person reporting by email and U.S. Postal Service. They Eychaner Foundation will additionally track the complaints and release the number and type of reports filed in an annual report to the public and the Iowa Legislature.

State Sen. Matt McCoy said the effort will play a role in understanding the scope of bullying in Iowa.

"Each school district and the legislature need an accurate representation of how many students are being bullied," McCoy said. "By using this form, the appropriate school employees wil know when bullying occurs and the legislature will know the effectiveness of prevention measures and school investigations, and the process of ending bullying statewide."

Earlier this year, the Mason City Globe Gazette ran a series of articles on bullying that found less than 2 percent of all Iowa school children are bullied, according to three-years worth of statistics provided by school districts across the state.

National studies, however, indicate the incidence rate of school bullying is much higher. The Gazette series noted a study by the U.S. Department of Education that indicates 31.7 percent of all students between the ages of 12 to 18 are bullied at school while the National Center for Education Statistics puts the number at 23 percent for all students and 38.6 percent for students in middle school. And some student self-reported surveys indicate that as many as 75 percent of all school children have faced bullying, the story noted.

Glass said the truth is probably "somewhere in the middle," but dismissed the reliability of the bullying reports provided by school districts.

"The low numbers you have here, that are unbelievably low, really, we can't stand behind those," he said in the Gazette story.

In an effort to improve understanding of what bullying is and promote a safe learning environment, Iowa was one of 11 states awarded $3.5 million in federal money this year and nearly $14 million over four years to implement the Iowa Safe and Supportive Schools program.

Twenty Iowa high schools, though none in Jasper County, were chosen to participate in the effort to study issues such as bullying, school safety, attendance and student engagement to improve conditions for learning.

"This is the first time in our state's history we have measured conditions for learning and made the results available for schools to use to strengthen classrooms," Glass said in announcing the program.

Donation helps St. Nick's Christmas Club

Randy Simpson (left) presents St. Nick's Christmas Club President Peter Hussmann with a $300 donation to assist the club's efforts at providing toys, clothing and food to more than 650 needy Jasper County children this holiday season.

- Newton Independent

Windstream Internet back online

Newton Independent

Windstream Internet customers were back online as of 8:30 a.m. today after service was disrupted for a few hours early this morning.

Windstream spokesperson Scott Morris said the Internet service is now back online, though some of its email customers may be continuing to be experiencing some interruptions.

"We are sill experiencing some email issues, but hope to have those resolved very soon," he said.

Update: Morris said email service was fully restored at 9:30 a.m.

Conservation photo contest greeting cards available

Newton Independent

The Jasper County Conservation photo contest greeting cards are now available for purchase at the Jasper County Conservation Office located in the County Annex Building at 115 N. 2nd Ave. E. in downtown Newton.

Packages of 16 cards cost $15. The cards are blank inside and come with an envelope. Those purchasing three sets of boxes will receive a free Conservation Department shopping bag.

Funds raised by the card's sales go toward programming projects for the Jasper Conservation Connection.

To view the winning photographs, go here.

Jasper County Democratic Party caucus sites set

Newton Independent

The Jasper County Democratic Party caucuses will be held at five locations throughout Jasper County on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

Registration will begin at 6 p.m. with the caucuses set for 7 p.m. Locations and precincts included at each site are as follows:

• Newton- Woodrow Wilson School - All Newton precincts
• Colfax - Elementary School - Clear Creek/Poweshiek townships/all Colfax Wards
• Prairie City - Community Building - Washington/Mound Prairie/Palo Alto/Des Moines/Fairview townships
• Kellogg - Firehouse - Mariposa/Hickory Grove/Kellogg/Rock Creek/Buena Vista/Elk Creek/Richland/Lynn Grove townships
• Baxter - Community Building - Independence/Malaka/Sherman/Newton townships

The Democratic Party caucuses will feature a live interactive video with President Barack Obama.

In addition, county convention delegates will be elected, as well as precinct committee chairs. Caucus-goers will also discuss issues and ideas for the County Platform.

Jasper County Retired School Personnel Association donates to St. Nick's Christmas Club

The Jasper County Retired School Personnel Association recently made a $250 contribution to assist the St. Nick's Christmas Club in its efforts to provide food, clothing and toys to approximately 670 needy Jasper County children this holiday season. Pictured, left to right, are Pam Andrews, president of the association; Carolyn Cook, treasurer; St. Nick's Christmas Club President Peter Hussmann; Mary Bruhn, member of the association; and Leslie Maach, member of the association.

- Newton Independent

NCT, YMCA to host concert on behalf of St. Nick's Christmas Club

Iowa DHS chief submits final MH/DD redesign report

Newton Independent

Iowa Department of Human Services Director Chuck Palmer today released the final redesign plan for the state's mental health and disability service system that includes grouping of counties into regional administration units, additional state aid to counties and performance-based contracts designed to assure quality programming.

Palmer endorsed nearly all of the recommendations emerging from workgroups appointed to study ways to replace the state's current mental health and disability service system by July 1, 2013 and urged quick legislative approval of the final plan by state lawmakers.

"If our problems and shortcomings are not addressed, services will continue to be provided in an inconsistent and inequitable manner, and Iowa's mental health consumers will not be able to fully achieve their potential," Palmer said in a press release announce the final plan. "History has taught us that minor tweaks will not work. It will also take more than new money to improve the system. There needs to be more effective services and greater accountability to both those being served and the Iowa taxpayer."

Palmer said in the news release that the current county-based method of administering services, something county supervisors statewide have asked that they be allowed to continue, "is not really a system at all," with each county's services based on varying resources, capabilities and values.

"There is no single point of authority or accountability," Palmer said. "Nobody 'owns' the system or can be held accountable for achieving positive outcome's for people's lives."

Palmer endorsed the workgroups' interim report recommending that services be administrered in five to 15 regional groups of counties rather than by the 99 individual counties. He said counties should begin forming their own groups early next year and that all of the regions should form and begin to organize by January 2013, several months earlier than the recommendation of the workgroups.

The plan also calls for the DHS to negotiate performance-based contracts with each of the regional units. He said most of the county officials currently doing administrative work would likely continue the function of case management for consumers.

Palmer is also recommending that the state assume the entire share of Medicaid payments, a move that would require an additional $47 million aid to counties beginning next fiscal year. The relief would enable counties to avoid a projected sharp reduction of services for people with mental illness, many of whom are not eligible for Medicaid.

In the current system, counties impose property tax levies for mental health, a provision the governor killed last legislative session. Palmer said the first obligation is to provide the non-state share of Medicaid, which is growing and eats away at a county's ability to fund services for people with mental illness.

Palmer said the new system should provide savings, though there are too many variables to make an estimate. Some savings, he said, should come from the regionalization of administration.

One of the "more important" proposals in the redesign is crisis intervention, including a centralized 24/7 crisis hotline, crisis mobile support, emergency walk-in capabilities, short-term residential support people in crisis and jail diversion.

A copy of the final design report can be found here.

Friday Forecast

Newton Independent

Find out what's going on in and around Newton in the week ahead, as well as all the latest Greater Newton Area Chamber of Commerce events and activities, by reading today's edition of the Friday Forecast.

A link to the weekly online newsletter can be found here.

 

Newton residents asked to provide input on city services

Newton Independent

As part of the City of Newton's budgeting process, the City Council will hold a budget status workshop at 5:30 p.m. Monday at city hall.

Following a short presentation by City Administrator Tom Wardlow, the public is invited to share their thoughts on the services provided by city staff. Residents will be given five minutes to present their comments, viewpoints and concerns concerning city services.

Citizen input is being sought on the city organization, city services and infrastructure needs.

Following the public forum, the council will hold general budget discussion and provide direction to staff.

Public's assistance leads to Newton man's arrest on theft, arson charges; wanted fugitive found, too

Newton Independent

Local law enforcment officials said today that with the assistance of the public they were able to identify and arrest an individual wanted in connection with some recent vehicle thefts, as well as a wanted fugitive who was found hiding in a wall of a local residence.

Newton Police Department Lt. Wes Breckenridge said that through tips from the public after releasing the photograph of the suspect pictured above, police officials were able to develop Jerry Lee Gries as a suspect in the case.

Officers from the Newton Police Department, Jasper County Sheriff's Office and MINE East Drug Task Force worked together in locating Gries, 37, of 813 E. 6th St. N. He was taken into custody in the 500 block of East Fourth Street North at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and charged with unauthorized use of a credit card, second degree theft for allegedly stealing a motor vehicle and second degree arson for allegedly burning the stolen vehicle. Additional charges are pending. The arson and theft charges are felonies while the unauthorized use of a credit card charge is an aggravated misdemeanor.

With information obtained in the investigation, Breckenridge said officers were granted a search warrant for Gries' residence on East Sixth Street North. Information was provided that a wanted fugitive, Douglass James Keltner, may be present in the home. Further information indicated Keltner may be armed and might resist arrest. Keltner has a long criminal history including felony convictions on burglary and drug charges.

The Newton Police Department's Tactical Team, Jasper County Sheriff's SERT Team and MINE East Drug Task Force officers, along with other officers from the departments, executed the search at the Gries residence.

Initially, no individuals were found in the residence but during the search officers found Keltner, 33, hiding in the wall cavity of the chimney. He was arrested without incident and no weapons were found.

He was arrested on outstanding warrants from Story County for parole violation and domestic assault. Additional charges are pending.

Skiff Medical Center positioning itself for 'long term vitality'

By PETER HUSSMANN

Two years ago, Skiff Medical Center was bleeding badly. A year ago its financial condition was not much better. But now, after undertaking some new procedures, the city-owned hospital is much improved and appears well on the mend.

Those are some of the findings that can be found in Skiff's recently filed audit report of its financial condition for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011.

At the end of the 2009 fiscal year, Skiff reported that expenses topped revenues by $3.39 million. The loss in the following fiscal year was not much better at $3.16 million.

But by the end of the latest fiscal year, those losses were cut dramatically. The Newton hospital reported $862,000 in expenses over revenues before contributions, which if added drops the loss to $692,000 for the year.

In a hospital management analysis included as part of the audit conducted by Seim Johnson of Omaha, Skiff officials attribute much of the financial turnaround to a strategic plan it adopted two years ago aimed at improving its "long term vitality."

Specifically, Skiff's strategic plan focuses on five points:

1. Put people first by fostering a culture of ownership focused on our core values, a shared hopefulness on the part of each caregiver, and a desire to make Skiff the best possible place to work and provide patient care.
2. Remain a full-service hospital but evaluate individual services for potential growth or replacement based on environmental trends, community needs, and financial performance.
3. Enhance physician and public confidence by improving our ability to care for higher acuity patients; developing more advanced diagnostic capabilities, introducing new out-patient based therapeutic services and specialties; and ensuring physician inclusion in our decision making process.
4. Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our operations through the implementation of measurement tools and the use of national best practices, thus creating a sense of urgency throughout Skiff in regards to the importance of being the best at what we do.
5. Be intentional in telling the Skiff story to the community and focus our efforts on increasing physician referrals, building good will, and increasing awareness about our service offerings.

"We believe that continuing implementation of this plan which focuses on creating a culture of ownership, growing volumes, and increasing efficiency of operations will place the hospital in a good position for long term vitality," the management analysis of the audit states.

The management analysis also makes note of the savings realized by the reduction in force initiative undertaken at the hospital in November of 2009. Since the end of the 2009 fiscal year, employment levels at Skiff have dropped by 72 full time positions, to 283 at the end of the latest fiscal year, resulting in a total aggregate reduction in hospital employed salaries of $3.3 million.

The hospital's management analysis also discusses local economy. Though the number of jobs in the county dropped 30 percent between 2000 and 2010, largely due to the closure of Maytag, the population levels have remained nearly steady. Data from the 2010 Census show a population decline of just 2 percent (350 residents) from population levels a decade ago.

"A late 2010 economic analysis by Iowa State University indicated that the primary impact of the departure of Maytag, and the subsequent nation-wide recession, was a shift in the location of jobs out of Newton without a corresponding change in population," the analysis states. "Essentially, Newton has made the transition to bedroom community status. Newton and Jasper County are now essentially operating as a far-flung eastern suburb of Des Moines."

The report also makes note of some new local industries, like wind energy companies TPI Composities and Trinity Structural Towers, the growth of existing employers like Caleris and Springboard Engineering, and the advent of new firms like box company Walter G. Anderson and tour bus company Hawkeye Stages. The Iowa Speedway also adds to the local economy, the report states. Negatively, however, Iowa Telecom's sale to Windstream resulted in the loss of 150 local jobs.

" As the local economy continues to improve, these trends are having an amplified impact on the hospital," the report states.

The report notes that Skiff's entrance into the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration Program that provides cost-based reimbursement for in-patient services will provide Skiff with a degree of financial stability over the next five years as it works to continue with its strategic plans. In addition, its new digital radiology room, 128 slice CT scanner and Iowa's first digital broadband MRI "is most exciting as it will set Skiff apart as the leading rural hospital imaging center in the upper Midwest," the report states.

"It is clear that Fiscal Year 12 will be another challenging year, but positive steps are being taken and we have high hopes for the future," the report concludes.