Exeter Class of 1978

The Exeter Class of 1978 from the left:  Sue Rhodes Kittinger, Greg Yound and Lori Bristol

Exeter Class of 1973

The Exeter Class of 1973 representative was Kenny Soukup.

Exeter Village Board June Meeting

by Leesa K. Bartu

The Exeter Village Board met on Tuesday, June 5^th with a maze of fresh concrete around the building.

The board started their meeting without board member Justin Harre who arrived at 7:30 p.m.  After they noted his absence the board approved both the minutes of the last meeting along with the invoices.

Chairman Alan Michl opened the meeting explaining that due to a change in responsibilities at JEO the board needed to remove Tom Krueger as the street superintendent and appoint Steve Parr as the new street superintendent.

JEO employee Andrew Wilshusen gave a report on the downtown and street construction project.  “The new water main is in service but they haven’t abandoned the old main yet.  They are working on the sidewalks on the east side of the street in the block south of main.  The light poles aren’t in yet 

but when they come in they will install them right away.”

“They are pouring the north two blocks of Union on the west side and will pour the north two blocks next Monday.  They will be on Union two to three more weeks.”

When asked where the street crew would head next Village Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller responded “Burlington will be next.  That’s what they told me today.”

Wilshusen continued,” So far it’s going pretty smooth. The only hiccup has been the gas service on Union but Black Hills has been working well with us on that.”

“The intersection of Seneca and Empire has been completed with just a few finishing touches left.  It has a one year warranty.  Each individual street and block will have its own substantial completion and warranty.  It will be inspected in 11 months.”

The board approved the substantial completion of the intersection of Seneca and Empire.

Michl noted how much higher the street level of Union is now than it was before. 

Wilshusen explained, “There will be a change order because we took out a foot of mud out of the street and put a new subgrade in. The subgrade underneath it was basically mud.”

The board approved the first payout on the street construction in the amount of $71,008.06   It did not include the first payout for the downtown items which was $166,545.92.  This amount covered the partial removal of the sidewalks and the new sidewalk installed as well as all of the light pole removal and trenching of wiring for the new lights.  It also covered the pieces of the water main that have been placed.

Wilshusen explained that the next two invoices were for Thiele Geotec, Inc. the contractor that JEO uses to do all of the cement and soil testing.  The downtown portion of the ill was $1186 downtown and the street portion was $1460.00.

Wilshusen reported there was an issue with the rock face on the front of the Legion building when they pulled the sidewalks out.  Some of the rocks cracked and came out.  

Vice Chairman Tim Wilbeck responded, “Let’s pour the sidewalk and if they keep those pieces of sidewalk maybe we can put them back in.”

The next item on the agenda was a request from property owners Dean Bartu and John Mueller.  They requested that the city work with them on removing trees on several properties so that a power line can be placed.  The Board discussed what options were available and decided Michl will call Perennial and discuss the options.

Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller reported that the pool has been acting up.  Have had issues with airlocks and power issues.  Michl reported he had advised the pool manager to drive by every morning to make sure the pool filter is working. 

Mueller noted the water main is at a depth of eight to nine feet and the board discussed this placement.  Mueller noted that he is keeping the summer help busy.

Clerk Becky Erdkamp reported that sales tax for March was $10081.46 keno for April was $1376.51.  She noted that she had finished the insurance audit. She and Chairman Michl met with JEO to review some ideas on what to do with the current office space.  The current space was built in 1974 and the village “received a grant to do that planning phase.  But that doesn’t mean we will go forward with it,” explained Michl.

He continued, “If we decide to do this some of those grants we can get is money for the library only, not the city.”

Visitor Rhonda Stokebrand asked where a new building would be located.  Michl responded it would go where the old Tag Factory was, “We are in the early stages.  We cut it down quite a bit.  We want to make it clear it’s just a study we are doing.  We had a guy in to look at our facilities and he told us we need a library twice as big as what we have.  He also recommended that our employees need to be not so vulnerable to the public.”

The board set their next meeting for Tuesday, July 10^th.

 

Exeter Class of 1968

The Exeter Class of 1968 front row from the left: Bob Becker, Bernie Stych, Jackie Jorgensen Anderson, Lyn Koehn Norman, Vicki Becker Eckstein, Ann Songster Cahill, Ann Volkmer Copple, Kriss Murphy Fendrick.  Back row from the left:  Laverne Krupicka, Dick Drommond, Dennis Hall, Cheryl Styskal Luzum, Mary Striggow, Shirley Bartu Krejci and Lyle Jensen.

Girl Scouts Plant Flowers at McCabe Park

Two Exeter Girl Scouts in Troop 20703 planted flowers at the McCabe park in downtown Exeter recently.  Pictured are Chezney Kanode (left) and Brooklyn Oldehoeft.  The girls did some clean up in the park before the planted the flowers.

Exeter Class of 1963

The Exeter Class of 1963 from the left are:  Joan Ekeler McKay, Marge Ekeler, Ginny Becker Bode, Glen Coffey, Larry Rasmussen, Jeannie Erdkamp Mahan, Carol Dumpert Aden, Freda Sudrla, Mary Cashin Dinneen and Joan Marsh Ruhl.

Christians in Action spend a day in service

Eleven members of the Christians in Action (CIA) group in Exeter spent Saturday, May 5^th serving the Exeter area for their Community Clean up day.  They picked up trash and sticks at two area parks and also helped two community members clean their flower beds.

Above– From the left, Malorie Staskal, Jozie Kanode and Patrick Murphy were part of the crew who picked up trash at the park.

Below – Planting flowers at the park in Exeter are members of the Christians in Action group.  During their Community Clean Up day Katie Mounce (far left), Alexis Uldrich (far right) along with Caitlin Murphy and Kayla Bonds (hidden) beautified the area around the Gilbert’s Park sign.

Exeter Class of 1958

The Exeter Class of 1958 from the left are:  Glory Pribyl Chab, Marilyn Loukota Harre, Lois Dumpert Thomsen, Carol Buell Grote, Robert Dinneen, Connie Drucker Gadt, Carol Finke Sternberg, Gerald Chapman.  Back row from the left: Tom Harre, Harold Casper, Jerry Chapman, John McCabe, Larry Starr, John Morgan, and Roger Schneider

Moore.

Fillmore County Newspapers to be digitized

Reading Fillmore County newspapers from as far back as the 1870s on your electronic device may soon be a reality.

The library directors from the five Fillmore County libraries have embarked on a journey to digitize the county's newspapers.  Upon the completion of this project, anyone with a computer and an internet connection will be able to access these accounts of life throughout Fillmore County's history.

The librarians have researched extensively to include as many Fillmore County newspapers as they can find.  Through this research, they have discovered over 20 different newspapers based in communities across the county, including (but not limited to):  Strang, Shickley, Ohiowa, Milligan, Grafton, Geneva, Fairmont, and Exeter.

Local print newspapers, including their microfilm counterparts, will be converted to digital format, then made available on a searchable website.  Advantage Preservation, a document management and preservation company based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been selected to execute the technical phase, which includes utilizing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to make the newspaper images full-text searchable.

This endeavor is estimated to cost upward of $36,000, and slated to be completed by the spring of 2021 -- in time for Fillmore County's 150^th anniversary.  The Earl and Jessie Wilkins Fund, a donor-advised fund that operates under the Fillmore County Foundation, believes digitizing the newspapers of Fillmore County will preserve historic artifacts that are central to the narrative of this area.  To this end, they have awarded a two-to-one matching grant up to $24,000, to support the completion of this newspaper project.  Other generous support to kickstart this campaign has come from the Shickley Community Foundation, who awarded $3,500 to the project, and from the Fillmore County Genealogical Society, who pledged $1,000.

All newsworthy events, whether they be civic, personal or professional will be retrievable in the digitized newspaper images.  Anyone from around the world will be able to browse and search through advertisements, articles, obituaries, city and county events, sports and school announcements, club activities, political and court records, and much more.  One roll of microfilm can be sponsored for $130, which typically includes at least one year of newspaper images. 

 Monetary donations in any amount are welcome, and are tax-deductible within the extent of prevailing laws.  To make a donation, call or visit any Fillmore County library, where donation forms and brochures detailing the project are available.  Checks should be made payable to the Geneva Public Library Foundation.

York News Times Honors E-M Students

The York News Times honored Patrick Murphy and Kelsey Bigelow on their All-Area Academic Team for the past school year.  The students are chosen based on gpa.  Congratulations!