Make sure while traveling for the holiday season that you are prepared for winter weather or emergency road closures! Utilize Iowa511 to keep up-to-date on road conditions this winter!

Applications for the Sign Replacement Program for Cities and Counties will be accepted beginning January 2, 2024

The purpose of the program is to replace damaged, worn out, obsolete or substandard signs and signposts for cities and counties in Iowa. The grant program is not for ordering new signs that do not exist at the location specified in the application.

• Application period begins the first business day after January 1 of each year (January 2, 2024).

• Only one grant application may be submitted per applicant year.

• Applications will be reviewed on a first-come-first-served basis

• An assessment of need and proper location and installation of posts will be the responsibility of the communities.

• The Iowa Department of Transportation Sign Shop, or another source, may supply the signs/posts.

• Reimbursement rates for each sign/post type will be established by the grant administrator and can be found in the application by selecting each item.

Annual grant maximum:

• Cities: $5,000

• Counties: $10,000

Eligibility

• Only the regulatory, warning, and school area signs in the eligible sign list will be eligible for replacement (A list of eligible signs can be found in the Sign Replacement Program application. See instructions below.)

• Only signs, posts and bases that are in need of replacement are eligible.

• The replacement signs, posts and bases will be installed at the same general location from which the signs, posts and bases being replaced was removed.

• Signs, posts and bases must have been removed and replaced within the past calendar year.

• Reflective sign-post strips (for chevron and stop sign posts only) are eligible through SRPFCC. A limit of $1000/annually for cities and $2000/annually for counties (out of the grant maximum) for reflective sign-post strips will be reimbursed.

• Grantees will provide a copy of the sign inventory record or date-stamped photos of existing signs/posts and replacement signs/posts.

Iowa Grid Resilience Fund Notice

The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) opened a new funding program to improve the resilience of the electric grid. The Iowa Grid Resilience Fund will provide funding to eligible entities to address current and future resilience. The first round of applications will be accepted through IowaGrants.gov until the deadline of February 15, 2024. A webinar will be held on December 18, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. to provide an overview of the program and application.

Eligible applicants include investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities, rural electric cooperatives and transmission owners/operators. The purpose of the program is to implement resilience measures that will reduce the frequency and duration of outages.

The Iowa Energy Office will administer the program with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, which was authorized through the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA), otherwise known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Eligible projects include:

• Weatherization technologies and equipment

• Fire-resistant technologies and fire prevention systems

• Monitoring and control technologies

• Undergrounding of electrical equipment

• Utility pole management

• Relocation of power lines or reconductoring of power lines with low-sag, advanced conductors

• Vegetation and fuel-load management

• The use or construction of distributed energy resources for enhancing system adaptive capacity during disruptive events, including microgrids and battery-storage subcomponents

• Adaptive protection technologies

• Advanced modeling technologies

• Hardening of power lines, facilities, substations of other systems

• Replacing old overhead conductors and underground cables

• Training, recruitment, retention, and reskilling of workers in order to perform the work required for the resilience measures listed above.

Platinum ($2,500)

*Creston City Water Works

*Clarke County Development Corporation

*City of Osceola

*John Wayne Birthplace Society, LTD of Winterset

Diamond ($1,500)

*First National Bank of Creston & Afton

*Iowa State Savings Bank of Creston & Lenox

*Lenox Municipal Utilities

Gold ($1,000)

*Corning Municipal Utilities

*Garden & Associates, LTD of Creston & Oskaloosa

*Greater Regional Health

*PCSB of Clarinda, Corning, Creston, Lenox and Mount Ayr

Silver ($500)

*American State Bank of Lamoni, Osceola & Winterset

*JEO Consulting Group of Ankeny

*North Stone Apartments & Corkrean Construction of Winterset

*Snyder & Associates, Inc of Ankeny & Atlantic

*Southwest Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative of Corning, Mount Ayr & Stanton

*Tyler Insurance Services of Creston & Mount Ayr

*Veenstra & Kimm, INC of West Des Moines

Bronze ($250)

*Adams Community Economic Development Corporation

*Afton Development Corporation

*Akin Building Center of Corning & Creston

*City State Bank of Mount Ayr

*Clarke County Hospital

*Clarke Electrical Cooperative of Osceola

*Community Development Corp of Greenfield

*Farmers & Merchants State Bank of Orient, St. Charles & Winterset

*First National Bank of Osceola

*FNB of Fontanelle & Greenfield

*Grundman Insurance Agency of Corning

*Lenox Chamber of Commerce

*Lenox Development Corporation

*R Realty of Creston

*Rainbow International of Winterset

*Ringgold County Development Corporation

*Saylor Realty, LLC of Osceola

*Southwestern Community College

*State Bank of Brooks of Corning

*Subway of Corning

*TS Bank of Treynor in Corning

*Union County Development Association

*Union State Bank of Greenfield

*Union State Bank of Winterset

Chairman Jerry Walker called the meeting to order at 1:01p.m. at the SICOG office. The following members were present: Akin, Davidson, Dunbar, Fitch, Friday, Leners, Pantini, Walker, Wengryn and Zabel.

Staff present: Waddle and Brimm.

Fitch made a motion to approve the agenda. Friday seconded the motion, all ayes. Motion carried.

Fitch made a motion to approve the minutes of the October 3, 2023, meeting. Zabel seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Pantini made a motion to approve the financial reports as presented for the month of October. Fitch seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion carried.

Other items discussed included: grant report, by-laws, legislative and miscellaneous.

Dunbar made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 1:22 p.m. Leners seconded the motion, all ayes. Motion carried.                                

Minutes Submitted by Brimm

• SICOG Closed at Noon on Friday, December 22 in Observance of Christmas Eve

  
  

• SICOG Closed Monday, December 25 in Observance of Christmas

  
  

• SICOG Closed at Noon on Friday, December 29 in Observance of New Years Eve

  
  

• SICOG Closed Monday, January 1, 2024 in Observance of New Years

SICOG Executive Board

Jerry Walker, Chairperson, Adair County

Diane Fitch, Vice Chairperson, Madison County

Karen Zabel, Secretary, Taylor County

Scott Akin, Treasurer, Adams County

Randy Dunbar, Clarke County

Sam Wengryn, Decatur County

Colby Holmes, Ringgold County

Rick Friday, Union County

Doug Davidson, Private Sector

Tom Leners, Private Sector

Raelynne Risser, Private Sector

Jodie Geist, Private Sector

Wayne Pantini, Member-At-Large

SICOG Staff

Beth Waddle, Executive Director

Judy Brimm, Finance Director

Jeremy Rounds, Regional Planner

Jessica Hagen, Transportation Planner

Terry Niestadt, Regional Planner

Kendra Comstock, Planning Tech