As another year begins, Panora Mayor Patrick Parker says there was much to be proud of in 2018 and there are several continuing endeavors for 2019.
One completed project in 2018 was a total upgrade to Panora’s electric substation, which Parker says one benefit from those improvements is that it now takes less time for the City’s backup generators to get power restarted after an outage. He says it was also a great year for building permits, as 36 were issued, two of them were for new houses and others were for renovations and expansions including the fire station.
Parker shares some ongoing projects for 2019, “We have the 28E agreement that we’re working with the County for the Transfer Station. We’re also working with Guthrie Center and the Guthrie County Supervisors for the 28E agreement for the airport authority. The agreement we had is outdated and needs to be updated so we’re looking for that, how to keep that fair for all citizens. We’re also in the process we just notified Guthrie County REC (Rural Electric Cooperative) who we buy our power from that we want to negotiate a new contract with them. We had a 10 year contract that has a one year renewal, so we’ve taken it 11 years. We’ve notified them by the end of this year we either want to renegotiate a new agreement with them or we will go somewhere else for power but the plan is right now to renegotiate, continue with REC.”
Another project that Panora is working on is the Lenon Mill Dam project, which they received two grants in 2018 from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to reduce the safety hazard of the five-foot low-head dam and increase recreation for anglers and small craft boaters with a river park. You can hear more from Parker during today’s Let’s Talk Guthrie County program on-air or online at raccoonvalleyradio.com.