Badger

Badger City Clerk Glenda Rasmussen shared news of a trail extension to the city on the county trail system.

“It comes to town and is getting a lot of usage from bikers and walkers,” she said. “It comes here from Fort Dodge to give us much-needed access. We’re now the northernmost point with plans to link up with the Three Rivers route at some point.”

The trail stretches about six miles between 170th Street on the north side of Fort Dodge to Second Avenue Southeast on the south side of Badger. It was completed in the fall of 2024.

-Messenger file photo
Electricians work on installing the new warning siren in Harcourt.

In 2025, the volunteer fire department in Badger received a new truck capable of handling three key missions in one compact rig.

The truck can extinguish grass and field fires with a remote control nozzle mounted on its front.

It carries medical gear so that the firefighters can provide care before an ambulance from Fort Dodge arrives.

And it carries hydraulic rescue tools to free people from wrecked vehicles.

A federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant paid 95 percent of the roughly $367,000 cost of the truck. The remaining 5 percent of the cost will come from the budget approved by the local fire board, fundraisers and donations.

Barnum

Barnum Mayor Cassie Dillon discussed the repaving of Elm Street as well as replacing the fence and putting in a generator for the lift station at the lagoon.

“As I go into my third year of service, I’d like to see more community events,” she added. “We’re also looking in the future to repainting the water tower.”

Clare

Clare Mayor Barb Passow pointed to working on the purchase of a new snow plow as well as improving their water area with pavement and rearranging piping so semi trucks can get closer to it.

“We’ve even put new street signs up around town,” she said.

Dayton

“We finished the Oak Park Events Center,” Dayton Mayor John Gallentine said. “Through state and county grants, the city now has a great venue for community events and more at the golf course. As we look toward the future, we would like to expand the center even more.”

Gallentine also noted the county-wide bike trail now goes from Oak Park to Dayton’s uptown area. He also stated there is still engineering work to be done on the bridge upgrade at Fourth Avenue Southeast.

Duncombe

Duncombe City Clerk Lynda Law described sanitary sewer lagoon rehabilitation.

“We received a Community Development Block Grant for the project,” she said. “The contractors are waiting for the right weather conditions to move forward, as they will remove sludge and update valves and piping, too.”

Law added the city is looking to potential grants for redoing the park and playground as well as updating the community center in the future.

“In regards to 2025, we also installed backup generators in the center and fire department for our tornado shelter, which is open to town members when weather strikes,” Law said. “We want to make sure we can accommodate as many people as we can.”

Harcourt

Harcourt City Clerk Rebecca Morford spoke about the nearly-completed pickleball court at the city park.

“It will house both pickleball and basketball,” she said. “We also received a new warning siren so we are tied into the county 911.”

Morford said that the Lost Grove Community Center is hosting many events, while internal repairs were made to the water tower.

“Looking towards 2026, there’s been discussion about continuing street and building repairs in regards to city-owned properties,” she said.