Barnum

Barnum Mayor Jim Byson Sr. was reelected to a second term in 2019 and continues to use his decades of knowledge and involvement on Barnum City Council to the benefit of the town.

Byson became the mayor somewhat by accident, accepting the position after a modest write-in campaign declared Barnum’s desire.

Priorities in Barnum include infrastructure projects like resurfacing the black top on two blocks of Center Street. The project has been postponed as contractors continue to remain busy.

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
Junkyard Bar and Grill, the only restaurant and bar in Barnum, would benefit from new blacktop paving being planned for Center Street and adjacent streets around town.

“We’ve got some projects I’d like to see done,” he said. “I’d like to see all the streets black topped before too long.”

Badger

The Pederson legacy became a more literal fixture in Badger last year as the town unveiled new infield renovations over the summer. Each season, the field sees about 20 games and 60 evening practices.

“This is our home,” said Rick Pederson, recognized in July for his and his family’s investment over decades. “This is the place that we take a lot of pride in. It’s a place that means something to us.”

What started out as a few truckloads of weeds pulled from the field as Rick Pederson took over maintenance turned in to about $2,700 in fundraising to completely redo the infield.

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
Barnum, just off Iowa Highway 7 between Fort Dodge and Manson, is home to Manson Northwest Webster School District’s elementary school, a mainstay for the town.

“Basically, we just started over with the infield part of things,” he said, raising the money from a community that stepped up without hesitation. “Nobody told me no, and I didn’t even go to everybody. That’s the neat part.”

The original “Deer Creek/Badger Township ball field,” located in the northwest corner of Third Avenue, relocated in 1975 to its current location at Third Avenue Southeast. Lights were installed in 1976. In the early 1990s, discussions circulated to demolish the ball park to build homes.

Harcourt

Harcourt worked to improve its city park in 2019, said Mayor Grant Gibbons.

“We removed some trees that had died or were dying,” he said. And those felled trees were repurposed into park benches, he said.

-Submitted photo
Hummingbird Confections is opening a physical location in a newly constructed building on Callender’s main street soon.

The city park also unveiled a new art piece in December. What used to be a dying 25-foot Norway spruce was cut down and carved into a stunning piece of art by chainsaw carver Gary Keenan of Des Moines.

The piece isn’t a standard carving of a bear, however. It features several birds, a racoon, two faces, a squirrel and more.

Safety was also a priority in improving the city park, Gibbons said.

“We removed some old playground equipment and tore it out because it was a hazard to kids,” he said.

The city also replaced the sidewalks in front of the community center.

-Submitted photo
Antler’s Pub and Grill in Clare recently changed hands.

For 2020, Harcourt plans to repair several of the streets in town and to replace the cement under one of the park shelters, Gibbons said.

Clare

Things have been quiet lately in Clare, according to Mayor Barb Passow — just the way most folks there like it.

Passow reported that the town’s mainstay bar and restaurant, Antler’s Pub and Grill, changed hands in 2019. New owner Crystal Jondle will continue to welcome patrons with the same hospitality the town’s only restaurant has always offered Clare.

Dayton

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
The new veterans memorial in Dayton includes a large painted rock with a patriotic theme.

A new memorial, installed in Dayton on Main Street across from Security Savings Bank, pays tribute to veterans in Dayton.

“I had a dream about 15 years ago about this memorial park,” said Kenny Sanders, post service officer for Dayton’s American Legion post.

The dream became a reality for Sanders and the American Legion in June, after they managed to raise about $20,000 to pour cement, install flag poles and install a headstone. But the work’s not over yet — the post still aims to raise another $30,000 to install two more headstones that will allow the memorial to display the names of about 450 veterans.

Duncombe

In 2019, the city of Duncombe went through the process of creating an urban renewal plan and establishing an urban renewal area, outlining some short-term projects, as well as some long-term goal setting, said City Clerk Lynda Wunder.

NEW Cooperative, the town’s largest employer, also expanded its operations with the addition of another large grain bin, Wunder said.

“Which allowed us to establish a TIF (tax-increment financing) district, which the city had never looked into before,” she said.

Last year, Duncombe hired an engineering firm to do a sanitary sewer and storm sewer study to address infrastructure needs.

“We’re going to do a major overhaul on our sewer and hopefully look at some viable fixes for some of the issues we have with groundwater that sits in certain parts of town,” Wunder said. “We do have some water main replacements that we’re going to do.”

Wunder said that the city is looking for volunteers to form an exploratory committee to consider starting up a Duncombe Days annual celebration.

Overall, Duncombe is doing well, Wunder said.

“We’re in a really good place right now with our council and our mayor and our employees, as far as the direction we want the city to go to,” she said. “We want to have community engagement and we are really looking forward to getting some of our infrastructure repaired so we can provide better services to the citizens.”

Callender

Things in Callender are about to get sweeter.

Hummingbird Confections, a long-timer order-only bakery, is expanding on Main Street with a new physical location in a brand-new building, still under construction.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had a new business,” said Mayor Randy Hanson.

He said the last one came to town about three years ago.

Callender is in the process of getting bids to remove concrete and do infrastructure work around town, including sidewalks, new light poles, new water mains, sewer service and water service.

The city is also planning to resurface two blocks of street where the old school used to be, as well as the two blocks east of the building.

“It’s a big project,” said Hanson. “Our infrastructure’s getting a little lax, and we don’t want to have it torn up.”

Callender is working to avoid that.

Lehigh

Lehigh, located in a low spot along the Des Moines River, had a rough year in 2019 with major flooding early in the spring, and the town is still feeling the impact.

“We have three pretty big FEMA flood projects to finish early this spring,” said Lehigh Mayor Paula Martin.

For 2020, Martin said the town is focused on the FEMA projects and updates to the town’s water treatment plant.

“Right now, we’re in the process of accepting bids,” she said. “It’s redoing our electronic plant parts, filter and piping to the well.”

Martin said the water treatment plant project is expected to cost around $650,000.

Otho

The city of Otho is in the middle of a storm sewer project that is six years in the making, said Otho Mayor Mark Groat.

“We had no storm water sewers, and the sewers we did have, some of them were put in in the early 1900s … and they’ve never been maintained and they were completely full,” he said. “We have a $700,000 project going putting storm sewers in part of the town and then we’ll be able to branch off of that later.”

Currently, the Otho City Council is working on the next year’s budget and doesn’t have any major projects on the horizon.

Groat said that the city would like to get new playground equipment in the city park, but that might not happen this year.

Moorland

In Moorland, the gym that was once part of the school, which was demolished, has become the city’s community center.

It was renovated by a group of volunteers so that it can be used for wedding receptions and other special events. The renovation work included new windows on the south side, a new furnace and a paint job.

The project is now completed and is booked at least two times a month, according to a Moorland community member.

Vincent

In 2019, the city of Vincent made progress on a major project its been working on for several years.

Following the 2016 demolition of the former Vincent School building, the city has now put in streets and utilities in that development site, according to Vincent Mayor Lyn Adson.

The demolition of the old school — which was active as a school from 1960 to 1983, and later housed an antique gallery — was funded by a grant from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which allowed for the recycling of more than 90% of the debris, diverting it from the landfill, Adson said.

“It’s a pretty exciting time for a small community whenever there’s an opportunity for growth within the structure,” she said. “You just don’t get that in a little community. We’re landlocked by agriculture, so that’s where that grant was really a godsend for our community.”

The project was “a pretty big undertaking for our little town,” Adson added.

Now, the site has been split up into four residential lots and the lots are closer to development now that the streets and utilities have been put in. The city will also be offering opportunities with those lots for a five-year tax abatement program, the mayor said.

“We’re just looking forward to marketing those four lots and with the of, ‘If you build it, they will come,'” Adson said. “This has been a very big vision for our community and it’s been a very long process, from start to finish.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The town of Duncombe created an urban renewal plan in 2019, and NEW Cooperative expanded its grain bins in the town.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
“The Wizard Faces,” created by Des Moines chainsaw artist Gary Keenan was created from a Norway Spruce that had to be cut down in the Harcourt City Park.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
“The Wizard Faces,” created by Des Moines chainsaw artist Gary Keenan includes a raccoon peeking out. A bluebird is just around the corner on the other side.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
A group of children scramble to catch a handful of superballs tossed out during the annual Lehigh River Days Parade in June.

-Messenger file photo
Jody Pirie talks about the large chandelier the park board installed in the Moorland Community Center. The renovated building is available to rent for wedding receptions and other special events.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The city of Otho started a storm sewer project in 2019.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
The city of Otho started a storm sewer project in 2019.

-Messenger file photo
Vincent Mayor Lyn Adson walks around the back of the former Vincent School on a rainy day in June 2016. Built in 1960, the school closed in 1983 and was used as an antique gallery for a number of years. After the gallery stopped using it, it deteriorated, and further businesses investigating the structure found it would be too costly to bring it back into usable condition. The building has since been demolished.

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