A POLK COUNTY
POLK COUNTY PLAYER
CHRISTMAS Page 10A OF THE YEAR
Page 13A
Volume 141, Issue 49
www.Polkio.com
December 7, 2016
$1.00
‘Other duties as assigned’
Monmouth’s Fancey takes on projects to improve quality of living for all
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — City
staff in Monmouth often put
in extra time to make things
go smoothly for residents,
businesses and contractors.
When it comes to, “other
duties as assigned,” Mark
Fancey has taken the phrase
to a whole new level.
“He goes above,” City
Manager Scott McClure said.
“Like Music in the Park. A lot
of what he does is on city
time — not everything is
pure volunteer — however,
he’s out there early, setting
things up, emceeing the
event.”
Fancey is the community
development manager for the
city of Monmouth and can be
found shoveling bark or wa-
tering trees on Saturdays
throughout the summer.
“Springtime is when they
do their planting,” said Terri
Gregory. “They’ve planted
hundreds of trees in the
planter strips. He will go out
and water on his days off or
on the weekends because he
doesn’t want the public
works guys to be over-
loaded. He says he doesn’t
want to make more work for
public works.”
IN
YOUR
TOWN
DALLAS
main Street empori-
um will sell decorations
and gift items through
December.
»Page 15A
FALLS CITY
Falls City’s boys and
girls basketball teams
open the 2016 season.
»Page 14A
INDEPENDENCE
Polk County Fire Dis-
trict no. 1, Indy rehab
team up for drill.
»Page 2A
MoNMoUTh
emIly menTzer/Itemizer-Observer
Mark Fancey was presented with a ceremonial hammer for all the work he did to help get the senior center expan-
sion finished. he often is seen around town caring for trees and parks on the weekend.
Fancey, a master garden-
er, knows in the first year of
a tree’s life, regular watering
is important. That’s why fall
is traditionally the time to
plant trees. But with Earth
Day and Arbor Day in the
spring, that is when it the
large plantings happen.
Getting groups to help
with planting trees is not dif-
ficult, Fancey said, in part
because Monmouth is filled
with community-minded
people.
See FANCEY, Page 5A
Senior Center to cele-
brate expansion com-
pletion.
»Page 3A
SPorTS
Polk County all-re-
gion football team.
»Page 14A
Dallas chamber CEO talks plans for future
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — JD Shinn’s first weeks
on the job as the Dallas Area Cham-
ber of Commerce’s chief executive
officer has him talking to a lot of
people.
That is by design, part of his “90
days, 90 conversations” goal to help
create a new strategy for the cham-
ber and visitors center.
“A lot of that is just being able to
be that listener that is catching what
the business community is strug-
gling with, so we at the chamber can
support those needs for Dallas,” he
said. “It’s a unique town, so we have
to be able to support it in a way that
this community needs.”
A pattern emerged when Shinn
began talking with people about
what those needs are after he offi-
cially took the reins in October.
The most mentioned is that Dal-
las businesses — especially the
“mom and pop” operations — want
more networking opportunities.
“They are small companies that
want to just relate to each other and
be able to feed off each other, so net-
working is important,” he said.
He said the chamber has venues
to increase networking in place by
providing more support to Young
Pros, a networking program aimed
at professionals 35 and younger, and
setting aside time at chamber lunch-
eons for people to talk.
Helping companies work together
to improve the business landscape is
something Shinn hears from nearly
everyone he talks to, as well.
Shinn said with such a small staff
at the chamber, it’s been difficult to
follow through on and balance those
needs.
He is putting a lot of thought into
ways of improving those efforts,
which he said begins with establish-
ing trust in the organization.
“Rebuilding that is a huge priority
for me. That is going to take a lot of
different things, so working on plans
for that occupies my 9:30-at-night-
to-midnight timeframe,” he said. “It
feels like I’m back at college doing
late nights.”
Moving from rebuilding to ex-
panding chamber programs will re-
quire focus on increasing member-
ship. Shinn said just prior to taking
over, the chamber had about 120
members. That isn’t enough, he said.
“As far as survival, we need to be
at about 180. We are not really there
right now,” he said. “We desperately
need to probably double the num-
ber of members we have now.”
Shinn has made a point to talking
with businesses who have left the
chamber to learn about the reasons
behind those decisions.
He said there has been themes in
those discussions, too.
He declined to elaborate, saying
“I’m going to hold that in my head.
Those things are going into part of
the planning process.”
See ChAMBEr, Page 5A
Sheriff deputies take kids out shopping
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
JOlene Guzman/ Itemizer-Observer
Polk County Sheriff Deputy Josh Brooks helps Walter Manley wrap presents for his
family purchased during the annual “Shop with the Sheriff” event on Saturday.
THE NEXT
7
DAYS
PLANNING
FOR YOUR
WEEK
DALLAS — Walter Manley,
10, dared Polk County Sher-
iff’s Deputy Josh Brooks to
wear a bright red “ugly
Christmas sweater” with cats
in Santa hats on it for the
rest of the day Saturday.
To Wa l t e r’s s u r p r i s e,
Brooks bought the sweater
and put it on over his uni-
form during the sheriff’s of-
fice annual “Shop with the
Sheriff” event.
“Do I get to hang out with
you next year or are you too
embarrassed?” Brooks asked
Walter, of Falls City.
Wa l t e r s m i l e d a s h e
wrapped the presents he se-
lected for his family, including
something for the two dogs.
Each year, “Shop with the
Sheriff” pairs sheriff’s office
staff with children from Falls
City for Christmas shopping,
paid for with a grant from Wal-
mart. Children invited to par-
ticipate are selected by school
employees and the Falls City
Service Integration Team, part
of Polk County Community
and Family Outreach.
Each child roams the
aisles at Walmart to buy
presents for their families.
The limit is $40, but often
deputies pitch in for
amounts higher than that.
Deputy Marcos Ordaz-
Munoz made a second trip
through the check stand to
buy a gift for his Falls City
buddy, Ariel Dvorak, 9, who
had spent her allotted
amount on her mom, dad
and brother.
See ShoP, Page 5A
EDUCATIoN
morrison students
help create Winterfest
magic.
»Page 16A
Dallas extends
City Manager’s
contract
Itemizer-observer staff report
DallaS — The Dallas
City Council extended City
manager ron Foggin’s
c o n -
tract
anoth-
er year
a n d
grant-
ed him
a 2 per-
c e n t
merit
raise
Foggin
follow-
ing his annual evaluation
monday night.
Councilors approved
the contract extension on
a 7 to 1 vote, with Coun-
cilor micky Garus voting
“no.”
The raise increases Fog-
gin’s monthly salary by
$235.99 to $12,035.
There were no other
changes made to Foggin’s
contract.
Foggin’s performance
and contract was dis-
cussed during an hour
and a half executive ses-
sion following the coun-
cil’s regular meeting. The
vote to approve the
amendment to the con-
tract was taken in open
session after the closed
meeting.
Foggin was hired in
January of 2013.
wed
thu
fri
sat
sun
mon
tue
Today marks 75
years since the
bombing of Pearl
Harbor. Take a mo-
ment to remember
and thank a veteran
for his or her service.
Come network with
the Polk County
young Profession-
als. The group will
meet at Ticor Tile in
Dallas.
5:30 p.m. Free.
Come mingle and
meet Santa at the
Dallas Downtown
association’s innau-
gural Christmas at
Pressed in Dallas.
2-6 p.m. Free.
Sit and share a cup
of coffee and con-
versation with an In-
dependence police
officer at the Grove
Coffee House.
enjoy the Festival
Carolers, who will
bring Victorian holi-
day cheer to Trinity
lutheran Church in
Dallas.
6:30 p.m. Free.
Today is the perfect
day to create your
gingerbread man-
sion to celebrate
Gingerbread House
Day.
Polk County France
School of Dance
will host a dance
recital and food
drive at laCreole
middle School.
6 p.m. Donation.
Snow
Hi: 35
Lo: 30
Rain/freezing rain
Hi: 42
Lo: 40
Showers
Hi: 46
Lo: 39
Showers
Hi: 45
Lo: 36
Showers
Hi: 44
Lo: 36
Cloudy
Hi: 43
Lo: 35
Showers
Hi: 40
Lo: 34
11 a.m.-1 p.m. Free.