Top Local Stories of 2024

MASON CITY — Today we look back at some of the top local news stories from 2024. 

== The City of Mason City’s ongoing tug-of-war with developer David Rachie on his proposal to construct a new hotel and renovate Southbridge Mall as part of the city’s River City Renaissance Iowa Reinvestment Act project came to an end in May as the city officially terminated their agreement with him. Rachie failed to move forward with making agreed financial commitments by a May 11th deadline, triggering the development agreement termination as well as the city taking over ownership of the mall. The city in late August executed an agreement to sell the proposed hotel land to Kinseth Hospitality as they proposed to develop an $15 million, 80-room extended stay hotel. The City Council in late October held a workshop session to discuss the future of the Mall. Mayor Bill Schickel says the city needs to get a better understanding on what the future may look like for the mall. 

 

Two new eating establishments opened in the mall in the fall and the city took action to replace the mall’s roof and place a solar installation on the roof. 

== The Clear Lake City Council earlier this month approved an early retirement agreement between the city and city administrator Scott Flory, but immediately placed him on an inactive employee status. The official date of his retirement is February 16th, but Flory was immediately placed on an inactive employee status as of the time of the execution of the agreement. The reasons for Flory being placed on an inactive status have yet to be released. As part of the agreement, Flory also agreed not to sue the city or any of its employees in manners arising out of or attributable to his employment, or separation from employment with the city, or any other action or cause of action. The city’s Finance Director Jacob Widman was appointed as the interim city administrator until the process of filling the position on a full-time basis has been completed. 

== The Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors last week took their biggest action of the year as they approved amending an ordinance to ban future large-scale industrial-grade development of wind turbines, solar energy or battery storage facilities in the rural portions of the county. The amendment was the result of numerous public meetings being held earlier this year by the county’s Planning & Zoning Commission, with the commission submitting a 100-page report which ultimately recommended that there not be future large-scale developments in the unincorporated areas of the county. A moratorium had been in place since last year after a number of landowners north of Burchinal were approached by Ranger Power in 2019 about leasing acres for a proposed solar farm that would have covered 3600 acres. By comparison, that’s about equal in size to the surface area of Clear Lake. Supervisor Lori Meacham Ginapp said she sided with those who spoke up during the public meetings held earlier in the year that supported a ban. 

 

The supervisors passed the amendment after a two-hour long public hearing with a standing-room-only crowd in the first-floor boardroom of the courthouse. 

== North Iowa Area Community College hired a new president. Joel Pedersen came to NIACC after serving as the head of the 53-member school district Central Rivers Area Education Agency since last year. Prior to that, he was superintendent of the Cardinal Community School District based in Eldon in southeastern Iowa for 13 years. Pedersen talked about what made NIACC attractive to him. 

Pedersen started his new position on July 1st, replacing Steve Schulz, who had announced his retirement after more than ten years of service to the college. 

== Groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings for segments of Mason City’s Destination Iowa Prairie Rock Trails bike trail project were held throughout the year. The showcase portion of the project is the bike park located on the southern edge of Lime Creek Nature Center that links it to the new High Line Trail, the Riverwalk near Southbridge Mall and 20 miles of existing trails. City Administrator Aaron Burnett says the bike park is the main feature of the city’s Destination Iowa grant, which includes the build-out of a trail system in the area.

The bike park is scheduled to open next year. Other sections of the project opened up this year, including the Evans Preserve singletrack network in October on the city’s northeast side. The bike trails project is made possible in part by a $4.5 million Destination Iowa grant. 

== The new 23,000 square-foot, $18 million Mason City Municipal Airport terminal building opened to the public in late July. The terminal replaces a building that was constructed in the mid-1960s. It has expanded space for passengers, security screening, baggage handling, a service animal relief area, and a passenger boarding bridge. The old terminal building will be demolished and turned back into green space in 2025. 

== In business news, Pure Prairie Poultry in Charles City ceased operations after their petition to reorganize under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy was dismissed. Their petition noted liabilities between $100 million and $500 million owed to between 200 and 999 creditors, including over $500,000 to the City of Charles City. PPP also said they were also attempting to sell the plant. After other creditors objected to the bankruptcy plan, Pure Prairie had the petition dismissed. The company was only open for a few years and the closing left over 100 employees jobless, impacted up to 50 farmers and left more than two million chickens in the region without feed. 

== Amazon in April announced plans to place a “last mile distribution facility” in Mason City. The new 50,000 square foot facility located near the Avenue of the Saints will help power the last mile of Amazon’s fulfillment process by enabling fast, everyday delivery directly to customers’ doorsteps. Packages will be transported to delivery stations from Amazon fulfillment and sorting centers and local employees will process customer packages for last-mile delivery to their doorstep. 

== And not being active in 2023, the longtime holiday fundraiser the Christmas Cheer Fund came back in 2024 and smashed through its $100,000 goal. The program started back in 1927 by Globe Gazette publisher Lee Loomis was not sponsored by the newspaper for the first time last year, but it was brought back this year by a new board made up of former Globe employees and other volunteers. Board member Cori Frein says the board was overwhelmed with the generosity of the community in the program’s first year back . 

 

As of last week, the Cheer Fund has raised $121,751. You can still make a donation to the Cheer Fund by heading to northiowanow.com where you’ll find a link to the Cheer Fund website or by mailing a donation to Christmas Cheer Fund, PO Box 28 in Mason City with a zip code of 50402.