Carroll Daily Times Herald, Rebecca McKinseyAn outspoken advocate of Manning, Carroll County and rural Iowa has been named to a statewide task force.
Ron Reischl, a Manning resident who currently serves on the IKM-Manning School Board and is the past board president of Main Street Manning, has been named to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ Growing Rural Iowa Task Force.
There, he’ll work with other representatives from around the state to determine ways to lift up rural Iowa.
“I’m excited that our governor and lieutenant governor are specifically addressing economic development in rural Iowa,” Reischl said.
The task force is part of Reynolds’ Empower Rural Iowa Initiative, created via an executive order last month. She invited Iowa residents to apply to participate in one of the initiative’s three task forces (Connecting Rural Iowa, Growing Rural Iowa and Investing in Rural Iowa) and received about 180 applications.
On the Growing Rural Iowa Task Force, Reischl will work with representatives from Johnston, Algona, Ankeny, Fort Dodge, Cedar Falls, Dubuque, Clear Lake, Pella, Des Moines and elsewhere.
The task force representatives were announced Thursday.
“As a product of rural Iowa, it’s a passion of mine to preserve and celebrate our state’s rich rural heritage,” Reynolds said in a news release. “I’m very proud of the task force members I’m appointing today. They are solutions oriented, experienced and passionate about rural Iowa.”
The overall initiative will be co-chaired by Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg and Sandy Ehrig, chair of the Iowa Rural Development Council and leader of Iowa Farm Bureau’s Renew Rural Iowa program, according to the release.
“I strongly believe that community vitality starts and ends within the community — it is done by community members coming forward to improve quality of life and economic development,” Reischl said. “What I hope comes out of this is the state provides some tools and some framework that the community members can use. At the end of the day, the community has to be resolved to improve itself, but tools and framework at a state level would be most helpful.”
The task forces will begin holding “summits” in September, sitting down to develop proposals of how to boost rural Iowa. The summits are open to the public and will incorporate time for public comments, according to the release.
Reischl’s task force, Growing Rural Iowa, will meet at 1 p.m. Sept. 7 at Access Energy Cooperative in Mount Pleasant.
The other task forces will hold the following meetings: Connecting Rural Iowa will meet at 1 p.m. Sept. 6 at Boulders Inn & Suites in Holstein, and Investing in Rural Iowa will meet at 1 p.m. Sept. 14 at Bricker-Price Block in Earlham.
Those who can’t attend the meetings can submit ideas at www.iowa.gov/rural.
Reischl said he hopes that after his years in a city of 1,500 that regularly looks for new opportunities and initiatives, he’ll have ideas to bring to the table at the task force’s meetings, but he also hopes the initiative gives him ideas to bring back to western Iowa — for instance, incentives for budding entrepreneurs who are looking for a final push to open an ice cream shop or fabric store.
“I hope to bring a voice for western Iowa and specifically Carroll County to the initiative,” Reischl said. “And I also hope to bring additional ideas back to this area that Manning and Carroll County and western Iowa can use. I hope to provide some value to it with some of my own ideas, but my motivation is just as much to bring ideas and tools and framework back to our communities.”

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Manning Regional Healthcare Center’s Pharmacy Director, Jen Morris has been named a top 10 Emerging Leader in Iowa Pharmacy. These 10 were selected based on their leadership potential, involvement in professional and community activities and their clarity and vision for the future of the profession. The competitive selection process this year saw a record number of applications to the Iowa Pharmacy Association (IPA) Executive Committee and a representative of the IPA Foundation Board of Directors. She joined nine other pharmacists from Iowa and 10 from Wisconsin at a three-day retreat near Galena, Ill. “I love living here in a rural area and being able to care for the people of my community,” Morris says. “The opportunity to network at the conference with other pharmacists and brainstorm how others are meeting the daily work challenges of pharmacy was invaluable to me. I came back to work […] motivated and inspired to apply many of the skills taught.” Morris will be honored for her completion of Leadership Pharmacy during the 2019 IPA Annual Meeting leadership celebration in Cedar Rapids on June 20 and June 21, 2019.

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There is a 21st Century learning focus for the students at IKM-Manning as faculty and staff are spending these final days of the break preparing for their return on Thursday, Aug. 23. Superintendent, Trevor Miller, says that for the elementary students, this includes new, bright paint colors and different room set-ups at the Irwin building. In Manning, students will see new welcoming sayings on the wall and outlines of the expectations as they introduce a new initiative he calls PBIS.
Rewards include movie tickets, trinkets such as pencils or other little prizes, ice cream socials and more. Miller says the team has been training a couple of years already on this work-in-progress, and they will be holding all-day training for staff on Aug. 22. The district has received their second STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Best grant and it will be used to develop a special learning area for the middle school and expand programs for high school students.
Miller says they are offering transitional kindergarten classes this year for kids who are not quite ready to move into kindergarten. They already have 14 children enrolled in the class that will be limited to 15. And, like many other schools in the area, IKM-Manning has brought in more new staff members than in the recent past.
As the last few days of the summer wrap up, Miller says he is really looking forward to a continuation in building a culture of forward-thinking programs and initiatives in an environment of excitement.
An open house at the Irwin building will be on Tuesday, Aug. 21 and in Manning it will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 22. Both will run from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. More information about the district, important dates and upcoming activities can be found through the link included below.
www.ikm-manning.k12.ia.us/
Link to story and audio interviews:

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With the goal of moving ever closer to construction of an outdoor aquatic center at the Rec Center in Manning, members of the Manning Hillside Splash fundraising committee are inviting everyone to a Wet & Wild, Sunday Fun Day for kids of all ages. This Sunday, Aug. 5, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., everyone can cool off at the hillside slip-n-slide or cheer for their favorite firefighters in the water wars. There will also be a kiddie car wash and a slip-n-slide kickball tournament for those in junior high or older. A free-will donation gets you into all the fun, with all proceeds going to the outdoor aquatic center.

Carroll Daily Times Herald - Annie Mehl
Manning was one of four Iowa cities this year to receive an AARP Community Challenge Grant.
The $5,000 award will help fund lighted structures along the city’s Main Street.
City officials and economic-development advocates gathered in Manning Monday morning to accept the award from Jeremy Barewin and Anthony Carroll from AARP in Des Moines.
This is the second year AARP has distributed the grants. This year, of the 1,600 cities and nonprofits across the country that applied, 129 recipients were named, and only four in Iowa — the others were Avoca, Keokuk and Woodbine.
The purpose of the grant is to increase methods of transportation in the town, improve a space such as a park or town amenity or increase housing options.
With the money, Main Street Manning worked with Iowa State University to design four icon boxes that will be made of corten steel. The structures will be placed along both sides of Main Street and will feature the four Manning -icons: the historic Trinity Church, the German Hausbarn, the railroad trestle and the Manning water tower. The icons will be built by Puck Custom Enterprises in Manning and have to be completed by Nov. 5.
Barewin, an associate state director for AARP, said cities like Manning that are always looking to bolster their downtowns are great candidates for the grant.
“We’re just excited that when you see an incredible Main Street like this,” he said. “Looking at communities like Manning that have Main Streets, making sure that Main Street serves as that centerpiece as more people are coming back here for business and entertainment and culture and arts — we’re excited to be able to bring this project that you’ve worked so hard on here, locally.”
Manning Mayor Harvey Dales, praised the people of Manning for their efforts in seeking out funding to keep improving and bettering the city.
“This proves that partnerships work, and it’s good for the whole community,” Dales said. “It’s good for everybody.”
Sarah Puck, Main Street Manning’s executive director, said she has been in Manning only about a year and that where she is from, she never saw this much involvement or life.
“It kind of just floors me how active and alive the Main Street is here,” Puck said. “I’m excited to see more improvements.”