Community

IOWA CITY– The Johnson County Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is back up to full strength with the appointment of three new members to fill vacancies on the five-member commission.
The Board of Supervisors appointed Dan Fuhrmeister (3303 Lynden Heights Rd. NE, Iowa City), Erin Hazen (2181 St. Bridget’s, Solon), and David Roggy (2892 Meadowlark Lane NE, Iowa City) to fill the empty seats during their formal meeting on Thursday, Oct. 15.

OXFORD– A combination of a loan and a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) makes it possible for South Slope Cooperative Communications to expand the fiber optic network and bring broadband service to Oxford and the surrounding area.

TIFFIN– In 1985 the Tiffin Fire Department went looking for volunteers for a brand new first responder unit.
Until fairly recently, the term “First Responder” meant “A person trained to provide initial care for patients suffering injury or sudden illness. The typical first responder can assess patients, provide basic life support and render the care that is necessary to prevent medical and injury-related problems from becoming a threat to survival,” according to “First Responder, Third Edition (Update)” by J. David Bergeron, Gloria Bizjak and David M. Wall.

IOWA CITY– Mercy Iowa City acquired and implemented a highly accurate, state of the art laboratory instrument doctors say provides the best and most accurate tests available to the community, making it the only community hospital in Johnson County with this new technology. The machine known as “Panther Fusion” provides rapid testing for COVID-19. Mercy Iowa City plans to make the testing available to other health care institutions, local businesses and to the community at large in conjunction with local health care providers.

SOLON– Almost seven weeks after the historic derecho wind storm moved across the state of Iowa, the after-effects are still evident at Lake Macbride State Park despite a Herculean effort by park staff.
“It was bad,” said Park Manager Ron Puettmann. “There’s probably thousands of trees down in the park, most of them in the timbered areas, of course.”
The hardest-hit areas though, were the campgrounds, he said.
“Those are still closed yet until we get the hazard trees taken care of,” he noted.