I need input from Louisa County residents to make the best decisions for the county.

Email: kenpurdy@lisco.com

Phone: 319-728-2274

23423 Highway 92

Columbus Junction, IA 52738

Thanks for electing me to my second term on the board of supervisors.

1st term 2001-2004

2nd term 2005-2008

Above photo: It's Lake Odessa in 1959!

It could be like this again if there were less draw down of the water, public restrooms, and picnic tables or if the IDNR and USFW would agree to dredge. Wapello once again could proudly advertise in the newspaper and on billboards - "Wapello. Gateway to Lake Odessa". Let me know if you can help.

Click one of the links below to view a slide show presentation about what can be done to revitalize the lake, photos of how 4.75ft minimum depth would affect the lake, a few of the 1,000 petitioners, city council and county resolutions favoring deeper water, and the Louisa County Farm Bureau Resolution. You may want to read the rest of this frame before viewing the slide show.

I fully support keeping a minimum water depth in Lake Odessa of 4.7 feet to revitalize Lake Odessa. This will help bring back the hundreds of people who used to bring their families to the lake for a week-end of fun. It will help fisherman, duck hunters, canoeists, boaters, wildlife observers, campers, swimmers, and picnicers to enjoy the area.

This is a no cost way to help the economic development of Wapello, Grandview, Louisa County, and surrounding areas. To that end, I have produced a Powerpoint slide presentation of aerial photos of Lake Odessa and supporting information. I ask all politicians to view this presentation and to support this initiative. We need everyone's support to persuade the Iowa DNR and U.S Fish and Wildlife to adapt their management methods at Lake Odesssa.

I have the presentation available in Powerpoint or Quicktime Movie format. If you email me (kenpurdy@lisco.com ), I will send you either file as an attachment. The PowerPoint is a 4 MB file and Quicktime is 2.9 MB.

The other method is to send me a CD and I will burn the CD with both files on it. My address is at the top of this web page.

Also, you can view the Quicktime version by clicking on the link at the end of this paragraph or at the top of this article. You can tell when it is fully loaded when the slider ball at the bottom of the window starts slowly moving to the right. It is in autoplay mode. You can use your mouse on the slider ball to go back or advance the slides faster and you may click pause to take more time to view. You may also use the left and right arrows to advance or go back. Click on this link for a QuickTime presentation: When the second white rectangle with text appears to the right talking about controlling the movie with your mouse, it is fully loaded. Lake Odessa QT.

I only put 6 pages of the 1,000 signatures I have on the petition supporting more water in Lake Odessa. These signatures are from local people or people that use Lake Odessa and they know the Lake. Don't confuse this with an online petition where 90% of the signatures are from out of the area and have never even seen Lake Odessa. If you would like the complete 1,000 member list, let me know.

Six city councils in Louisa County and the Louisa County and Muscatine County board of supervisors have passed a resolution in support of a greater minimum water depth in Lake Odessa to support a multipurpose usage. The greater water depth could initially be attained by not letting as much water flow out of the lake and in the long run by dredging.

The six city councils passing the resolution so far are:

Morning Sun - All ayes

Wapello - One nay, Randy Tillman

Columbus City - Passed

Columbus Jct. - Passed

Letts - 5 ayes

Grandview - 4 ayes, one nay Brad Janowski

Board of Supervisors - 2 ayes, one nay David Wilson

I personally took a boat ride Schafer's access to the outlet tubes at Lake Odessa. The gauge at Schafer's was 5.9', a foot higher than what safe boating would need. Water couldn't be drained from the lake because the Mississippi River was too high. Even at this water level, the islands were not inundated. Sure, some shore line trees and vegetation were in water. At a water level 1 foot lower or 4.7' gauge reading at Schafer's this shore line vegetation would be affected very little.

Rest assured no one wants to see the duck hunting decreased or the refuge done away with. These are vital to the area. Keep this in mind: Comparing today to 50 years ago, there are significantly 1. Less fisherman at Lake Odessa 2. Less boaters on Lake Odessa 3. Less day users at Lake Odessa 4. Less Weekend Campers 5. Less swimmers at Lake Odessa and 6. Less duck hunters in the Lake Odessa area. Raising and lowering the water levels to such extremes hasn't produced positive results. It's time for a change.

We don't want to see Lake Odessa be a mud hole. We want to see it revived with more water to help the water quality and bring back the people.

1. Louisa Economic Development Group, Inc. (LDG)- I was appointed to the board of directors of this organization as a representative of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors. I was subsequently approved by vote of the development committee and I am on the executive committee as past president. The mission of this group is to raise incomes or the tax base in Louisa County. http://www.louisadevelopmentgroup.org/

2. Southeast Iowa Regional Planning

3. Louisa County Board of Health - Just appointed to that board.

4. Louisa Regional Unity Board - Mayors and supervisors in the region.

5. Southeast Iowa Regional Transit Committee - RTA (Regional Transit Agency) provides public transportation including aging and disabled. Call 1-866-753-5107

6. Community Foundation of Louisa County - In January of 2007 we distributed grant money to Louisa County agencies to the tune of $45,000. Next year we hope to double this. If you wish more information contact me or go to http://www.louisadevelopmentgroup.org/CFLC/CFLC%20Intro.htm and click on granting.

1. The current board of supervisors was responsible for obtaining an Economic Development Director for Louisa County. I was a part of this effort. I feel this is one of the most important accomplishments of any board. The mission of this group is to raise incomes or the tax base in Louisa County. This is reflected in the 2004 work plan for the director: Work with government bodies to plan for growth. Gather and compile information regarding economic opportunities in Louisa County. Encourage spending locally to keep money in Louisa County. Market economic opportunities in Louisa County. Work with existing businesses to facilitate improvement and growth to bring more money to Louisa County. Create a formal plan for LDG's marketing effort.

2. Started the clean up of contaminated soil at the Texaco Station in Oakville, This includes excavation of soil and demolishing the old station and getting the property back on the tax rolls, at no cost to the county. I helped find out that county's are eligible for Underground Storage Tank clean up funds. $100,000 from the state Underground Storage Tank funds will be used in Louisa County for the clean up at no cost to the county. No matching dollars are required for countys.

3. Helped guide the progress of getting the GIS (Geographical Information System) for the county. The system involves taking high resolution aerial photographs of the county, digitizing the photos and putting them into a computer, and attaching data layers to the aerial photograph. Some of the data layers are: text documents in the court house involving real estate information and taxes, roads and right a way layers, utilities, lot lines, 911 addresses, confinement facilities and minimum distances to neighbors, trails, conservation board ground, school district boundaries, fire districts, etc. The system should streamline the work in several offices and help the constituent access information quicker and easier.

4. With the recommendations of existing staff and the board of supervisors, helped guide and approve the reorganization of Community Services and the CPC's office into one office. This reorganization saved 4/5 the cost of one full time equivalent person and benefits.

5. Helped guide the Louisa Regional Solid Waste Agency in managing the closed landfill at Cairo and the Transfer station in Wapello. This process involved meeting requirements of the DNR and past debt obligations of the agency to Great River Solid Waste. The Louisa Regional Solid Waste Agency is operating smoothly.

6. Helped score the first Matrix (animal confinement scoring sheet) for the DNR in the county. This scoring system introduced by the DNR this year is used to evaluate animal confinement facilities. Unfortunately, this is only for facilities housing over 2500 animal units and the DNR still has the final say. However, by a county board of supervisors being willing to score the matrix, this gives the board of supervisors the right to give input to the DNR on whether to issue a construction permit.

7. Manually helped clean up the Fredonia Cemetery of old LP tanks and dispose of them properly at no cost to the county.

I am a life long resident of Louisa County so I feel I am very knowledgeable about the county. I spent the first 22 years of my life in Wapello, IA where I graduated from high school in 1961, first in my class. I got my Masters Degree in Mathematical Statistics from the University of IA in 1969.

I taught HS mathematics at the Columbus Community School District from 1965-1999. I started the wrestling program at Columbus and coached wrestling for 18 years, and coached the boys track team for 30 years. All programs (math, wrestling, track) were very successful.

I retired from teaching in June of 1999. I now have the time to devote to being a county supervisor.

As a youth in Wapello I worked on farms around Wapello (John Hupp, Paul Buster, Wayne Ryan,Jack Dotson, etc). While going to college I worked summers at the US Gypsum plant in Sperry, IA. I worked 2 summers for the Louisa County engineer on a survey crew out on the roads and drew cross sections of the roads of Louisa County in the office. It was fun work. I learned a lot about surveying and the county road system and it paid my way through college.

While teaching at Columbus I was active in the salary negotiation process and learned to deal with multi-million dollar budgets. I was instrumental in the fund raising project to build the all weather track in CJ. I worked one summer at the former Rath Packing Plant in CJ to see first hand what the parents of a lot of my students did.

Yes, I feel I am very knowledgable of the county. I feel I can make informed logical decisions because of my background.

 319-523-3372

KenPurdy@lisco.com

supervisors58@louisacomm.net

319-523-3371

auditr58@louisacomm.net

 319-523-8815

patfoor@louisacomm.net

 319-523-4541

Melissa.Schoonover@jb.state.ia.us

319-523-6466

Louisaco@louisacomm.net

319-523-8381

lccb@lccb.org

319-523-5271

lroehl.locoe@louisacomm.net

LOUISA COUNTY COMMUNITY SERVICES

Director

319-523-8815

patfoor@louisacomm.net

Central Point of Coordination

General Assistance

Case Management

319-523-3981

lcph@louisacomm.net

1-800-642-4032

Distelhorst@iwd.state.ia.us

319-729-5870

louisaema@louisacomm.net

319-523-2207

rct@iowatelecom.net