By Scott Chrisman
The Sanborn Chamber of Commerce held it’s annual meeting March 4 at Sanborn Community Center. A social hour preceded the meeting, giving the attendeed time to enjoy the ample supply of delicious hors d’oeurves provided by Rails.
The current Chamber board consists of Laura Lux, president, Ryan Haack, vice president, Stacy Carlin, treasurer, along with Connie Alberts, Wendy Nelson, Mackenzie Jenness, Caresa Carney and Kristi Landis of NCC. Denny Postma is new to the Board, having replaced Doug Elgersma who went off the Board. Brian Visser also stepped off the Board and Haack will be doing so, leaving two spots to be filled.
The minutes of the 2020 meeting were approved and Carlin presented the Treasurer’s Report, which was also approved.
Chamber President Laura Lux reviewed the past year’s activities which included the Chili Cookoff, a limited Railroad Days Celebration, Halloween Trunk or Treat, the Fall Vendor Show which included a record 33 vendors, the Thanksgiving business drawings, the Claus Cruise In and the Christmas Lighting Contest. “We’re hoping this year will be bigger and better,” said Lux.
The Chamber has added home-based businesses to those eligible for chamber membership. They have been invited to become members. “We want to help every business grow,” stressed Lux.
The Chamber’s next event on April 8 is Ladies Night Out at Vander Haag’s. Lux reminded that the Board is always open to suggestions to bring more people to town.
The first speaker was Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Supt. Patrick Carlin who noted that there’s “quite a bit going on” with the facilities in the District. The new Elemenatary building opened in the fall. With that came upgrades in the adjoining High School, including new HVAC, new roofs, industrial tech, a commons refresh and an upgrade to the media center in the high school office.
With the COVID pandemic canceling classes in the buildings, HMS was able to accelerate the construction on the Middle School in Sanborn, so that started a little earlier. “In light of that we’re certainly hoping that gets completed earlier,” said Carlin. “We’re planning, hopefully, on the first part of July and we’ll likely do a ribbon cutting and stuff for that as well.”
Regarding the exterior of the Middle School, Carlin said that as the metal paneling is finishing up, they’ll get going on some site prep. Paving will start as frost will allow.
On the interior, the workers are wrapping up sheetrock. They will start painting, go to case work and then will pretty much be off and running, according to the Superintendent.
“The biggest challenge always is the move,” observed Carlin. However, he noted that the furniture that left the former building will not have to be moved back, as new furniture coming in. The new building allows a lot of mobility, with furniture on castors and walls you can take in and out. “It gives us a lot of versatitlity,” said Carlin. The competition size gym allows for option for two courts. “All three gyms will mirror each other so a lot of uniformity there,” Carlin said.
Sanborn City Administrator Jim Zeutenhorst began his remarks by talking about the polar vortex experience which combined increased demand for natural gas for heating and also reduced supply due to natural gas wellheads and pipeline freeze-offs in the south. He said that had Sanborn not pre-purchased natural gas, it would have cost the City a million dollars for five days of gas. “There best part in all this is that there was enough natural gas to keep all the homes in Sanborn heated,” said Zeutenhorst.
Sanborn spent on gas an average of around $207/mcf during that time. Zeutenhorst related that Cedar Falls did not do the prepay and spent $19.2 million for five days of natural gas.
The Administrator reported that the City Council chose not to just immediately bill the cost out to the customers. He said residents could have seen a total utility bill of over $800 for the month. Of the $281,000 cost to the City, residential and commercial is about $152,000 of that. The rest is AMPI and they chose to pay it in one lump sum, according to Zeutenhorst. He said the Council is considering writing off a portion of that $152,000 and recovering the rest by adding 10 cents per ccf per month to everybody’s bill to spread it out.
The Wastewater project is nearing completion. April 1st will mark a year past the time it was expected to be finished. “We’ve had some struggles with the contractor on that,” said Zeutenhorst. It will be an $8 million project. The Administrator noted that AMPI signed an agreement with the City and AMPI is going to be paying around 85% of that debt. He added that the rest will be covered by a $10-$12/month increase to the residential and commercial customers.
The Water Treatment Plant is ahead of schedule. Some lines didn’t meet pressure tests and had to be dug up and replaced. The City will potentially be introducing the new water into the system in about a month-and-a-half. “We’re asking for your patience when that happens because that water will be a completely different chemical balance,” said Zeutenhorst. He mentioned that there will also be a month-and-a-half transition period once it’s started. The City will probably be flushing the hydrants two times a week, maybe more. This will be a different tasting water than what Sanborn residents are used to.
“Right now the water is at 40-45 grains of hardness so it’s pretty hard water,” said Zeutenhorst. He has been hearing that in other communities using this system most people have stopped using water softener. Zeutenhorst looks for that to offset the rate increase for customers. For 5000 gallons/month the current charge is $20. The new rate, once the system is up and running, will be more like $50-60 for that same 500 gallons.
“We should have plenty of supply,” noted Zeutenhorst. The City will be using their shallow water to blend with their water from the deep well. As Zeutenhorst explained it, water emerges from the reverse osmosis filtration process without having any taste so the City will be blending it with the water from the shallow wells to enhance the taste. He added that filtration of that water should remove any problems with the color of the water.
The Sanborn Housing duplex project is nearing completion with potentially a couple more units to go up. Seven of the lots on the Maris Estates have already been sold. A 2-1/2 acre pond will be dug once the frost is out of the ground.
The Council has been considering the possibility of milling and overlaying some of the east-west streets. Zeutenhorst mentioned specifically 2nd Street and 3rd Street. “They’re kind of getting beyond repair,” he said.
The Administrator also reported that the Council has appointed a new Trails Committee. It was formed to look at the Miller Park nature trail and extending it out into the community. They will be holding their first meeting soon. The Committee members are Tom and Jan Snyder, Jane DeGroot, Bob and Marsha Anema, Brian and Sherryl Visser and Ben and Megan Wagner with Zeutenhorst and Sanborn Deputy City Clerk Amber Jederberg also attending the meetings. “If anyone has any suggestions, questions or comments, let those people know ahead of time,” said Zeutenhorst.
The final speaker was Dave Walling, AMPI’s Sanborn Division Manager who in June will be completing two years with the cheese producer. AMPI is a cooperative owned by about 1400 dairy farmer families based out of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. They market their products to food service, retail and food ingredient customers. The food service department really took a hit last year due to COVID shutting down the restaurants and schools. “We made it through,” said Walling. “We’re still surviving.”
AMPI cheese makers and butter makers have developed a very impressive reputation throughout the world. In 2020 alone they won over a dozen national and international awards for quality of cheese and butter. AMPI’s five main cheese plants produce about 10 percent of the nations’s American style cheese which includes cheddar, Monterey jack, colby, colby-jack and a variety of pepper cheeses. In addition, AMPI’s Hoven, SD cheese plant produces asiago, romano and parmesan varieties.
At Sanborn, cheese is mainly packaged in 640-680 pound blocks. AMPI’s Portage, WI plant shreds and slices the Sanborn cheese. About 10 percent of the nation’s butter is packaged at the plant in New Ulm, MN, the home of AMPI’s corporate office. After fat is pulled out of the whey cream at Sanborn, the whey cream is shipped to New Ulm to help them make the butter.
Walling went on to mention that in late 2019 AMPI launched a Dinner Bell Creamery brand. New packaging highlights 50 years of family farms owning AMPI. Producing good food with a promise is indicated by the Co-op Crafted promise on every label. Walling noted that the label highlights members and owners and gives them something to be proud of by helping people to understand where the product comes from. A Dinner Bell Creamery group on Facebook has allowed family farmers to tell their stories. The AMPI cheese and butter is available at Sanborn Foods. Walling is hoping that AMPI’s Sanborn retail store can open again soon.
Since 1975 when the USDA actually began to track data, the dairy consumption in the US has increased around 22 percent. Over the past decade domestic cheese consumption has increased more than 25 percent. “The dairy industry is quite the growing industry,” remarked Walling. About 39 pounds of cheese is consumed per person per year and about 6 pounds of butter per person per year.
US dairies produce twice as much milk with half as many dairy cows on much less land. Over the last 30 years dairy farmers have produced 50% more milk and reduced CO2 equivalent emissions by more than 9%. The environmental impact of producing a gallon of milk has shrunk in the decade from 2008 through 2017 using 31% less water and 21% less land and a 20% smaller carbon footprint. “Not only are we a growing industry in the dairy world, we’re also looking for environmentally friendly ways to produce milk,” said Walling.
In 2020, AMPI’s family farms have produced over 4 billion pounds of milk. Said Walling, “One of the nicest, unique things about Sanborn is there is a lot of milk in the area.” This area produced 1 billion, 177 million pounds of milk last year. Of that, almost 900 million pounds was brought to the Sanborn plant. With that they were able to produce just over 98 million pounds of cheese and over 51 million pounds of whey products.
When the Sanborn plant is fully staffed, it staffs about 112 employees. Walling noted that wages have increased and the plant always seem to be hiring. On average, 2.7 million pounds of milk goes through the Sanborn plant each day and they are gearing up to push 3 million pounds shortly. That 2.7 million pounds of milk results in about 295,000 pounds of cheese per day.
The plant receives milk around the clock with, on average, 55-60 truckloads of milk arriving per day. They ship out about 13 truckloads of cheese per day, with each truck carrying, on average, 35-40 thousand pounds of cheese. They ship about 12 loads of whey products per day. In conclusion, Walling answered a question by noting that VanEss Dairy of Sanborn and Roorda Dairy near Paullina are the Sanborn plant’s biggest suppliers of milk.
Lux took the floor again. She said that as a result of the Downtown Assessment hosted by downtown revitalization specialists from the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Downtown Resource Center, the Chamber is seeking people to serve on a Main Street Committee to see about bringing Sanborn’s Main Street back to life and getting people downtown. The Chamber is taking donations for Railroad Days and the fireworks. Said Lux, “We really want to come in with a bang and get it going again this year, It’s always a really good pull to get people in from other communities to see what we have to offer.”
The Chamber Board welcomes any new ideas for fundraisers and events. “We want to know what we can do to help the businesses,” said Lux. “The more input we can get as to how to do that, the better.”