ONAWA – Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad will be a special attendee of the next State Interagency Missouri River Authority (SIMRA) meeting on Wednesday, June 22nd.
The meeting begins at 12:30 p.m. at the Onawa Community Center (Kelly Hall), 320 10th St., Onawa, with Gov. Branstad scheduled to participate from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Gov. Branstad looks forward to a discussion on Missouri River management with interested stakeholders and updates from state officials involved in SIMRA. Those Iowa agencies are the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Utilities Board, Department of Transportation, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the Iowa Economic Development Authority and Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management. State leaders have stayed actively involved in relevant Missouri River discussions since the devastating flooding of 2011.
Updates from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Weather Service and the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee (MRRIC) will follow. A presentation from the Corps of Engineers and the DNR on federal and state agencies’ property acquisition and closing remarks will conclude the meeting.
SIMRA was established by Iowa code to promote policy regarding the state's many uses and interests along the Missouri River corridor. The flooding of 2011 highlighted the need to better prioritize flood control in the management of the Missouri River.