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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- President Obama's campaign recently announced that the Commander in Chief will be making a three-day sweep through the Hawkeye State next week.

The president will be in Council Bluffs and Boone on Monday, August 13, Oskaloosa, Marshalltown and Waterloo on Tuesday, August 14 and Dubuque and Davenport on Wednesday, August 15.

The last time President Obama visited Southeast Iowa was his 2010 visit to the Indian Hills campus in Ottumwa. At that event, city officials were given the opportunity to ask questions and speak on issues and concerns in our area.

Ottumwa City Administrator Joe Helfenberger was able to ask the president for financial help on the city's sewer separation project, which then was in its early stages. Looking back at how the project has progressed since 2010, Helfenberger said speaking to Obama directly about the project did prove helpful.

"We've gotten basically 50 percent grants for the sewer projects we have worked on, but we've also had a greater burden than any other community," Helfenberger said. "No other community I know has had this level of burden per capita that we have, so there is a much greater need for grants than there is in other communities, just to keep our head above water, so to speak."

Since the president's visit, the city has been in contact with the USDA and the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. They have worked with the city of Ottumwa not just on grants, but on a more flexible schedule for the sewer project to be completed. Ottumwa was given 25 years total for the project, while most other communities were given 17. They were also allowed the option of a re-start in case, as Helfenberger mentioned, funding becomes too much a burden and the project needed to be temporarily put on hold.

Helfenberger said they are still waiting on a $16.3 million grant that is pending through FEMA for flood control and sewer separation. He said he hopes federal and state grants will continue in the years to come, because cities like Ottumwa cannot function without them.

Meanwhile, there are still few details on President Obama's visits next week. No location, times or ticket information has yet to be released. The Oskaloosa Police Department told KTVO that a representative attended a meeting recently on an overview of security and general crowd-control issues. The OPD have not yet returned our calls to confirm whether they have been in contact with the Secret Service to talk specifics on security during the event.

The Ottumwa Police Department said that is typical -- Secret Service advised them not to speak too much on security matters. When the president was in the City of Bridges, it took the entire department to keep things running smoothly.

"It wasn't just the scene of where he was at, in this case Indian Hills, but it was also traffic control coming into town, leaving town, officers out at the airport," said Chief Jim Clark, Ottumwa Police Department. "So we actually had, I believe, about everyone working - all of our officers working. It was a significant expense in overtime, however, how often - for here in Southeast Iowa - how often do you have the President of the United States come to town? So it was worth it and I think it brought a lot of people into the community and helped expose some of our issues to the President and it was well worth any expense it may have caused the city."

Chief Clark said the execution of events on the day went very smoothly, and the department had only one arrest. Otherwise, the crowd was very respectful.