News that the runway expansion project at the Jefferson airport was awarded $2.35 million in supplemental funding from the Federal Aviation Administration, enough to cover the entire cost of the project, was not only good news for the Jefferson city council. It was good news for the county supervisors.
The county budget in each of the last five years has included the county’s $20,000 share of the project. Each year the project hasn’t been completed, the supervisors have reallocated the $20K to another budget item.
This year, news of the FAA funds was received when the supervisors were considering “priming the pump” of workforce housing development with an extra $30,000 for Greene County Development Corporation. The $20,000 not spent on the airport project was added to $10,000 from the supervisors’ discretionary Dreyfus fund to give GCDC funds for the purchase of a vacant half-block in the 500 block of N. Olive St. GCDC will give the lot to Rowland Real Estate for the construction of multi-family rental housing.
The city of Jefferson will provide Rowland with a 10-year property tax abatement as its share of project incentives.
Discussion of where the county’s $30K share came from followed an update to the supervisors by Jefferson city administrator Mike Palmer.
The supervisors also took a step toward becoming eligible for FEMA funds to rebuild the Raccoon River bridge that was taken out by large ice flows this winter. The supervisors approved a revised purchasing policy and a procurement policy needed to be considered for the funds.
After a few weeks of haitus, hogs were on the agenda again. The supervisors reviewed the scoring on a master matrix for an expansion of a confined animal feeding operation, Alex Alliger south site in Dawson Township, Section 3. The operation was first constructed in 2012 and expanded in 2014. Capacity of the current site is 2,499 and does not require a DNR permit. The site does require permitting with the expansion for a capacity of 4,400.
The matrix scores 450, with 440 being the minimum needed for approval by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The proposed expansion takes almost the maximum points for most setback distances. It takes no points for the manure management plan except for formed, covered manure storage.
A public hearing on the construction application will be held Monday, June 24, at 9 am in the board room at the courthouse.
Click here to see the master matrix for the expansion.
The supervisors ratified an EMS system agreement with Carroll County Ambulance. The agreement calls for mutual aid between the counties as needed. Five similar agreements will be ratified in the weeks ahead to provide mutual aid for and from every contiguous county.
The agreements were in place for Greene County EMS. The new agreements are because of the change to Greene County Ambulance.
The supervisors approved a new county seal to place on official ballots beginning in 2020. Per the state law, the seal must include the word “treasurer” or an abbreviation. It must also clearly identify the county.
Auditor Jane Huen added “T-37”to an outdated seal to be compliant with the new code. The seal will replace the county auditor’s signature on official ballots.
