~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
The Greene County board of supervisors again heard progress reports and requests for funding from numerous programs at the regular meeting on Dec. 16.
Greene County public health director Becky Wolf reported collaborative efforts with Greene County Family Medicine, a designated rural health clinic formerly known as UnityPoint Clinic. Wolf said the collaboration “provides services to the rural health clinic and shifts costs for vaccines.”
Other services of public health include mother and child health programs, lifeline alert service, social work services for children with developmental, mental health, or behavioral issues, and immunizations.
Wolf said some of the wages of public health nurses and some vaccine costs have been shifted to the Family Medical Clinic, resulting in a savings of $61,497. She projected revenue of $51,000 over expenses. Wolf requested $300,000 for FY21. No action was taken by the board.
Chair John Muir said, “The relationship between the hospital and board has improved over the past three years,” and supervisor Dawn Rudolph said, “communication and awareness (of programs) has helped.”
Chad Jensen from New Opportunities spoke about services to 1501 county residents in 605 households through the Family Development Center. Programs included low income assistance with heating, toys for tots, substance abuse treatment, substance abuse prevention, as well as occasional assistance with gambling issues.
Jensen requested the same amount for FY21 as received in FY20: $5,304 for the family development center; $6,979 for substance abuse treatment; $7,608 for substance abuse prevention. Supervisor Tom Contner is the board’s liaison to New Opportunities. No action was taken by the board.
Heart of Iowa Habitat for Humanity executive director Jeff Lamoureux spoke of a new “aging in place” project that involves making homes safe and adaptable for the elderly so more people can live longer in their own homes. Rural projects in southwest Greene county were discussed.
Lamoureux described mobilizing volunteers to work on projects with other agencies. Rudolph said, “We need to see more (of these) rural projects.” Muir supported the idea of working relationships among agencies.
Lamoureux requested $5,000 for FY21, the same as the current year. No action was taken by the board.
Jefferson Matters: Main Street was represented by president Jamie Daubendiek, Peg Raney, and Amy Milligan. They presented a slide show about projects through the past year and said “there have been 30,000 volunteer hours given to Jefferson Matters since 2012.”
Focus on future projects will be upper story housing and attracting people to the Main Street district, the trio said.
Daubendiek requested $5,000 funding for FY21, an increase from $2,000. No action was taken by the board.
Central Iowa Tourism sent a letter to the board requesting $400 for FY21, the same as the current year. Central Iowa produces a catalog of places to see in central Iowa.
In other business, new courthouse custodian Tony Janssen was introduced to the board. At the previous board meeting, a letter of retirement from Mike Wyatt, current custodian, was received. Wyatt’s last day will be Dec 31.
The board unanimously approved hiring Reed Larsen as part-time secondary roads employee at $18.00 per hour, effective Dec 9.
County attorney Thomas Laehn reported 73 pending criminal cases in the county and 14 people are now participating in the program with Boone County Probation. This is an increase toward the maximum of 20 probationers.
Laehn asked the board’s direction in the writing of an ordinance about vicious animals. The board advised that the ordinance be written to cover “animals” instead of “dogs.” A key idea of the ordinance will be “unprovoked attacks” as contrasted with “protective” actions by the animal.
The board unanimously approved a contract with Cott Systems for $2,435 that will make deeds “from day one” in the county’s history available online for research.
Assessor Adam Smith reported to the board about assessment appeals to the county amounting to $4 million. One appeal will go to district court and another to the Public Assessment Appeal Board (PAAB.) Hy-Vee is the entity initiating the appeal of assessed value.
Supervisor Pete Bardole spoke about attending a meeting of Central Iowa Juvenile Detention dealing with “changing federal law on waiving juveniles to adult court.”
The board of supervisors went into drainage district trustee mode and set a public hearing for Jan. 30 at 10 am regarding DD187 and the annexation of 80 Acres into that district.
On another matter, the board went into closed session to consider a general assistance appeal.
