~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
The Greene County board of supervisors heard more information at its regular meeting April 27 about a controversy brewing over the North Raccoon River Watershed Management Coalition (NRRWMC). This involves the development of a watershed management plan by the coalition. Greene County is a member of this coalition.
On April 20, the board reviewed a resolution from Pocahontas and Palo Alto counties stating the Iowa Department of Natural Resources had provided an “erroneous map” to the coalition which “improperly added land.”
The land added to the NRRWMC was in Polk and Dallas counties. Pocahontas and Palo Alto counties objected to urban areas being added to rural watershed areas.
Chuck Wenthold, Greene county environmental department, reported Monday he had attended a meeting of the North Raccoon Watershed last week. Wenthold said the watershed area map had been drawn by the US Geological Survey to include the North Raccoon and Raccoon watershed areas.”
“Dallas and Polk county officials were not involved in that decision,” Wenthold said.
It is unclear at this time whether the IDNR is advocating for the inclusion of Polk and Dallas counties in the coalition or whether the IDNR accepted a map from USGS without verifying the boundaries of the watersheds.
In other business, Chris Henning signed in electronically to discuss the possibility of having the local farmers market. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds recently announced guidelines for some types of markets to resume.
Henning said no decisions have been made yet for the local market. “It might be a go. We don’t have clear guidelines from the government yet,” she said.
Chair John Muir said, “Some guidance will come from public health. EOC (Emergency Operations Center) is predicting a surge in several weeks.”
Ginny Showman, chair of the Art on the Square committee for the Bell Tower Festival, signed in electronically and said the Festival has been postponed until Aug. 29.
“Most artists don’t want their (registration) money back,” said Showman. “They want to stay (in the event.)”
Engineer Wade Weiss reported on the relocation of the airport road and an upcoming road closure resolution. He said work is reaching the final stages of a bridge project on County Road E-18 (130th St) just east of County Road P-39.
Public hearings for Stumpf Finishers, LLC and the Saddoris site scheduled for this meeting were rescheduled for May 11. Both are new construction applications for swine confinements.
At the previous board meeting, master matrix scores were reported and both sites passed. In a letter sent by the board of supervisors to the neighbors of the sites in Highland Township and South Junction Township, the number of buildings and the number of hogs were misstated. New letters will be sent.
The Stumpf public hearing will be May 11 at 9 am and the Saddoris public hearing will be May 11 at 9:20 am. Since the courthouse is still closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic, access for the public will be electronic through Zoom or telephone.
The board unanimously passed Resolution 2020-21 which reclassifies a part-time emergency medical technician (EMT) position to fulltime.
The board also unanimously approved hiring Allison Powell as fulltime EMT at $32,000 per year effective April 6.
The courthouse continues to be closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As in past weeks, the audio of the meeting was electronically available to the public and media through Zoom.us.
