~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
Like last summer, the Iowa Chill River Farm Summer Bash held at River Farm Recreation on July 17 and 18 was again an issue for law enforcement and the ambulance service. County sheriff Jack Williams reported illegal drugs, assaults, and underage drinking to the Greene County board of supervisors at their regular meeting on July 20.
Williams said, “There were 400 to 500 people there. Everyone congregated around the band after dark. Things got out of control after dark.”
According to Williams, every deputy was involved in responding to calls from the site. He said there were also several ambulance calls and several arrests.
“There were cars from Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa.” Williams said. “They had agreed to allow deputies on the site on Saturday night but didn’t allow deputies Friday night.”
Williams said event organizers had hired their own security. “Security was doing the best they could but there wasn’t enough of them.”
“Many attendees expressed appreciation for our (law enforcement) presence,” he said.
The board agreed the activities going on are not acceptable. Board chair John Muir said, “If the owner can’t get it under control, we need to make clear what falls under social host (proposed ordinance.)”
River Farm Recreation, located just west of County Road P-14 on 222nd St in Jackson Township west of Jefferson, is owned by Craig Flack.
A question was raised about violation of zoning. During the summer of 2019, the Flack event in August had to be given dispensation in order to occur due to a zoning question of agricultural land vs commercial enterprise. This issue was again raised for the River Farm Recreation event slated for Aug. 14-15.
The board decided to move ahead at the next meeting with a social host ordinance which could make the host of an event liable for injuries and deaths caused by activities at events. The liability of the host could extend to injuries and deaths occurring after the event from alcohol use or illegal substances.
County attorney Thomas Laehn announced courts are now open for business.
Ken Paxton, Greene County Development Corporation executive director, reported progress of on-going projects. He said, “The Lincoln Corridor is prepared to attract tech companies,” and later described the coworking space located west of the Forge as “the future.”
The Lincoln Corridor is the triangle from Carroll to Boone to Des Moines which is marketed as a desirable living and working location. The coworking space, called Gravitate, is a building of small office spaces, a concept used for small businesses to connect with others and work remotely.
Paxton said Gravitate could eventually expand into the Heartland Bank building.
Other projects include second floor housing in downtown Jefferson, housing at the 1921 middle school, and new housing development in Scranton which is an expansion of the first Rowland four-plexes built in Jefferson.
Paxton said, “If Scranton (new housing) is successful, Grand Junction and other towns could be next.”
Muir said, “That was our goal from the start, expansion of housing into the towns of the county.”
Paxton said, “We’re the poster child for rural development.” He submitted an extensive written summary of the work of GCDC to the board.
Ginny Showman from the Why Not Us investment group asked the board for a letter of support so the group could apply for a $75,000 Main Street grant. The group is working to resurrect Angie’s Tea Garden after the building was heavily damaged in 2019 by water.
Showman also described plans for two apartments on the upper story.
Muir said, “We’re more than happy to support those kinds of projects.”
Engineer Wade Weiss reported on inspection of 144 bridges in the county and issues due to flooding a few years ago. “Banks washed out and now need to be stabilized,” he said, mentioning Buttrick Creek and the Paton bridge.
Weiss spoke of need for a mini-excavator already included in the budget.
Reegan Hanigan, newly hired executive director of the merging Chamber and Main Street organizations, attended in person and introduced herself to the board.
Chris Henning, Greene County farmers market manager, reported an attendance last week of 80-90 people. Henning said most people wore their own masks and the market gave 15 masks out. The farmers markets are held Tuesdays from 4 to 6:30 pm on the east side of the courthouse.
In other business, the board unanimously voted to grant the state auditor permission to include Greene County’s information in an audit of its pharmacy benefit manager, Caremark.
The board also approved a correction to the assessment rate for drainage district 173. It went from 147.7 percent to the correct rate of 59.1 percent.
