Discussion of extending mask mandate set for Thursday
~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
At their regular meeting Jan. 11, the Greene County board of supervisors approved final plans and specifications for the Raccoon River Valley Trail bridge repair project which has been in the works since the bridge, located 2.5 miles south of the Jefferson depot, was damaged in March 2019 by ice jams on the river.
Conservation director Dan Towers reported the estimated project construction costs at $829,000. FEMA funds will reimburse 75 percent of the cost and 10 percent will come from Iowa Homeland Security. Greene County will provide 15 percent county match funds.
WHKS, a civil engineering firm in Ames, has been hired as the project engineer. Bids will be let locally on Jan. 20 so work can begin quickly, possibly by the end of February.
Board approval of bids is required. A public hearing has been set for Feb. 1 at 9 am to award the project.
A brief discussion about extending the mask mandate for the county was set to continue into the board meeting scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 14.
“We’ve seen great success,” said chair John Muir.
Figures released by public health director Becky Wolf on Jan. 12 indicate continued downward rates of Covid-19 infection in the county. The report states 92 active cases in the county and a 14-day positivity rate of 5.8 percent. An anticipated rise in cases due to possible exposures over the Christmas holiday did not occur in the county.
County attorney Thomas Laehn said the emergency proclamation issued by the governor of Iowa takes precedence over county mandates, but a county mandate is “enforceable if it outlives the Governor’s proclamation.”
Laehn also reviewed revenues and expenditures for the county attorney’s office as part of FY2022 funding requests to the board. He estimated revenue at $30,000 and expenditures at $306,500. Expenditures are up from $297,000.
Laehn said revenue came partly from charging defense attorneys for discovery information such as footage from body cameras.
“On the civil law side, we’ve saved the county some money,” Laehn said, referring to his office doing contracts and agreements in-house rather than hiring outside attorneys.
“Your office, your abilities, the work of Jeri Angell (office manager) and Laura Snider (assistant county attorney), have made a very efficient office,” Muir said.
Sheriff Jack Williams estimated sheriff’s office revenues to be $114,150 and said dispatching fees are expected to increase from $30,000 to $40,000 for the next fiscal year.
Williams estimates a little over $100,000 increase in expenditures from general, rural, forfeiture, K9, and LOSST funds due to increases in salaries and wages per union contracts. This is an increase from $1.56 million to $1.67. The projected expenditures include the addition of a fulltime secretary and deputy and two new vehicles.
Williams also spoke of need for a 20-person jail and submitted a statistics report to the board with inmate numbers, hours held, and meal numbers.
“We have a 10-inmate capacity now and we send people to other jails (in different counties.)” Williams said. “There are 70 people in the county now waiting to serve sentences.”
Recorder Deb McDonald estimated her office revenues at $72,800 for the new budget year, a $300 increase. McDonald estimated expenditures at $150,600 for FY2022 which includes increasing deputy recorder salary 1 percent, from 75 percent of recorder salary to 76 percent.
The funding report from secondary roads was rescheduled to the next board meeting on Jan. 14.
Auditor Jane Heun reviewed a proposed amendment to the current FY2021 budget. The board unanimously set the date for a public hearing at 9:15 am on Monday, Jan. 25.
The board added Thursday meetings at 8:30 am, beginning January 14 and extending through the budgeting period.
