~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
Representatives of the Greene County Early Learning Center in Jefferson updated the county board of supervisors about on-going plans for funding a new facility at the supervisors’ regular meeting on Feb 1.
ELC board members Jacque Andrew, Bill Monroe and Donna Sutton, and ELC director Cherie Cervey asked the board for a letter of support to the state grant review committee for state Challenge Grant funds that have recently been made available for childcare centers in the state. The group would like to apply for $100,000 of those grant funds.
In January 2020, the supervisors informally agreed to pursue support of the ELC’s request for funding for a new learning center to be located in Jefferson at the site of the current ELC on W. Madison St in the former south grade school.
In February 2020, the board approved a letter of support to Grow Greene County indicating the county’s intention to contribute $250,000 toward construction, to be paid out over a five-year period, according to county auditor Jane Heun.
County attorney Thomas Laehn advised the board at Monday’s meeting “to make a formal resolution of support” for the project and to “spell out the terms.” The board will consider a resolution and letter of support at the next meeting Feb. 4.
County conservation director Dan Towers reported one bid was received for the repair of the bridge on the Raccoon River Valley Trail 2.5 miles south of Jefferson. Dixon Construction of Correctionville offered a bid of $852,004, which was 2.7 percent over the estimate provided by the WHKS engineer.
The Dixon bid was unexpected and welcome, according to board discussion. The board unanimously approved the awarding of the contract to Dixon Construction. Completion date is estimated by July 31.
Dixon Construction is a bridge and culvert contractor in business since 1938. The company and has done other work over the years in Greene County, including the bridge over West Buttrick Creek on county road E-18 in 2018.
The RRVT bridge was damaged by ice in 2019. FEMA is funding part of the repair with the county contributing 15 percent.
In other business, the board served as emergency management commission for a public hearing on the FY2022 emergency management commission budget.
Dennis Morlan, county coordinator, spoke of $800,000 in clean-up costs from the derecho occurring last Aug 10. Morlan said an important part of his job is taking care of FEMA paperwork to get needed funding for the county.
According to auditor Heun, the budget includes a contribution of $33,000 from Greene County.
No written or oral objections were received to the FY2022 budget for emergency management and the board unanimously approved it through Resolution 2021-05.
Attorney Laehn reported on progress toward releasing the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower bells to be played. The bells have been silenced while Laehn, the supervisors, and members of the Bell Tower Community Foundation discuss legalities and policy issues first brought to light in mid-January.
Board chair John Muir said, “We recognize the need for policies. People have been offering help.”
Laehn said the selection of Mahanay Maestros, volunteer musicians who play the bells for daily concerts during summer months, should be done by the board of supervisors instead of the Bell Tower Community Foundation.
“The Maestros should be allowed creativity,” said Laehn. “Maestros should be able to choose their own music within guidelines to be set up.”
From board discussion, it appears musicians will make application to the board of supervisors to become Maestros after guidelines for music selection have been written by the board.
The board was generally in favor of people being able to request songs from Maestros for personal occasions such as birthdays, graduations, and other similar occasions.
The board is also thinking about guidelines for bell tower fundraisers.
