~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
The Greene County board of supervisors meeting on June 21 was noticeably clearer for those who electronically attended the meeting. GCNO noted much less background noise in the transmission and clearer audio quality when people spoke from the gallery.
Board chair John Muir announced the installation of a new microphone.
Sound quality has been an on-going issue since the supervisors initiated public electronic access to the board meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in March of 2020. Popularity of public electronic access led supervisors to continue it and to look for ways to improve it.
During open forum, current drought conditions and low water levels in the Raccoon River prompted Chris Henning, farmer from rural Cooper, to ask, “How many have to suffer for one?”
Henning described a nearby farmer who she said is irrigating his 120 acres of rye grass under a DNR permit which allows him 45 million gallons taken from the North Raccoon per season. Henning said private wells in the area are being stressed.
Henning questioned whether that level of irrigation should be allowed during a drought.
Supervisor Pete Bardole said, “That is a question for the DNR.”
Henning also told the board farmers market will begin June 29 with duties being shared between herself and Alexis Stevens.
The supervisors reviewed amended master matrix scoring for Franklin Pork, LLC located in Section 5 of Franklin township. As described at a previous board meeting, Franklin Pork was sold to Kent Scheib, who removed dead trees on the site. This reduced points from the master matrix scoring. Scheib requested an amended scoring to reflect the current operation.
The review was attended by Scheib and Seth Wengert, consultant with AgVice, an agricultural consulting service based in Marshall County. Wengert described changes in points by saying 20 points should be removed from Franklin Pork’s score for not having landscaping, but 30 points should be added for “injection or incorporation of manure on the same date it is land-applied.”
The original score for Franklin Pork on the master matrix has been stated to be 460, with 440 points accepted by the DNR as a passing score for confined animal feeding operations (CAFO.) Trading landscaping points for a new manure plan nets a gain of 10 points, or a score of 470, according to the information presented by Scheib and Wengert.
However, Wengert said there were other “small changes to the points” and he totaled the Franklin Pork amended points at 460 without identifying the other changes.
Under questioning by Muir, Scheib and Wengert said, “Nothing has changed in distances. The manure plan changed.”
However, Wengert later stated Franklin Pork had lost some points “for distances to water sources.”
Muir told Scheib and Wengert, “We promote trees (around CAFOS.)”
A public hearing on the amended master matrix scoring for Franklin Pork, LLC is scheduled for the next Greene County board of supervisors meeting on June 28 at 9 am.
In other business, county attorney Thomas Laehn reviewed changes to the county’s current decorative lighting resolution. An amended resolution which changes the original lighting resolution to authorize decorative lighting on the courthouse for all county holidays was unanimously approved.
The original resolution was written primarily for Christmas lighting.
There were several changes in the language of the resolution to “increase the solemnity of days set aside for mourning and remembrance.” The words “joy” and “Christmas” were deleted from various sections of the original resolution.
The amended resolution states the Greene County auditor is authorized to “illuminate the holiday lights display on all other officially recognized county holidays on such dates and times, and in such manner, as befits the nature and purpose of each holiday.”
The amended resolution also requires “on all nights when holiday lights are not on display, the front façade of the courthouse shall be illuminated with plain white lights.”
Attorney Laehn said, “Special days can be declared county holidays by the board.”
Penalties for violation of the resolution were not identified. The complete resolution is available in the meeting minutes found on GCNO.
Laehn also asked the board to consider hiring a part-time victim witness coordinator. He suggested a 10-hour per week position for someone who would be a liaison between crime victims and the county attorney’s office.
“The person would deal with victim restitution such as making sure medical bills get filed,” said Laehn. “They would work with crime victims, sit with witnesses.”
“What would be the qualifications for that?” Muir asked.
“The person would have to have the right personality,” said Laehn. “Some knowledge of law, social work background maybe, someone who knows how to talk to victims.”
Laehn said most counties already have victim witness coordinators or share with another county.
Engineer Wade Weiss reported he has been asked to serve on the Highway 30 Coalition. This group is studying how best to develop Highway 30 across the state of Iowa.
Environmental health director Chuck Wenthold reported Iowa is the recipient of three Environmental Protection Agency awards for farm-focused projects to improve water quality. Wenthold said the Beaver Creek Water Management Authority received $559,258 in the farmer-to-farmer grant program through the DNR.
The board unanimously approved a service agreement with the Howard E Nyhart Company for interim Governmental Accounting Standards Board 75 actuarial update services. The cost is cited as $2,100 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.
The board also approved a local planning and administrative assistance contract with Region XII Council of Governments to provide certain technical and professional services for putting together a multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan for the county and its incorporated cities.
The agreement states the county will reimburse the Council of Governments $20,000 for services billed in five installments of $4,000 each in fiscal years 2022 through 2026.
The board unanimously approved the fiscal year 2022 salaries and wages schedule and appropriated 85 percent of the total expenditures budgeted to each of the county officers and departments.
State Senator Jesse Green attended the board meeting as an observer.
