~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
At their meeting on Dec. 20, the Greene County board of supervisors heard reports on damage done by the tornado and derecho activity occurring on Dec. 15.
Engineer Wade Weiss reported his crews worked to clear roads and are continuing to do that.
Sheriff Jack Williams said he will meet with Homeland Security to assess damages in the county and will attend an Emergency Operations meeting.
Conservation director Tanner Scheuermann reported tree damage around Spring Lake and the bike trail.
“There was significant damage to cottonwoods at Spring Lake. There was damage on the trail, but not like the derecho (August 2020),” he said.
In other business, the board discussed a meeting held in Grand Junction last week concerning the solar project proposed by National Grid Renewables. NGR representatives had been present to answer questions.
Treasurer Katlynn Mechaelsen told the board her questions about values and taxes were not answered by the representatives.
Supervisor Dawn Rudolph agreed questions had not been answered.
“It’s a bad signal to the public,” she said.
Supervisor Mick Burkett used more colorful language in evaluating the meeting, basically describing it as a waste of four hours.
County attorney Thomas Laehn reported the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted the stay on the vaccine mandate. He said this allows the federal government to put the mandate into effect while the constitutionality of the mandate is being decided through litigation.
Laehn said the mandate requires employers of more than 100 employees to show proof of vaccination of their employees or require employees to wear masks and have weekly COVID testing if not vaccinated.
Laehn said a county policy is needed by Jan. 10, 2022, if the stay remains in effect.
“Proof of vaccination should be on file by Feb. 9,” he said. “OSHA fines begin Feb. 9 for non-compliance.”
“We have a policy we can have on record,” said chair John Muir.
“My belief is, if you pass that policy, you’re doing something unconstitutional,” Laehn said.
Laehn has previously said he cannot in good conscience assist the board in writing policy he thinks is in violation of the US Constitution.
In other legal matters, Laehn said he recommends county ordinances be organized and put in standard form.
“Jane Heun proposed codification of the ordinances and it does need to be done,” he said. “It would be better to do it internally instead of paying an outside source to do it.”
The board discussed a future recodification ordinance that would standardize the form of all ordinances.
The board unanimously passed a revised contract increasing the hours of assistant county attorney Laura Snider from 25 hours per week to 29.5 hours per week. Snider will receive the same hourly rate, previously stated as $47.31 per hour.
Laehn also reviewed a proposed Greene County Election Precinct ordinance with the board. Laehn said this ordinance now includes city of Jefferson precincts which is required by the Secretary of State.
The board unanimously approved this first reading of the ordinance.
Resolution 2021-43 for the usual budgeted transfer of funds from the general basic fund to the conservation reserve fund and the bike trail fund and from the LOSST (Local Option Sales and Services Tax) fund to the bike trail fund was unanimously approved. The transfer to conservation was $50,000 and $8,000 went to the bike trail from general fund. $5,00 from LOSST went to the bike trail.
During open forum, Randy Freeman asked about board policy regarding pipeline removal in the county.
Muir said the board will get information on it and “reach out to the overseer of the tiles going in.”
Supervisor Pete Bardole reported on an elevator issue in the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower mentioned in a previous meeting. The elevator door was sticking during cold weather and causing scheduled visitors to sometimes not be able to call the elevator to the observation deck.
“I talked with Pat Richards,” Bardole said. “She will have two people on duty during those tours, one downstairs.”
Five county organizations presented their programs and requested FY 2023 funding from the board of supervisors: Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support (ACCESS); New Opportunities; Region XII Council of Governments; Jefferson Matters: A Main Street and Chamber Community; and Greene County Libraries.
Annie Randolph, development coordinator, and Tess Cody, executive director for ACCESS, requested $5,000 from the county to continue services to victims of domestic and sexual abuse in Greene County. This is the same amount as current funding. They reported 35 people had received services in Greene County over the past year.
Chad Jensen, New Opportunities CEO, requested $5,304 for the Greene County Family Development Center; $6,979 for substance abuse treatment; and $7,608 for prevention programs. These are the same amounts as current year funding. Jensen reported 1,357 people or 576 families had participated in programs over the past year.
Rick Hunsaker, executive director of Region XII COG, requested $48,069 in county funding with $ .03 per mile in matching funds. Region XII includes Western Iowa Transit, the Local Housing Trust Fund, and a new revolving loan fund (RLF). A per capita membership fee is also charged for the county to belong to COG.
Hunsaker said the per capita membership fee is $8,157 for FY 2023, based on $.93 for each of the 8,771 people in Greene County. He said Western Iowa Transit requests $4911.76 based on $.56 per capita. Local Housing Trust Fund is requesting $10,000. The remaining money requested is for the RLF.
Reegan Hanigan, executive director of Jefferson Matters, and board member Jamie Daubendiek requested $20,000, an increase of $15,500 from current funding of $4,500. The organization has been approached to take over Farmers Market and is considering hiring a coordinator.
Greene County Libraries requested $83,880 for FY2023. The libraries were represented by Wendy Johnson, Scranton library director; Stephanie Hall, Jefferson youth services librarian; Kimberly Bohnet, Paton library director; Marsha Subbert, Churdan library trustee; Shari Minnehan, Churdan library director; Jane Millard, Jefferson library director; Jack Rychnovsky, Rippey library trustee; and Sarah Heinen, Rippey library director.
No action was taken by the board on the funding requests.
