~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
“The citizens of towns in Greene County are also citizens of Greene County,” Greene County board chair John Muir said at the supervisors’ regular meeting Feb. 7 when the board discussed funding for the six libraries located in the towns of the county.
The board agreed libraries are a “great asset” and expressed concern cities are possibly considering not funding their libraries. The board discussed the county’s role in funding libraries.
Discussion of library funding for FY23 will be continued before a final decision is made by the board, but the board gave a vote of confidence in library programs across the county by raising the cooperative library projects request of $9,150 to $10,000.
Other tentative funding for libraries was to hold the joint funding total at $73,540; increase the minimum base by $500 from the current $3,500 base amount for each library; keep the maximum funding at 28 percent of the library’s total budget; and provide an additional $1,000 to each of the six libraries in the county.
In other business, Patti Treibel-Leeds, administrator for Central Iowa Community Services, introduced Brittany Baker to the board.
Baker is the justice-involved services coordinator for the CICS region and serves Boone, Greene, Hamilton, and Webster counties. Baker said she will be in Greene County on Mondays.
Supervisor Dawn Rudolph, board member working with CICS, said, “People are going through lots of changes and these services are needed.”
County attorney Thomas Laehn reported law enforcement “had a busy week” executing 15 search warrants.
Cautioning that indictments are only allegations of guilt, Laehn said two indictments resulted from search warrants associated with the recent ATM theft at Wild Rose Casino.
The board asked if officers must go to Carroll to get search warrants.
Laehn said, “There are no judges living in Greene County, so we have to go to Carroll for warrants. It does slow things down. Unfortunately, criminals don’t wait around for us to get search warrants.”
Laehn said sometimes evidence is destroyed before officers can return with warrants.
Engineer Wade Weiss reported secondary roads employees are continuing to do repair work on bridges and road blading.
At 9 am, the board of supervisors presided at a public hearing for a proposed amendment to the FY2022 budget involving changes in revenue and expenditures.
Auditor Jane Heun reported no written objections were received and no objections were received during the hearing.
The board unanimously adopted Resolution 2022-03 approving adoption of the budget amendment. Funds for the amended expenditure categories were fully appropriated.
Auditor Heun reported compensation board recommendations for elected officials will be discussed at the next board meeting on Feb. 10.
Chair Muir noted the passing of former supervisor Jerry Roberts over the past weekend.
During the supervisors’ Feb. 3, Chuck Wenthold of the county’s zoning department reported that Summit Carbon Solutions has filed a pipeline permit application with the Iowa Utilities Board.
Wenthold said Summit has requested permission to use eminent domain if landowners do not give the company voluntary easements to their property.
The board discussed the locations of the affected properties in Greene County and determined there are “nine reciprocities” in “a little bit” of the county.
“We are proceeding cautiously,” Muir said, noting no hearing date has been set and the board has not approached (pipeline) inspectors to represent the county.
The board also heard a presentation from Adam Schweers of Carroll, Highway 30 Coalition president, who reported the Iowa Department of Transportation is promoting the construction of a “super-two highway” from Lisbon to DeWitt in eastern Iowa.
The IDOT defines a super-two rural highway as a two-lane highway having exit and entry lanes as compared to a divided four-lane highway.
Schweer said the Coalition, a volunteer organization representing 12 counties across Iowa in the Highway 30 corridor, believes this is a poor solution due to safety of heavy traffic and large trucks on a two-lane road.
Schweer said the super-two option is also being considered by the IDOT for Highway 30 in Boone, Greene, and Carroll counties, from Ogden to Carroll.
“Cedar County called the mayors (of the communities in the county) together to pass a resolution saying they want no part of a super-two going through their county,” Schweer said.
“People will travel 25 more miles to employment on a four-lane,” Schweer said, citing popular feelings about safety.
The Coalition hopes to hire Snyder & Associates to do a study of the economic impact and traffic load on those portions of Highway 30.
Schweer said the study would cost $97,000 and the Coalition is requesting funding from the counties involved
He said $5,000 is requested from the city of Jefferson, from Greene County Development Corporation, and from the county board of supervisors, for a total of $15,000.
“The impact study would give us information about whether a super-two or a four-lane is best, based on population and use,” he said. “We won’t do the study until we have the funds.”
Schweer requested the board consider funding the study as they develop a FY23 budget.
Engineer Wade Weiss told the board he had received an inquiry from Mary Weaver about bridge safety in the county. Weiss reported there are no unsafe bridges, but some are posted with weight limits.
