Updated 4/21 with new information about use of grant funds
Also approve first reading of social host ordinance
~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
A mixed vote by the Greene County board of supervisors April 11 against writing a letter of support for a $500,000 grant Greene County Development Corporation (GCDC) is submitting to the USDA to fund the proposed Diversity Project drew a concerted response at the supervisors’ April 18 meeting.
The first business of the board, though, was to amend the April 11 minutes to show correctly how supervisors voted that day. The original minutes listed aye votes by supervisors Peter Bardole and Dawn Rudolph and nay votes by supervisors Mick Burkett, Tom Contner and John Muir. The amended minutes show Muir’s vote as aye and Rudolph’s vote as nay.
At the April 18 meeting, Sid Jones, president of the GCDC board, spoke to the supervisors to answer questions about the grant application. Other speakers on behalf of GCDC were grant writer Becky Vonnahme; Mary Nieto, director of human resources at Greene County Medical Center; Jim Ober, director of operations at Scranton Manufacturing; and Chuck Offenburger, chair of the Diversity Project steering committee.
Jones said GCDC had perhaps not given the supervisors enough information about the USDA’s Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) grant program and the importance of it prior to the vote on April 11. He asked the board to reconsider the letter of support after hearing from other speakers.
Vonnahme described tough competition across the United States for the USDA grants and the importance of thorough, careful work on it and a show of support to accompany the application.
Nieto described personal Hispanic heritage on her father’s side of the family and her understanding of recruitment for employees.
“Thirty percent of employees (at the medical center) are driving to work, and many would live here if there was housing,” Nieto said.
Ober spoke of a retiring work force at Scranton Manufacturing and the need for a plan for the future.
“This grant is important for us to move forward,” he said. “We’re in full support of the Diversity Project.”
Offenburger spoke of the quality of life in Greene County and possibilities for growth if families could be attracted here by jobs and housing.
“We were all alarmed when we read of non-support by the board of supervisors,” he said. “The population of the county was 20,000 a hundred years ago. Now, it’s 8,950.”
“This is the dynamics of rural America,” Offenburger said. “But, if we can attract families (through the Diversity Project), declining enrollment in our schools will be history. There will be new construction, parks, and other improvements.”
Offenburger spoke of a similar project in Storm Lake and “global economy.”
“The town is vibrant now, the United Nations compounded, with young families.”
Offenburger said he speaks with Latinos already working here and he said there are many success stories.
Jones explained the $500,000 grant would mean a 20 percent match of $100,000. He said half of that could be “in-kind contributions.”
Grant writer Vonnahme told GCNO the federal funds would pay for program activities in support of creation and retention of high-wage jobs, acceleration of new business formation, and strengthening Greene County’s economy.
“Specifically, funds will cover staff time administering the unique jobs accelerator project, contracting fees of Latino IQ to conduct specialized and targeted outreach for attracting a new workforce and interested residents, and significant expenses toward implementation of an integrated marketing campaign,” Vonnahme said.
The funds would be expendable over five years, with an estimated budget of $121,200 each year.
Supervisor Rudolph said, “It’s hard to support a project without answers. We have questions about the outcomes, targets, when things will happen.”
“We will be here more often to give information,” Jones said.
Rudolph said, “We hope we can welcome all people, not just a certain group.”
In discussion, the board mentioned Ukrainian refugees.
Supervisor Bardole said, “This is a very important project. Greene County needs this project and this grant.”
Supervisors chair Muir said, “I support any group that has passion, beliefs, and ideas that will help Greene County. But a line has to be drawn, public sector vs private sector.”
“We’ve helped lay foundations for what other people can continue,” Muir said, citing other projects for which the board has written letters of support.
“Financially, I won’t be there with this one,” Muir said while affirming he would approve a letter of support.
Supervisors Burkett and Rudolph agreed with Muir on the financial issue.
The supervisors then voted on a reconsideration of a letter of support for the GCDC RISE grant application to the USDA.
Bardole, Muir, and Rudolph voted aye; Burkett and Contner voted nay.
In other business, sheriff Jack Williams reported two under-age beer parties over the weekend and emphasized the need for a social host ordinance.
The supervisors heard the first reading of the proposed “Ordinance Regarding the Provision of Alcoholic Beverages, Prescription Drugs, and Controlled Substances to Persons Under the Age of Twenty-one within Greene County, Iowa.”
The ordinance is the same ordinance considered in the late summer of 2019 but not passed.
Under the proposed ordinance, this would be accomplished by making owners/lessees of property responsible for violations that occur on the property if the owner/lessee knowingly permitted consumption of alcohol or substances by persons age 18 to 21.
The proposed ordinance states civil penalties of $750 for a first violation and $1000 for each subsequent violation. Violations can be “considered by the county when determining whether or not to approve an application for a license submitted by a person found in violation of the ordinance.”
There are provisions in the proposed ordinance to cover landlords, people under 21 who handle alcoholic beverages as part of their job, religious observances, medicinal purposes, and beverages in the home with parental permission.
The first reading was unanimously approved by the board. A second reading is scheduled for the board meeting on April 25. The board discussed waiving a third reading of the ordinance.
Paula Hoskinson of Grand Junction spoke on behalf of the Grand Junction park and recreation committee to request Dreyfus funding of playground equipment destroyed during the derecho of August 2020.
She said the group has also received an insurance payment and funding from Grow Greene County to help with the equipment. Their request was for $5,000 from county Dreyfus funds.
Hoskinson said it will take six or seven months to have the playground built professionally for safety.
“If we have additional money from other sources, we will buy rubber mulch for underneath the equipment,” Hoskinson said.
The board voted unanimously to approve $5,000 from the Dreyfus fund for the project.
Upon recommendation from deputy auditor Billie Jo Hoskins, the board unanimously approved day and hourly rates for precinct election officials. Pay rates were set at $175 per day and $11 per hour for periods shorter than a full day.
Muir reported attending a wetland project (CREP) meeting as a drainage district trustee with Bolton and Menk and several landowners.
Chuck Wenthold reported a future Iowa Utilities Board hearing on the permitting of the proposed carbon pipeline project will probably be held in Fort Dodge.
Engineer Wade Weiss reported selling two Sterling trucks for $69,000 and $55,000 through the Purple Wave Auction.
During open forum, Bob Ausburger of the Lincoln Highway Association asked about the maintenance shop along the Lincoln Highway at Scranton. The shop has been discussed several times over the past year as needing repairs or to be demolished.
Ausburger asked if it could be preserved historically due to its history along the highway as a car dealership and other things.
Engineer Weiss said the property has leaking underground storage tanks. Weiss believes the county should not pass along ownership of that problem.
“It is still considered a LUST site,” Weiss said.
LUST is a designation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency for Leaking Underground Storage Tank.
