~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
The Greene County board of supervisors has continued work on the FY2024 budget and discussion of ongoing issues.
On Feb. 2, the board unanimously approved a resolution withdrawing Greene County from the Workforce Development Consortium established by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014.
The board had previously discussed withdrawing. Board chair John Muir continued to be outspoken about the consortium “not doing much for Greene County.”
“Somebody, somewhere, is trying to justify (the consortium’s) existence,” he said.
The Articles of Agreement under which Greene County joined the consortium were filed with the Secretary of State in July, 2020, with 18 member counties. The agreement allowed for members to withdraw by giving 90 days’ notice prior to each upcoming fiscal year.
County attorney Thomas Laehn assured the board they would not be in violation of any laws by withdrawing, and that all 18 counties would need to withdraw cause the consortium to dissolve.
“If some counties remain in the consortium and Greene County withdraws, Greene County would remain in the Region but would not have voting rights,” Laehn said. He added that Greene County would lose representation in the group, but also would lose liability for its decisions. This could be a positive for the county.
Muir said he thinks other counties will also withdraw. He said member county support for the group and representation is “totally dying.”
The withdrawal is effective June 30.
In other business, the board approved the compensation board’s recommended increases in salaries for elected officials – 6.5 percent increases for the county attorney, county auditor, recorder, treasurer, and themselves. A 13.5 percent increase was recommended for the county sheriff.
A resolution to adopt those increases will be considered after a public hearing is held on the County’s proposed FY2024 budget.
Laehn reported a grand jury of seven jurors and three alternates has been empaneled. The group asked to inspect the conditions of the current jail and made a visit.
“They were shocked at the number of outstanding warrants and no place to accommodate them in the jail,” Laehn said. “There were inmates sleeping on the floor.”
Laehn said grand juries have the power to indict people and investigate elected officials. He said they are able to convene themselves and can be convened by the county attorney. Terms are for two years.
On Feb. 6, the supervisors held a public hearing for a proposed amendment to the current year county budget. Auditor Jane Heun explained adjustments needed in each category including increased revenue from opioid settlement money.
No oral or written objections were heard from the public and the FY2023 budget amendment was approved.
The board also unanimously approved payment of $428,197.84 to Motorola Solutions as a 25 percent downpayment for communications equipment and services, and $13,750 to S&P Global for services involved in the issuance of $3.3 million in general obligation capital loan notes.
Chuck Wenthold, environmental department, reported receiving an email about a meeting to discuss northern member counties of the North Raccoon River Watershed Management Coalition leaving the Watershed Management Coalition to form a different group.
The WMC has experienced controversy in the past about differences between the needs of urban counties and rural counties along the Raccoon River from northern Iowa to Des Moines.
Muir reported attending a meeting of Greene County Development Corporation and meeting Sarah Huddleston, a resource person from Storm Lake who works with multi-cultural topics in communities.
Muir said GCDC might consider a position in Greene County for someone to provide support for multi-cultural diversity.
“I like this approach of having someone on site,” Muir said. “We only got an introduction. There will be a lot more discussion.”
At the Greene County board of supervisors meeting on Feb. 9, the board unanimously approved, with supervisor Dawn Rudolph absent, a preconstruction agreement with the Iowa Department of Transportation for resurfacing on US 30 from Iowa 25 to Iowa 4 with hot mix asphalt.
The board heard from Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline project manager Kylie Lang and SCS representative Riley Gibson who offered to share later a presentation with the board that had previously been given to the Iowa County Engineers. The board had heard of this presentation and asked about it.
Answering questions from the board, Lang and Gibson said 56 percent of the corn grown in Iowa is turned into ethanol.
Iowa provides ethanol to the rest of the country, Lang said, and he said the market for ethanol would not exist if carbon dioxide (CO2) isn’t captured. Capturing CO2 lowers the carbon score of ethanol plants and makes them competitive in the ethanol market, particularly in California.
Gibson and Lang also told the board it will take four months’ operation to off-set the carbon emissions produced during construction of the pipeline, but the pipeline will have “a big impact on CO2 emissions.”
When Muir asked about the use of eminent domain to acquire land for the pipeline, Lang said there were no plans to use that process.
Lang and Riley reported 91 percent of landowners on the path of the proposed pipeline in Greene County have entered into easement agreements with SCS.
“Three landowners are left,” Lang said. “We work to re-route the pipeline according to landowners needs.”
The supervisors also spent time at the end of the Feb. 9 meeting to review departmental budget requests for FY2024. Supervisor Rudolph was absent so no changes were made to budget requests.
