~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
Discussion of RAGBRAI regulations continued at the May 1 meeting of the Greene County board of supervisors. County attorney Thomas Laehn revised the draft ordinance from last week and will refine it again for a first reading of the ordinance at the next board meeting on May 8.
Under Iowa Code, Laehn found vendors under the age of 18 are not required to obtain a vendor permit for any event. Other parts of the ordinance will require vendors to set up on the right side of the RAGBRAI route and outside of the right-of-way, a ban on glass containers, and vendor permits not being required to give away free bottles of water.
The ordinance will contain an extensive list of definitions including the requirement of federal 501c3 status to be considered a non-profit business. Fees proposed for a vendor permit are $400 for for-profit businesses and $100 for non-profit organizations.
The proposed ordinance will apply only to non-incorporated areas of Greene County.
Engineer Wade Weiss reported new doors have been ordered for the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower and a roof drain on the courthouse has been fixed. There had been a leak into the elevator shaft during the last rain.
Weiss also discussed needed repair to a small bridge east of Rippey along the RAGBRAI route.
The board, minus John Muir and Mick Burkett who were absent, approved a change in the Iowa Department of Transportation project number of the bridge over the Raccoon River on S. Grimmell Rd. The project is a previously approved agreement with the IDOT.
Chuck Wenthold told the supervisors the board of adjustment is scheduled to meet at 6 pm Thursday in the courthouse boardroom to consider conditional permitting for National Grid Renewables.
Supervisor Dan Benitz reported a possible future hog confinement application for construction in the Greenbrier area.
Attending over Zoom, Michelle Fields, IT director, recommended to the board they move ahead with a proposal from Jefferson Telecom for updating the courthouse telecommunications system with VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol).
A committee assigned to review proposals for the update had reviewed four companies. They determined Jefferson Telecom was best because office phones could be purchased instead of leased and the local company would provide office phone usage even if the internet was down.
In another matter, Fields discussed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Iowa Office of the Chief Information Officer regarding CrowdStrike software, a software that could be installed on county computers to prevent cyber-attacks.
Fields said there is currently no charge for the CrowdStrike software.
Later in the meeting, the supervisors unanimously approved the MOU for Enhanced Security Services and named Billie Jo Hoskins as the board-authorized representative to execute the MOU.
County attorney Laehn discussed his review of a proposed agreement with Certified Testing Services, Inc. for Geotechnical Exploration services regarding a new 300-foot communications tower in the county. Construction of the tower has been proposed to be near Seven Hills Park.
Laehn told the board he has questions about a lump sum fee and a fee schedule described in the written agreement. Laehn said additional pages had been stapled to the basic agreement which changed the terms of the agreement.
After discussion, the board voted to conditionally approve the agreement with CTS pending Laehn’s receipt of an acceptably worded agreement.
The board authorized Doug Hawn to sign contracts and agreements for the county’s communication tower and related equipment, also pending Laehn’s receipt of an acceptable agreement with CTS.
The board unanimously accepted the sheriff’s quarterly report of fees for January through March.
The board also unanimously approved a resolution to hire Shane Monthei as fulltime jailer with the Greene County sheriff’s office beginning May 1 at an annual salary of $43,000.
Monthei resigned as a deputy sheriff in Greene County in order to accept the jailer position.
