The Greene County supervisors as expected approved a resolution at their June 19 meeting proposing to fill the upcoming county auditor vacancy by appointing Billie Jo Hoskins, now deputy auditor, to the position. The resolution will be posted in the county’s official newspapers June 28 and 29. Voters will have 14 days in which to file a petition signed by 363 voters to request a special election.
The appointment won’t be made until July 17, as auditor Jane Heun retires July 14. Per Iowa Code, the appointment can’t be done until the position is vacant. Voters will again have 14 days after the appointment in which to file a petition calling for a special election.
The only other action taken by the board was to approve an agreement with Unity Point Health for clinical engineering (checking equipment) for Greene County Ambulance.
Several matters were discussed with no action taken.
Supervisors Dawn Rudolph and Pete Bardole, along with county engineer Wade Weiss, reported they met with Hollie Elbert of Brooks Borg Skiles last week about moving forward with a long-discussed update of the courthouse heating and cooling system. “We’d definitely like to proceed with the project,” Rudolph said in starting the discussion.
She suggested the design work be finished this year, with bidding in time for work to begin next spring. Work would start in the basement, after the heating season.
The project would include a new boiler in the basement and a chiller on the roof, and replacing the current radiators with wall units that would distribute both heating and cooling (similar to hotel wall units). Some radiators would be left in place, non-functioning, to maintain the historic integrity of the building.
The project would not include renovating restrooms or updating lighting.
Cost of the HVAC project is estimated at $3.2 million, including design. “The projects aren’t going to get any cheaper,” Rudolph said.
The county has available $1.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Another $400,000 will be available after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimburses the county for work done on the Raccoon River Valley Trail.
Finding the remaining $1 million is the challenge. Rudolph suggested using the same mechanism the supervisors used recently for a new communications tower, selling bonds for an essential county purpose without voter approval. The maximum that can be borrowed that way was $600,000, but auditor Heun said she thinks the state legislature increased that amount in the 2023 session.
Weiss suggested postponing the project for a year, doing a bid letting in January 2025. Weiss said the boiler is expected to be functional for the 2023-24 winter, “but it’s not something we’re going to rely on for the next 20 years.”
That would allow more time to line up funding.
The courthouse would not be vacated during the project. It’s possible the secondary roads office would temporarily relocate to the Jefferson maintenance shop and other offices would use that space while work is done in their space.
In wrapping up the discussion, Rudolph said, “We’ve always seemed to find a way to do projects outside the courthouse. We’ve got to stick some money into this courthouse.”
“We’ve discussed it, and always put it on the back burner,” Muir said.
“It’s not a back burner project any more,” Rudolph said.
Bardole said he prefers starting the project in spring 2024, noting a projected 8 percent per year increase in cost.
Discussion of when the project would start will follow more discussion about how it will be paid for.
Weiss also updated the supervisors on his further discussion with the Verdin Company about some of the smaller bells at the top of the Mahanay Memorial Bell Tower. The bells hanging on the outside have been hit by lightning, damaging the electronic striker mechanism. Tim Verdin has suggested moving the bells to a more protected place on the tower and hanging bell shells (Weiss called them “fake” bells) on the outside.
“It would appear like we have 60 bells up there,” Weiss said.
Verdin is estimating three days to move the bells, requiring a hired crane for three days at $9,000 each. Weiss said that because the county signed off on the design of the tower with the exterior bells, the county would be liable for that cost.
Weiss had good news for the supervisors – the county’s share of road use tax is 8.8 percent higher, or $324,000, more than expected.
County recorder Deb McDonald and county attorney Thomas Laehn updated the supervisors on their work on an open records request for all emails from 27 different email addresses used by the county. The county intends to comply with the request, but only after notifying the requestor of the cost for doing so. By law, the county is obliged to spend up to one hour filling a request, but after that, the requestor must pay the employee’s hourly wage.
Chuck Wenthold, as safety director, shared a model seatbelt/restraint policy recommended by the Iowa Municipalities Workers’ Compensation Association. Weiss and conservation director Tanner Scheuermann both questioned how the policy would be enforced. “I’m not a kindergarten teacher. I didn’t go to school for that,” Weiss said.
Scheurmann said conservation employees wear seatbelts except when they’re mowing in parks and that he can’t “babysit.”
Wenthold also reported the board of adjustment will hold public hearings July 6 on National Grid Renewable’s conditional use permit application for the Grand Junction solar project and a conditional use permit application from Hardin Hilltop Wind to replace its current substation. The hearings will begin at 5 pm in the board room at the courthouse.
Scheuermann reported a vacancy on the county conservation board. Information about serving on the board, as well as a form to indicate interest in serving on the board, is available on the county website at www.co.greene.ia.us
Tammy Nielsen, private industries program manager with Iowa Prison Industries (IPI), Bob Fairfax, IPI director, and Adam Yetmar, warden at the North Central Iowa Correctional Facility in Rockwell City provided information about their program. Scranton Manufacturing intends to employ about six inmates to fill vacancies as welders.
Inmates placed by IPI are in the last 6-8 months of their sentence and are low-risk and in minimum custody. Of the 494 inmates at Rockwell City, 60-80 are working for IPI. They’re paid the prevailing wage for the work they do, which helps them pay court-ordered restitution for their offenses and accumulate savings for when they’re released. In some cases, the inmates are hired to do the jobs in which they were placed by IPI.
Some inmates at Rockwell City have received training as welders, and Scranton Manufacturing will provide more training.
Nielsen explained that IPI is required to review a proposed program with the county supervisors and sheriff and to answer questions prior to the start of employment. The supervisors’ approval is not required, though.
Board chair Muir spoke favorably about the program, saying “It’s outside the box. It’s good.”
