~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
During open forum at the regular meeting of the Greene County board of supervisors on Feb. 12, Scranton resident Kirk Citurs read from a prepared statement of accusations against Greene County Development Corporation.
Citurs objected to county funding of GCDC based on political factors and Biblical prophecy.
“GCDC is a Democratic (party) organization,” Citurs said. “Democrats call evil good and good evil. Strong men create good times and weak men create bad times.”
Citurs predicted violence if “GCDC brings busloads of illegals in” for “social engineering.”
“Trump, if elected, will haul those (illegals) out of here,” Citurs said. “They don’t want to be here anyway. They were promised jobs in Chicago and other big cities and they don’t want to be dumped in the middle of a cornfield in a place like this.”
Citurs suggested the low-income housing project promoted by GCDC and other projects be placed on a ballot for county residents to vote on.
“Who else gives money to GCDC?” he asked.
Supervisor Pete Bardole, supervisor representative to GCDC, told Citurs the members of GCDC are business owners in Greene County and are the donors.
“We’re weighing the pros and cons of the $50,000 requested by GCDC,” board chair John Muir said.
“How many apartments are planned?” Citurs asked, referring to a multi-family housing project proposed for part of GCDC’s east business park. Bardole said he didn’t know.
“You should make GCDC show how their money is spent,” Citurs said, also suggesting a list of the membership of GCDC should be reviewed.
“This is happening in counties all across Iowa,” he said.
Muir told Citurs the board is monitoring the situation.
Later, during a FY2025 budget session, Muir said he “would be appalled” if the GCDC board was a “political board.”
Bardole said, “The idea of bringing busses (of workers) is not the case.”
Supervisor Dan Benitz said, “Well, they (GCDC) probably wouldn’t talk about it. They (busses) would just show up.”
Muir asked whether GCDC shares their membership list and said it would be good for the supervisors to have.
Bardole again said the membership is made up of individuals and businesses in the county.
“We have a hassle with differences in philosophy,” Benitz said.
Muir told the board the Jefferson city council will be meeting Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 5:30 pm to hold a public hearing on re-zoning the land south of Ace Hardware for the construction of housing and he hoped people would go to the meeting to express opinions. [Editor’s note: GCDC has limited involvement in the project. The land has been purchased by KCG for the project. The city’s planning and zoning commission has recommended rezoning from light industrial to RM3 to allow multi-family housing to be built.)
The board agreed their job is not to micromanage the funds given to various organizations.
Muir said, “We help fund things and hope people (in charge) make the right decisions.”
Also during the budget session, the board discussed funding for Greene County Conservation.
Director Tanner Scheuermann had requested funding for a naturalist position for FY2025, a request also made, but not granted, in FY2024.
The board discussed maintenance needs for the parks and other areas and discussed the proposed conservation budget at length, including difficulty in finding qualified people at the available salary levels. They praised Scheuermann’s efforts.
“We’re not ready for a Naturalist,” Benitz said.
Another budget session will be held on Thursday, Feb. 15, at 8:30 am. Some employee evaluations will also be considered then.
County attorney Thomas Laehn told the board he met with Boone and Greene County Probation Services director Diane Hinderaker to negotiate a contract for services to Greene County. Hinderaker had previously proposed a $47,276 contract for FY2025.
The new proposal is for $35,611 paid quarterly. Laehn said the agreement will cover five quarters to bring it in line with the county’s budgeting schedule.
Laehn also reported a problem with billing sent to Summit Carbon Solutions. He said, per agreement with Summit, the county hired Snyder and Associates, an independent engineering firm, to oversee the construction of a proposed carbon-capture pipeline. He said Summit had agreed they would pay for independent inspection services.
Laehn said Snyder and Associates presented a bill to the county for about $8,000 and the county forwarded the bill to Summit. He said Summit is questioning the bill since no pipeline has been laid to inspect.
Laehn said, “If Summit refuses to pay the bill, the county will be stuck with it.”
Laehn said he will meet with Snyder and Associates to see what services the bill actually covers.
In other business, Jefferson city administrator Scott Peterson gave a monthly update. He said company representatives from KCG Development of Cincinnati, the housing development company for proposed construction of housing south of Ace Hardware, will attend Tuesday evening’s public hearing.
He said KCG proposes building 50 multi-family units and will request the land be re-zoned from light industrial to multi-family usage.
Peterson also described a change to the city recycling program. He said the current system of green bins which requires residents to sort recyclables will change to one 65-gallon container that does not require sorting.
“This will be an automated pick-up,” he said, “with the recyclables taken to Metro-Waste in Grimes instead of Carroll.”
Peterson said the dedicated truck service will begin in the summer. The large drop-off containers on N. Cedar Street will continue also.
“We will do public education before the program starts,” he said. “Corrugated cardboard will still go to Carroll and only plastics numbered 1,2,5 can be recycled.”
The board unanimously approved Resolution 2024-009 approving the placement of sculptures on the courthouse grounds in celebration of the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower. All board members were present except Dawn Rudolph.
Pete Bardole, representative to the Bell Tower Foundation, presented photographs of entries in the sculpture contest for 2024. County attorney Thomas Laehn reminded the board they have editorial control and can reject any entries they feel do not express the message they would like to give by displaying the art on courthouse grounds.
The board voiced no objections to photographs they were shown.
The board unanimously accepted the sheriff’s quarterly report for Oct.-Dec. 2023.
The board also unanimously approved 10 possible construction managers for the design and construction of the Greene County jail project.
ISG, the engineers for the project, told the board the 10 applicants had submitted statements of qualifications to facilitate construction manager at risk services.
The board’s approval allows the process to advance to the next step of choosing one applicant for the position.
Supervisors Benitz and Muir said they met previously with ISG.
