John Muir will continue for another year as chair of the Greene County board of supervisors and Dawn Rudolph will repeat as vice chair. There was virtually no discussion before that motion was made, seconded and approved at the board’s Jan. 2 meeting.
During the reports portion of the meeting, county attorney Thomas Laehn introduced Kaitlyn Willms, new assistant county attorney. She will handle primarily civil work for the time being.
Laehn reported he and assistant county attorney Laura Snider are extremely busy with criminal cases and other matters. “The caseload has never been this low,” he said about the 51 criminal cases pending, but that more defendants are choosing to go to trial. There are several trials set for Jan. 28.
He said he is convening a grand jury Jan. 21 not because there’s an immediate need, but to be sure it would be available if needed.
He also told the supervisors he would be in Des Moines Feb. 3-4 at an evidentiary hearing on the property valuation of Wild Rose Casino. The state property assessment appeals board (PAAB) will hear the case. “There’s a wide disagreement between the county and the casino as to the proper valuation,” Laehn said.
Laehn explained that Vanguard does the assessments for the county, but in preparation for the PAAB hearing county assessor Adam Smith hired an “expert” assessment of the Wild Rose building. It was higher than the first assessment. Wild Rose owners are claiming more depreciation on the building than assessors are allowing.
Wild Rose owners also appealed the assessment of the Clinton casino.
“My goal is for them to pay their fair share,” Laehn said about Wild Rose.
“Wild Rose has been a good partner with the county, but we do need a fair valuation,” Muir said.
Pam Olerich, real estate and tax coordinator in the auditor’s office, presented the Jan. 1, 2024 taxable valuations. Those valuations will be used to compute tax levies for Fiscal Year 2026, the budget on which the supervisors are now working.
The total rural value is up 4.5 percent, to $690,104,999. The total urban value is up 3.6 percent to $224,264,394. The total valuation is up 4.27 percent from the previous year. “We really depend on ag to keep us upright, not industrial or commercial,” Olerich said.
Increases and decreases that were significantly larger than those percentages were due primarily to improvements made by co-ops.
The supervisors approved the organizational resolution for 2025. Most committee appointments are unchanged, with Joe Gannon claiming most of Mick Burkett’s assignments.
County holidays will be Presidents’ Day, Feb. 17; Memorial Day, May 26; Independence Day, July 4; Labor Day, Sept. 1; Veterans Day, Nov. 11; Thanksgiving, Nov. 27-28; Christmas, Dec. 24-25; and New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2026.
The supervisors’ regular meeting will be Mondays at 8:30 am, except when county holidays fall on a Monday. The regular meeting will then be Tuesday.
The supervisors placed on the Jan. 6 agenda hearing salary requests from the other county elected officials.
