The temperature was well below freezing when the county supervisors met Jan. 13, but sheriff Jack Williams is looking ahead toward summer. He asked the supervisors to consider enacting an ordinance dealing with public nudity.
Williams said several people have approached him about preventing a problem that occurs in the southeast corner of the county “where public nudity goes on quite frequently every weekend.”
“Some of the stuff is definitely nuts. I wouldn’t want my kids driving by,” he continued.
“We need to probably address it somehow,” board chair John Muir said.
Williams said “they” are charging admission for the activities he didn’t name, and that unnamed parties are angry because the land is taxed as ag land.
Muir said both issues, public nudity and improper land use, should be looked into. He told Williams to work with county attorney Thomas Laehn on an ordinance.
The board approved a resolution stating the intention to participate in the master matrix process for confinement feeding operations. County zoning officer Chuck Wenthold walked through the process of dealing with a construction permit application and the master matrix. He said that although the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has the final word in approving a construction permit, without approving a resolution the supervisors would have no opportunity to inspect or weigh-in on a pending construction permit.
Several persons spoke with the supervisors during the Reports portion of the meeting, none of whom were listed on the meeting agenda.
Jamie Daubendiek invited the supervisors to attend a banquet of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition being held Jan. 25 in Des Moines as part of the Iowa Bike Expo. Daubendiek said the results of the economic impact of cycling on the state of Iowa will be released at that time. A case study of Jefferson and Greene County is part of the larger study, he said. The economic impact study will also be presented in Jefferson later this winter.
Jefferson Telecom, Aureon and Greene County conservation were contributors to the cost of the study.
Sara Huddleston updated the supervisors on her work with the Multicultural Family Resource Center. She said she recently served as a translator for the Jefferson police department and that she’s helped with job interviews for two businesses and Greene County Medical Center. She has also started teaching a Spanish class for community members, with 21 students in the first session.
Greene County Development Corporation director Ken Paxton reported the first meeting in the Vision 2030 planning project was slated for later that day. He also said a production team from IPTV is coming in February to film a segment about Huddleston and the Multicultural Family Resource Center.
Jeff Lamoureux, a member of the veterans service commission, reported that since the retirement of veterans service officer Mike Bierl, current and new files are being processed by the American Legion in Des Moines. That can continue until a veterans service officer is hired.
Jefferson city administrator Scott Peterson also gave his monthly update. He noted that KCG is moving forward with plans to build a 40-unit apartment complex on the west side of N. Elm St just north of the railroad tracks.
