The county supervisors at their June 15 meeting held a public hearing and then approved a permit allowing NEW Cooperative to place a third anhydrous tank at its facility on Highway 4 about four miles east of Churdan. There are two tanks now; the third will bring the total capacity to 135,000 gallons.
Jeff March of NEW Cooperative said the site is already zoned for that quantity of anhydrous, and that the closest site to that location is a hog confinement 1,000 feet away. When asked about NEW Coop’s Cooper site, he said there are four 30,000 gallon tanks there.
County attorney Thomas Laehn updated the supervisors on changes to Iowa Code 21.4 dealing with how county boards post their official meeting notices. The change applies not only to the board of supervisors, but to every board appointed by the supervisors. Agendas must be posted “in a manner reasonably calculated to apprise the public” of the date, time, place, and items of business. Agendas must be posted in a prominent place easily accessible to the public.
The change in the Iowa Code specifies that the place where agendas will be posted is visible 24/7, the place must be designated annually, and that entities must also post agendas on the primary internet site owned or maintained and regularly updated by the governmental body. The bulletin board next to the supervisors’ meeting room on the second floor of the courthouse is no longer an appropriate place for notices, as it is not visible to the public 24/7. Supervisors’ agendas have been posted on the glass at the east entrance to the courthouse in recent years.
Laehn also said the Statehouse eliminated the cap on county attorney salaries. He said his salary isn’t close to the cap.
Pam Olerich of the auditor’s office reported that the city of Paton plans to annex two properties now in Paton Township – the Paton Pit Stop and a property owned by Casey Coffman. The item was informational for the supervisors.
Supervisor Joe Gannon reported that members of the county’s pioneer cemetery commission had spoken with him about the possibility of taking jurisdiction of the cemeteries from township boards and giving it to the pioneer cemetery commission.
The pioneer cemetery commission has no authority, Laehn said, unless the board of supervisors enacts an ordinance taking jurisdiction from the township and either keeping that jurisdiction with the county or giving it to the commission. The default – the current situation in the Greene County – is that the townships retain jurisdiction.
Gannon said in one particular pioneer cemetery a farmer has encroached.
Laehn said that if the supervisors take jurisdiction from the townships, the county would be obliged to fund the pioneer cemetery commission, something that hasn’t been done in Greene County. Any maintenance costs would be paid by the pioneer cemetery commission through an annual budget amount from the county.
“As a matter of public policy, you want that group of people to be responsible that has the most interest in maintaining the cemeteries,” Laehn said. “My sense is that these townships haven’t been. Maybe they think the commission is doing it.”
Supervisor board chair Dawn Rudolph suggested there be conversations with township boards about the situation. Laehn said there may be lack of clarity on the part of the township boards about their responsibilities.
A pioneer cemetery is one that has had six or fewer burials in the past 50 years. There are 10 pioneer cemeteries in the county – one in every township except Hardin Township. The pioneer cemetery commission was formed in 1999.
Carole Custer, chair of the Tower of Fame Award selection committee, spoke with the supervisors about the location of the reception for the award recipient being changed from the courthouse rotunda without her knowledge. She said the crew working on the HVAC system and courthouse employees had tidied the courthouse well, and that she had put up signage at the courthouse, without knowing the Does had on their own moved the reception to the Welcome Center without telling her.
County engineer Wade Weiss arrived at the meeting late and asked about other issues with the Bell Tower Festival. Rudolph named the use of electricity, parking issues, and the unexpected change in location. She said she planned to meet with BTF chair Phil Heisterkamp and 2027 chair Shelby Wiggins.
Weiss had his own opinion. “I think it’s probably the right time for secondary roads to get out of the Bell Tower (Festival) business altogether,” he said.
He said secondary roads got involved in the early years because he wasn’t comfortable with the safety of the stages the Festival committee was putting in front of the courthouse. “We did it to protect the county. Now they’re mostly set up out on the street, which isn’t the county’s jurisdiction,” he said.
He suggested the county give its flatbed stages to the Bell Tower Festival committee. On a good note, Weiss reported that road use funding came in at $55,000 more than what he budgeted for, totaling $4,182,000.
