Jamie Daubendiek provided a recap of the May 24 Bike Ride Around Greene (BRAG) during the open forum portion of the county supervisors’ June 2 meeting. BRAG is organized by Jefferson Matters.
The ride began on the downtown square in Jefferson, made stops at Spring Lake, 209 Main in Paton, and 30 Yard Line in Grand Junction, and ended at The Courtyard Wedding Center in Jefferson.
According to Daubendiek, there were 112 bicyclists, 75 percent of whom are Iowans. Cyclists also came from Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Virginia, Texas and California. Of the Iowans, 40 percent were from Greene County and 30 percent were from Des Moines. A survey of the riders following the ride showed they each spent between $30 and $200 in the county.
Daubendiek gave a “shout out” to the county secondary roads department for providing “Bike Event in Progress” signs, sweeping intersections, and improving safety at a railroad crossing at Dana. Daubendiek also thanked the sheriff’s office for patrolling the route, and Greene County conservation for use of Spring Lake park.
The BRAG will be a regular event the Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend each year.
The only agenda item for the meeting was to approve Tyler Gathercoal as a Mahanay Maestro.
The supervisors spent most of their time hearing updates from county engineer Wade Weiss on roads projects and from county attorney Thomas Laehn on HF 639, which deals with liquid carbon dioxide pipelines.
Weiss reported that crushing is under way on County Road E-18 near Paton, but that many motorists are not heeding the “road closed to thru traffic” signs. “I guess thru traffic doesn’t include a semi hauling a load of hogs. I don’t know why that wouldn’t apply. It’s been very frustrating,” he said.
He said that in Greene County closure signs are in place only when work is actually being done, that they’re taken down at the end of the work day. Heavy trucks on a subgrade cause damage, he explained.
County Road P-29 north of E-18 will close next week for paving work. The detour will direct motorists east on E-18 (at the brick schoolhouse) and then north on P-33.
Laehn clarified portions of HF 639 and noted that the bill does not eliminate the use of eminent domain for liquid carbon dioxide pipelines, but it would require a pipeline owner to carry CO2 for other companies, not just their own. HF 639 would not block Summit Carbon Solutions’ project, but it would set new conditions for it. He said his “best guess” is that Gov Reynolds will veto the bill. He later said that if she takes no action on the bill – neither signing nor vetoing it – the bill will die because the legislature went out of session prior to the governor taking action on the bill.
