Greene County Conservation director Tanner Scheuermann at the Oct. 26 county supervisors meeting responded to comments made and questions raised at the previous meeting about the Raccoon River Valley Trail, “the bike trail.”
He said two grant applications are pending. He said an application for a state recreation trail grant was denied, but he knew it would be because the program is aimed at new trails. He also applied for a Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) grant, but the application ranked fourth of six.
He said he is hopeful about an application for a statewide alternative transportation grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation. He said he met three times with DOT staff about ways to improve the score on the grant. He said he won’t know if the grant is funded until late December or early January.
He has also had assistance from Rep. Zach Nunn with an application for a federal grant.
“We’re trying to stress to everybody that we’re applying for every grant we can,” he said.
Scheuermann also reported on the progress of solar arrays at Spring Lake Park. The array on top of the shop is completed and awaiting connecting a new meter. Another array closer to the lake has been delayed by wet weather.
Sheriff Jack Williams reported he talked with county attorney Thomas Laehn about a 28E agreement with counties that want to house their jail inmates here. Webster County has asked about the possibility. He said there could be as much as $110,000 in revenue coming to the county for that.
County attorney Thomas Laehn said he thinks the sheriff has the authority to enter into agreements for housing out-of-county inmates, but that the supervisors are supposed to set the rate.
Williams added that from his discussion with Laehn, 60 percent of the money brought in to the jail must be used for upgrade and 40 percent is to be used for law enforcement purposes. He said with a 28E agreement between the sheriff’s office and the county, the funds could be used toward the purchase of vehicles,
Laehn has sent a draft agreement to the city of Jefferson regarding snow removal at the LEC and the new jail.
The supervisors held a public hearing on proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance regarding repowering of wind turbines. One written comment against wind turbines in general was received, but it was unsigned. There were no comments from the public and the supervisors approved the first reading of the amendment.
