The Dallas County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Tuesday.
Following a closed session to discuss the purchase of real estate, the Board reconvened in open meeting around 9:45am.
It was a packed boardroom with standing room only for the open forum portion of the meeting. It began with County Veterans Affairs Director Ed Vos who told the Board that despite being offered a raise of 18 percent to $63,000 per year after submitting his letter of resignation, he will be leaving the office no later his originally announced date of May 7th. Vos said he can’t continue to work for a system that he feels is broken and doesn’t award hard work and additional education. Once Vos finished addressing the Board, 15 different people spoke in support of him as both a person and a VA director, including County employees, elected officials and members of the VA Commission. When asked by Auditor Gene Krumm if there was anything that could be done to convince him to stay, Vos said he didn’t believe so because then he would be staying for the wrong reasons and there are a lot of underpaid people in the County.
A public hearing was then held in regards to rezoning of property. Following the hearing the land, located in the Des Moines Township, was rezoned from a suburban residential classification to an agricultural district with a 2-1 vote and Supervisor Kim Chapman voting no.
Payroll change notices for the Conservation, Assessor, Sheriff and Veterans Affairs offices. Supervisor Mark Hanson and Human Resources Director Erin Freeman said the last they heard from Voss was an email over the weekend, along with a phone call to Supervisor Chapman, stating he accepted their offer for additional compensation and planned to stay on as the Veterans Affairs Director. Though, as noted above, Voss expressed he still planned to resign next month when addressing the Supervisors during the open forum portion of the meeting.
A payment processing addendum for the Sheriff’s department was then approved, as was a vehicle purchase request. The Sheriff’s Office needs to replace a vehicle that was in an accident and totaled. Shannon with the Sheriff’s office said they’re still in the process of settling with the insurance company. The purchase price of the vehicle is $25,115 for a 2014 Dodge Charger from Stew Hansen.
A public hearing in regards to a 28E agreement for law enforcement services with the cities of Redfield and Dexter was then set for 9:30am on April 28th. Supervisor Kim Chapman was then appointed as the County’s representative on the Adel-Dallas County Public Corporation.
A disaster recovery and system backup controller replacement request was then approved in the amount of $53,416.
The voice-network and security wiring proposal for the human services campus renovation project was then approved. Three bids were received for the project, the low bid was for $91,200 to ABC Electric Service. Pay application number two for the campus renovation project was then approved in the amount of $338,732 to Larson and Larson Construction. Change order number then for the project was then approved to add another $33,731 to the project cost. This is to add gypsum ceiling finishes to the building. Architect Jerry Purdy then told the Board the construction project is moving forward nicely. Joint sanding is nearing completion, floors and drywall installation is being worked on.
Finally, a facilities landscape plan was discussed. Among the items talked about was a sidewalk for the human services campus, parking at the campus and fire exits. The Board expressed the desire to have additional plans and bids to pick from.