The Greene County Board of Supervisors met Monday in regular session.
During open forum, the Board held a discussion on recording supervisors meetings, which would be due to COVID-19 forcing the temporary closure to the public of the Greene County Courthouse. Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn said a governmental body can meet when circumstances such as COVID-19 doesn’t allow for the public to attend, but public access must be allowed and can be recorded as if the public were allowed to attend a meeting.
Laehn then gave an update saying he had 81 pending criminal cases with four more indictable cases happening this week.
The Board then approved a road closure at 140th Street in Paton Township. Greene County Engineer Wade Weiss said the closure was to repair a bridge structure out of necessity, due to the annual inspection report by the state. It is located west of Paton on a dead end gravel road. Weiss said the project would cost no more than $87,900, with possible reductions due to the contractor Murphy Heavy Construction having access to a farm field to allow for some work to take place.
Next, the Board approved a statement of understanding with Central Iowa Community Services to allow for Service Coordinator Ellen Ritter to be paid 90-percent through CICS and 10-percent through the county for general relief assistance, instead of an 80/20 split. Additionally, the Board approved a cigarette and tobacco permit for the Paton Pit Stop and they approved the 2021 fiscal year county substance abuse prevention grant application and assigned Billie Jo Hoskins as the Board Authorized Signatory, along with an agreement with New Opportunities for the program starting July 1st.
The Board also approved a change order of $80,050 for additional work in drainage district 14, along with the final pay estimate of $10,620 and scheduled June 15th at 9am as the completion hearing date for the project. Then the Board approved to increase the county cremation services payment from $900 to $1,250.
A discussion was also held regarding last week’s public hearing on two new hog confinements. The Board reviewed the process of scoring the master matrix and holding public hearings ahead of their recommendation to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Currently the Board reviews the master matrix scoring before they hold a public hearing on the proposal. A letter of recommendation is then sent to the DNR which can include questions from the Board on the scoring and all public concerns that were noted during the public hearing.
County resident Chris Henning said in previous years the Board held the review of the master matrix on the same day as the public hearing, so public comments could be addressed regarding the scoring. No formal action was taken by the Board following the discussion.
Finally, Board Chair John Muir brought up two items. The Board discussed paying Dr. Robert Clemens $100 per autopsy. Currently he is not being paid and the Board agreed to have the request on next week’s supervisor meeting agenda. The Board also discussed the lights that were wrapped around the northwest corner trees of the courthouse grounds. The lights were used as part of the Bell Tower Festival for a special event and were left there following the festival. The Board has concerns about that and thought it would need to go under the county’s public art policy moving forward. Muir said he will gain additional information about a request that was made for this year’s festival to include a memory display on a courthouse tree.