The Guthrie County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Tuesday.

The Board heard the annual report from Elderbridge Agency on Aging and from the Guthrie County Libraries Association. They also heard updates from County Conservation Director Brad Halterman, County Public Health Director Jotham Arber and County Engineer Josh Sebern.

In his report, Halterman said the Dallas County Conservation Board decided to stop charging for passes on the Raccoon River Valley Trail starting in 2024. He told the Board that they talked about how that would affect their revenue from the trail, and have decided to follow the lead set by Dallas County Conservation.

The Board also appointed clerks and trustees of Guthrie County Townships, voting to keep current clerks and trustees for 90 days to get them through budget season, and then appoint new members to try and form a gender balanced front. The motion to do so was passed 4-1, with Mike Dickson being the only no, as he was unsure whether this complied with Iowa Code or not.

They also discussed and acted upon concerns brought forward by Supervisor Maggie Armstrong when it came to the selected official newspapers for the year. Armstrong believed that the Board had not done everything they were supposed to when letting newspapers know they were getting ready to select official papers for the year, and brought forward two motions. The first motion was to rescind the decision on official papers made in the January 3rd regular meeting. This was passed in a 3-2 vote, with Dickson and JD Kuster voting no. The second motion was to reset the deadline for the decision to the January 12th meeting, which passed on a 3-2 vote, with Dickson and Kuster opposing again. Dickson and Kuster opposed because they believed that passing these motions would set a precedent moving forward, and because the motions weren’t presented as action items for the regular meeting beforehand.

The Board also appointed Region XII Council of Governments Executive Board and Policy Council members. Supervisor Board Chair Brian Johnson was appointed to the Policy Council, while Supervisor Steve Smith was appointed to the Executive Board. The Board then set the 2023 mileage reimbursement rate to 56 cents for county employees.