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

The Board approved a payroll change notice for Harley Hester, changing their position to jailer, then approved to call the 2023 Lake Panorama and Diamondhead Lake Rural Improvement Zone elections. They then heard from State Street Insurance Owner Becky Benton on the county’s workman’s compensation insurance, and 2024 Iowa Communities Assurance Pool. She told the Board that because of the derecho in 2020, building insurance across the state was still on the rise, and the county’s was set to go up 10-percent, with property insurance set to rise by 30-percent.

The Board then heard a department head update from Facilities Maintenance Director Brandon Thompson. He asked the Board for a raise for the members of his department aside from himself, as their workload had increased after opening the new law enforcement center. He said it added roughly 16 thousand more square feet that they did maintenance and general custodial work to. Thompson asked for a raise for the maintenance workers of $1.50 per hour, mentioning that the members of the department had many special certifications which allowed him to avoid hiring outside contractors for many forms of maintenance, including boiler, electrical and plumbing work.

After discussion, Supervisor Maggie Armstrong motioned to approve a $1 per hour raise, and the motion was approved with a 3-2 vote. Supervisors Mike Dickson and JD Kuster were the two votes against the motion, because they were against giving raises in the middle of the fiscal year. Both supervisors mentioned how appreciative they are of the work the maintenance department does, and that they do want to reflect that appreciation, but that now was not the right time to be awarding raises.

Thompson then took the supervisors and members of the public on a tour of the different areas of the courthouse that could be considered vacant, and went over the plan that he and the previous Board of Supervisors had devised to find uses for each area.