The Greene County Board of Supervisors met on Tuesday.

During reports, County Attorney Thomas Laehn said his office has 74 pending criminal cases and due to a state requirement, new technology is being installed in the main and magistrate court rooms of the courthouse. 

County Engineer Wade Weiss talked about re-paving eight miles of two county road sections, including four miles on County Road E-18 from Highway 144 east to the new grain elevator site for Landus Cooperative and another four miles from the main road through Dana south to Highway 30. He said the estimated cost is about $10 million, which could be paid through tax increment financing from the wind turbines. 

The Board then approved a special alcohol license for Cloud Wine during the spring open house event with Country Blessings from April 10th-14th, and the Delta Vision and Delta Dental insurance renewals were also approved. It was mentioned that there was going to be a four percent increase in vision and no increase in dental for county employees, with those rates to begin at the start of the next fiscal year on July 1st. The other action item for property insurance renewals was tabled, due to a scheduling issue with the insurance representative. 

During the budget workshop, the Board discussed the county recorder’s budget, specifically about the deputy position. County Recorder Deb McDonald clarified that the deputy’s salary was based on her current deputy not retiring. But now that that individual is, McDonald said the new deputy will have a starting salary of around $40,000. The Board also talked about the county conservation budget. They discussed the proposal of adding a naturalist position. Supervisor Dan Benitz had concerns about the position and he felt the county was ready to have one yet.

There was also a discussion about the special election for the rural Local Option Sales and Services Tax (LOSST) that is currently underway. County Auditor Billie Jo Hoskins said there are two questions on the ballot for the unincorporated voters to decide on. Those include eliminating the sunset date entirely for LOSST and changing the language to “any lawful purpose” so that the Board had more flexibility to utilize the one cent sales tax on goods and services within the county. It was mentioned, one of the reasons for changing the language is so that the Board can use LOSST funds to repay debt from an anticipated bond issuance to pay the rest of an HVAC upgrade to the courthouse, while also continuing to pay the funds for Secondary Roads and a sheriff’s office vehicle.