The Greene County Board of Supervisors met on Monday in regular session.

During reports, County Attorney Thomas Laehn said there are 53 pending criminal cases in his office, which is among the historic lows in his tenure. He also reported that he agreed to be a special prosecutor for a case for the Boone County Attorney. He mentioned that a jury trial last week was declared a mistrial due to the judge telling the jury about the defendant’s past criminal history, which is not allowed under court rules. He added that the trial will be rescheduled to a later date.

The Board then heard an update about the underground carbon dioxide pipeline project from Summit Carbon Solutions Representative Riley Gibson. He said the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration published its proposed regulations for carbon dioxide pipelines, but the Trump Administration froze the required 60 public comment period on the federal registry. However, Gibson mentioned that Summit is still reviewing those regulations. He also presented a tax allocation breakdown to local entities and the proposed route map of Greene County for the second phase and told the Supervisors that the corridor was widened to four parcels on either side of the route to work with adjacent landowners who wanted to be part of the project, if the landowners on the direct line did not want to participate. 

Gibson also reported that Summit is seeking to gain voluntary surveys from landowners for the second phase, looking to review the emergency preparedness plan with first responders with the dispersion modeling. He told the Supervisors that the governing bodies in North Dakota recently gave their approval for a permit and have re-applied with the governing body in South Dakota on November 19, 2024 for a second attempt at a permit, which they have up to one year to re-consider. He stated that Summit is continuing to work with landowners from its first phase to close out the other 25 percent that have not made an agreement for the voluntary easements and did not want to use eminent domain, despite the fact that the Iowa Utilities Commission granted them authority to use it.

County Attorney Thomas Laehn asked about Summit adhering to county zoning ordinances and conditional use permits for their projects. Gibson thought the state requirements would supersede county ordinances, but that Summit will work with the county in any way they can. 

The Board then heard a 2026 fiscal year budget presentation for the Secondary Roads Department with County Conservation and its budget request was tabled due to illness.  

Finally, the Supervisors then entered into a separate meeting as the Drainage District Board of Trustees and agreed to move forward with a study with engineering firm Bolton and Menk to look at the benefits of the landowners in Drainage District 20 that one of the landowners wants to improve a drainage tile and outlet. The landowner is east of Highway 4, north of Churdan.