The Greene County Board of Supervisors meet Monday in regular session.

During reports, Supervisor Chair John Muir said that during the Region XII Council of Governments Policy Committee meeting last week, it was mentioned that Region XII was considering working with the Paton-Churdan Early Learning Center to get funds to renovate a structure into the new daycare facility. Muir added that the Greene County Supervisors was asked by Region XII if they would be a fiscal agent for the project, of which no action was taken by the Board following the update.

Next, County Attorney Thomas Laehn brought up an issue about county residents not reporting for jury duty. He mentioned that a judge recently issued contempt of court summons to those individuals who did not attend last week’s jury selection and could face up to six months in jail. He noted that last week’s mistrial was the second mistrial of the year. 

Laehn also reported about proposing a public fornication ordinance to the Board at April 28th’s regular Supervisors meeting. He said the ordinance was in response to a previous conversation about some public nudity incidents that have occurred in the county. Laehn mentioned that while there is no state law prohibiting people from being nude publicly, that there can be an ordinance if the nudity is done with sexual intent. 

Next, County Engineer Wade Weiss gave an update on the South Grimmell Road bridge replacement project that started last year. He said the eight inch bridge deck was poured last week and the anticipated completion time frame is the end of May. He spoke about the bridge replacement project on Apple Avenue, with the late start date being pushed back to next Monday. 

Next, the Board heard a report from Jefferson City Administrator Scott Peterson. He said the bidding for the airport fuel farm project is Tuesday, and this summer a new restroom facility will be constructed at Daubendiek Park, due to a sizable grant from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation. Finally, he acknowledged the Great American Main Street Award winner Jefferson Matters and was in attendance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania last week to celebrate the honor. 

The Board then held a public hearing to discuss entering into a loan agreement and issuing general obligation capital loan notes not to exceed $2 million from the general fund. It was mentioned that the general fund would be used to pay the service debt from the general obligation loan, which would be reimbursed from the surplus account, on the HVAC project for the Greene County Courthouse. 

County Auditor Billie Jo Hoskins said before the second public hearing to authorize using the general fund to issue the loan is to be held on May 19th, the public has until May 15th to submit a petition for the measure to go on the ballot for November, with a minimum of 488 signatures. Supervisor Joe Gannon voiced his concern about making payments on the 20 year loan if there was no guarantee that the money from the surplus was going to be there to replenish the general fund from the surplus. He was in favor of having the voters have a say on this issue and then they could levy for it instead. 

County Treasurer Katlynn Mechaelsen added that she did not feel comfortable going to local banks herself about purchasing the bond if the payment funds were not guaranteed, but she would go if someone else from the Board would attend too. Following the hearing, the Board approved to set May 19th as the second public hearing and will then consider approving that authority after that meeting. 

A brief discussion was held with Weiss about the $11.5 million general obligation bond sale for the urban renewal plan road projects, as he said the bonds did not go out to the bond market last week with the tumultuous stock market fluctuations that happened. Next, the Board approved road closures on a portion of the County Road P-46 for a road replacement project, with a portion of County Road E-18 to be closed in two weeks. Then, they approved transferring $653,309 from rural basic and $180,000 from local option sales and services tax to the Secondary Roads Department. Finally, the Board approved 30 applications for the family farm disallowances as presented.