The Greene County Board of Supervisors met Monday in regular session.
During reports, County Engineer Wade Weiss gave an update on various road and bridge projects. He said the County Road E-18 re-paving project continued to be slowed down by the recent rainfall from last week. Weiss noted that the concrete crushing process was completed with that project. As for the County Road P-46 project, Weiss said the contractor wanted to start paving that road this week, however, Weiss didn’t believe the area was properly dried out from the recent rainfall to do that.
Weiss then reported that the South Grimmell Road bridge will hopefully be open to traffic by this weekend, pending the availability of the grinder equipment to finish the project. He thought the bridge could be open without having the proper pavement markings, but that could also happen after the grinding process is done. Weiss also talked about the bridge project in Ralston. He said the deck was poured last week and that guardrails will be installed soon. However, due to the regulations with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Weiss said that the project will not be completed until August, with the protected species of the Topeka Shiner fish.
A report then came from the Greene County Attorney’s Office where it was mentioned that about 70 total applicable cases where defendants did not pay victim restitution would be sent notices to appear in court to explain to a judge why they haven’t paid those amounts, which would be a contemptible action. Those cases would be handled in batches of ten each time.
Next, Greene County Development Corporation President Scott Weber updated the Board about Michelle Book being hired as the interim director. He said their board is still considering a pathway for a new director and what that position may look like. Then, Drainage Clerk Michelle Fields invited the Board to attend an informational meeting about a potential project for Drainage District 20, with impacted landowners, to be held on June 26th at 6pm at the Churdan Library. The engineering company, Agrivia, will lead the meeting.
The Board then heard an update from Jefferson City Administrator Scott Peterson. He explained the two public hearings for Tuesday night’s city council meeting was to expand the Urban Renewal Area to include various locations, to be considered for future projects that could include tax increment financing (TIF). He said the other public hearing was about creating a blight district within the Urban Renewal Area that would be the former middle school apartment conversion project and lots next to it where the power plant was located.
The Board then approved a service agreement to participate for a third year with the State Association of Counties (ISAC) Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) program for the next fiscal year. The renewal fee was $1,750 to provide online training for all county employees and in-person training in Des Moines for County Auditor Billie Jo Hoskins and Informational Technology Director Michelle Fields. They also approved a resolution to hire Hannah Gross as a part-time emergency medical technician with the Greene County Ambulance Department. Her hourly wage is $16 and it was effective for June 3rd.