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

During reports, County Environmental and Zoning Administrator Chuck Wenthold said crews will be on hand by October 6th for the HVAC project on the Greene County Courthouse. He noted that the roof replacement is slated to be done this fall, ahead of when the new chiller units would be put into place. 

County Attorney Thomas Laehn gave the Board an update. He talked about last Friday’s sentence hearing for Conner Groves that went until 5:30pm. Laehn said the judge agreed with his recommendation for Groves to be sentenced to 15 years and two days in prison for her part in aiding and abetting arson and insurance fraud. He gave credit to Sheriff Jack Williams as the lead investigator and that Friday’s sentencing is an example of trying to deter other individuals from committing similar crimes in the county. 

Laehn also reported that his office has 59 pending criminal cases, which continues a trend for this year of being under 60 pending criminal cases. 

Laehn then spoke about Summit Carbon Solutions having submitted a petition to amend its permit that it received in 2024 from the Iowa Utilities Commission to implement language that would basically read that as new conditions for the permit is securing a sequestration site and having an approved route to that site. Summit is wanting to construct an underground liquid carbon dioxide pipeline from ethanol plants and transport it to an underground storage facility. The current permit stipulated, as part of the conditions, that there would be an approved route in South Dakota and the sequestration being located in North Dakota. Laehn said the South Dakota governmental entities have denied that twice. 

County Engineer Wade Weiss gave an update on the county road projects. He said crews are attempting to install a shoulder drainage tile on County Road P-29 to the county line with Webster County. Then crews will move to County Roads P-46 and E-18 to do the same kind of tile work. He noted that there are still 50 working days left, due to the weather-related delays. 

Next, the Board was acting as the Drainage District Board of Trustees and approved a wetland project for a private landowner in Highland Township, that also received approval from the adjoining Drainage District Board of Trustees in Webster County. A representative with AgriVia said the project would consist of pumping water from a private drainage tile to a pond, back into the tile, which drains into a ditch. The representative said there would be no cost to either drainage district and no impacts as well. 

Then, as the County Board of Supervisors, they approved a professional services agreement with Schneider Geospatial for GIS services for the County Assessor’s Office. Assessor Adam Smith said the amount was estimated at $11,400 for the agreement from October 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. He was hopeful that a plan would be put in place going forward for those services that were under the purview of former Informational Technology Director Michelle Fields, who resigned. 

The Board also tabled the update on the Urban Renewal road project and financing for the courthouse HVAC project, due to a family emergency for the presenter. Finally, Sheriff Williams had discovered that a former law enforcement officer, who was killed in the line of duty, was not part of the peace officer memorial. He said James Busby was an officer in Paton and was killed in a post office robbery in 1911. Williams added that he will be flying to Washington D.C. for the ceremony in May and was looking for a family relative to join him.