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

During reports, County Attorney Thomas Laehn addressed the Board. The Board agreed for Laehn to move forward with sending a 28E agreement to Greene County Medical Center on behalf of the Greene County Ambulance Department, where it was proposed that the medical center would pay $600 per transfer of patients either to or from their facility by the Ambulance Department. Both parties would need to formally approve the agreement before it becomes valid. 

Laehn also mentioned his first criminal case he prosecuted as the assistant county attorney in 2018, with James Exline being convicted of sex abuse and was sentenced to a total of 75 years in prison. He noted that Exline also lost his appeal for a new case and just recently, a judge agreed with Laehn that Exline had fair representation from his lawyer as part of his post conviction relief request. He added that this was a full circle case that is no longer an active one. 

County Engineer Wade Weiss said that the bridge replacement project on Parkland Avenue recently had its bid letting. He noted that the apparent low bidder was Jasper Construction with a bid of $762,599, which was under the budgeted $800,000. He stated that the project would be done with farm-to-market fund, which included $1.1 million. The Board also agreed to have Weiss move forward with repairs to some of the bells on the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Bell Tower of $19,000, which was also a budgeted item.

Next, the Board heard from Elderbridge with its 2027 fiscal year funding request of $9,389 and no action was taken following the request. They also approved a resolution to transfer $203,596 from American Rescue Plan Act to the general basic fund for professional services with BBS Architects/Engineers and to Graphite Construction for the HVAC project with the Greene County Courthouse. The Board then approved a resolution to hire Douglas Nelson as a part-time courthouse custodian with a starting pay of $16 per hour and he will start on December 8th.

Additionally, the Board approved the proposal from Hopkins and Huebner for the provision of Human Resources Support Services with an hourly rate of when they are used for employee issues and they will start on January 1st. Next, the Board approved the tax increment financing certification for the 2027 fiscal year and they re-canvassed the votes for the Rippey City Council At-Large seat. It was mentioned that because there was a four-way tie with write-in votes, the Board randomly drew an individual’s name out of a bowl last week and that person declined. This time, the Board randomly drew Chelsi Lawrence and she has ten days to accept or decline. If she declines, the Council will either appoint an individual or will need to hold a special election.

Finally, the Board served as the Drainage District Board of Trustees and approved two payments to Wilks Construction for work completed in Drainage Districts 104 for $1,967 and DD-71 for $5,499, while also approving payments to AgriVia of $150 for DD-104 and $300 for DD-71.