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

During reports, County Attorney Thomas Laehn gave a few updates. He addressed questions from the public about criminals being extradited from other states for previous crimes. Laehn said he works in consultation with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office when determining to extradite criminals back to Greene County, but as a standard rule, he will bring someone in on a warrant for a previous crime, with very few exceptions.

Laehn also mentioned that he felt the jury trial for a murder went well and ended in a conviction against Christene Thompson. He appreciated the work done by law enforcement and the Assistant County Attorney Laura Snider, who prosecuted the case with him. Laehn stated that sentencing is scheduled for June and the required punishment if someone is found guilty of first degree murder is life in prison. He noted that he and Snider are preparing for the second murder trial that is slated for next month.

County Environmental and Zoning Administration Chuck Wenthold gave an update on the Greene County Courthouse HVAC project. He said the Clerk of Court’s Office has been moved to the third floor and that once construction happens on the roof, that project will take 15 days to completely replace it in order to hold more load for the additional mechanical items.

County Engineer Wade Weiss mentioned that the Bell Tower Festival committee member Luke Winkelman asked about upgrading the electrical load capacity on the outlet system around the courthouse grounds for vendors that need additional power. Weiss pointed out that he wants to look into what the costs would be to do that and figure out an agreement to pay for it, if it is possible. 

The Board then approved a resolution for precinct election officials and support staff to increase compensation for the 2027 fiscal year. The Precinct Officials will get a $25 increase to $200 and the hourly staff are getting a $2 increase to $13 per hour. They also approved another resolution for the elected county officials increase in salary for the next fiscal year. All elected officials, with exception of the Sheriff’s Office, are increasing salaries by 3.25 percent, while the Sheriff’s Office is getting a seven percent raise. 

Next, the Board held a public hearing and then approved the 2027 fiscal year budget. The rural property tax levy will see a decrease from $6.47 to $6.38 per $1,000 of property valuation, while the overall countywide tax levy will also drop from $9.94 to $9.79. 

They also approved a resolution to hire a part-time county attorney, with James Heiliger, and he will continue to serve as an assistant county attorney in Sac and Calhoun Counties. Laehn mentioned that the other assistant county attorney, Kate Willms, is serving her last week in his office and Heiliger will start on May 1st. He explained that he is looking for a smooth transition after he leaves office at the end of his term on December 31st. Heiliger will be paid $35,000 per year and will handle magistrate court cases.

The Board set a public hearing for May 11th at 9am to give easement access to Red Lion Renewables for solar panels to be installed on county property. They also heard an update from John Tolbert with the Iowa Drainage District Association. He told the Board that their organization monitored 35 bills in the Iowa Legislature that dealt with drainage and there was nothing detrimental to report from that. 

The Board also held a discussion about a brass plaque being added to the Schoolboy Soldiers of Rippey monument. Following the discussion, the Board felt that a generic identifier of the high school class honoring those that fought in the Civil War from the Rippey School, was better than naming individual students. The committee will be formalizing plans to present next week.

Finally, the Board acted as the Drainage District Board of Trustees and approved several claims to Wilks Construction and AgriVia as presented.