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

During open forum, a resident voiced a concern about the $11.5 million funding that is being used on county road projects in the northeastern portion of the county. He thought the people that signed with MidAmerican Energy for easements for the wind turbines had to pay for that project with an additional tax. The Board informed the resident that the funding for those projects was through the tax increment financing (TIF) mechanisms that they can use as a portion of the property taxes that the turbines are generating. It was mentioned that this was not a tax on the property owners. 

County Attorney Thomas Laehn reported about an Iowa Supreme Court case where he cited the Fair Report Privilege was identified. He said that anytime a governmental entity is livestreaming or live recording a meeting and providing it as a way to serve the public, without editing any part of it, cannot be held liable for anything that is said in that meeting.

County Real Estate and Tax Coordinator Pam Olerich addressed the Board. She presented different options from the city of Jefferson of proposals to expand the Urban Renewal Area to include additional projects that would become tax increment financing (TIF) eligible. She cited several projects that included the former middle school conversion into apartment project, a parkland development project that includes the areas near the former middle school, a public parking lot that is directly south of Jefferson Telecom in two empty lots, the golf course and Greenewood Center redevelopment project, and the stormwater drainage project that includes the county fairgrounds. 

The other proposal that Olerich shared was the city looking to create a blighted district within the Urban Renewal Plan that included the former middle school, parkland redevelopment and the public parking lot. She had concerns that in the information she was given by the city only detailed the parcel numbers and not the physical descriptions of those areas so that she could finish her side of documenting those proposals. The Board instructed her to not proceed with what she wanted to do until that information was reported by the city.

County Engineer Wade Weiss updated the Board on the County Road E-18 project. He said the existing concrete is continuing to be crushed and will serve as a sub-base for the new concrete to sit on top of. He noted that the bridge project near Ralston is anticipated to have the new deck poured by the end of this week and the project will be finished after August 1st, due to the endangered fish species of the Topeka Shiner that prevents work from being done.

The Board then held a public hearing on the 2025 fiscal year budget amendment. County Auditor Billie Jo Hoskins said the increase of revenues included interest from investments, selling equipment in the Secondary Roads Department, an Iowa Communities Assurance Pool (ICAP) payment for damages to the Sheriff’s Office vehicles, and a grant from the Greene County Community Foundation for a new drone for the Sheriff’s Office. She said the increases in expenses included additional juvenile detention services, total cost of repairs for the Sheriff’s Office vehicles, total cost for the drone, with some funding coming from the emergency management budget; and general services for the Secondary Roads Department. 

Following the hearing, the Board approved the amendment for $480,000 of additional revenue and $174,000 for expenses. 

Next, the Board approved to withdraw from its 28E agreement with Central Iowa Community Services (CICS) Mental Health Region to be effective June 30, 2026. Supervisor Vice Chair Dawn Rudolph said Greene County will no longer be in the CICS service area starting the next fiscal year, but she wanted to stay on as a representative with the CICS Governing Board until the end of the 2026 fiscal year. 

The Board also entered into Drainage to act as the Drainage District Board of Trustees and approved the annual assessments and the six percent waiver rate as presented, before coming out of Drainage and back into the regular Supervisors meeting. 

The Board then approved an alcohol license for The Era Wedding and Events Center in Scranton, as well as the claims for May 27th. The Board also approved a resolution to direct all non-mandatory county appointees under the Supervisors to document their time spent on work-related tasks. Supervisor Chair John Muir started the conversation by stating that he had the idea after a pie chart was presented by the Multicultural Family Resource Director Sara Huddleston that detailed everything she was involved with that position. Rudolph mentioned that by doing this, it will help them when the Supervisors would need to hire for those positions again, and Benitz added that it helps protect those employees from being liable against accusations. It was mentioned that these positions included the custodian, Informational Technology and Drainage District Clerk, and the County Environmental Health and Safety Administrator.