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Last Updated: Dec 12, 2008 - 4:54:39 PM |
Iowa County Supervisor Bill Keegan (Mitch Traphagen Photo)
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MARENGO - On November 14, 2008, the Iowa County Board of Supervisors met with Ray Garringer, Charlie Montross, Bill Keegan, Linda Yoder, and Ric Gerard all present.
Mary Lou Erlacher presented the board with an update on the Workplace Learning Center program. She reported an excellent turnout with 146 job shadows occurring in Iowa County this year. Erlacher said the increase was due, in part, to Williamsburg getting on board with the program last year. Gerard stated that he agrees the program is a good one and serves two purposes in that “It also shows students what they don’t want to do.”
JinYeene Neumann, County Engineer, presented the board with right of way contracts for the Dayton Bridge project for the board chair to sign off on. Neumann stated that the board had received copies of these contracts earlier. A motion was made by Yoder and seconded by Montross to approve and authorize chair to sign right of way contracts. All voted yes and the motion carried.
A motion was made by Keegan and seconded by Montross to approve and authorize the chair to sign the 2008 weed commissioner’s annual report. All voted yes and the motion carried.
A motion was made by Yoder and seconded by Garringer to approve the 2008 Natural Resources Conservation Service Agreement between James Roemig with Roemig Farm, Inc. and Iowa County Secondary Roads. All voted yes and the motion carried.
A motion was made by Yoder and seconded by Garringer to remove the secondary road employee layoffs from the tabled items and to let the issue die at this time. All voted yes and the motion carried.
A motion was made by Garringer and seconded by Montross to remove union negotiations from the list of tabled items and to add it to the weekly agenda items under Other. All voted yes and the motion carried.
A motion was made by Garringer and seconded by Keegan to remove a motion regarding Larry Moore from the tabled items and to let the issue (which pertained to specific duty issue questions that had already been dealt with) die. All voted yes and the motion carried.
Tammy Wetjen-Kesterson from Benton/Iowa County Decat and Iowa County Empowerment met with the board to request a letter of support for a SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) grant application. According to Kesterson, this project deals with family preservation and how to provide community services and keep children and their families intact within the community. Gerard pointed out that many of these kids who don’t get help will eventually end up in the mental health or criminal system and referred to an earlier statement that families are actually splitting up in order to qualify for the help that is needed. A motion was made by Garringer and seconded by Montross to table the request for a letter of support. Garringer, Montross and Keegan voted yes. Yoder and Gerard voted no. The motion carried. According to the Department of Health and Human Services web site, applications for the Fiscal Year 2009 SAMHSA Grant are due by November 25, 2008. (In proximity to the deadline, the board will not meet again on Friday, November 21 but will meet next on Monday, November 24, 2009.)
A motion was made by Garringer and seconded by Keegan to enter Drainage District at 11:10 a.m. All voted yes and the motion carried. Lou McMeen, Assistant County Attorney, and Larry Moore, Levee Superintendent, discussed the levee superintendent’s contract. A heated discussion ensued about whether Moore should be paid for extra help when he needs to hire it, who this should be and how much they should be paid, reimbursement for the use of his personal machinery and for making the decision to hire emergency repair work in off hours without the specific approval for each incident prior to taking the action. Moore agreed to compile a list of duties that are not to be covered under normal maintenance (and therefore also included as duties already paid within his contract with the county) and to submit this list for the board’s approval. A motion was made by Yoder and seconded by Keegan to leave the Drainage District at 11:43 a.m. All voted yes and the motion carried.
A motion was made by Garringer and seconded by Montross to reappoint Ivan Reihman to the Veteran’s Affairs Commission to serve a 3-year term from 7-1-08 thru 6-15-11. All voted yes and the motion carried.
Tom Crosby from Veteran’s Affairs, presented the board with the department’s grant spending plan showing a grant expenditure change in FY09 and FY10. Crosby explained that a San Diego national certification trip, which will take place in FY09, will now be unnecessary as he is able to attend training locally in October which will comply with the law. Training is also available in Minneapolis. Both alternatives would cost less than the San Diego trip. Crosby said some FY10 spending could be moved into 2009 as the money would otherwise not roll over and would need to be sent back.
Joe Gleason, Building Maintenance, discussed repair options for the skid loader he uses (for various projects and increasingly so through the winter months) which has recently been looked at and necessary repairs determined to be over $3,000 versus the cost of a new skid loader from two different sources he’d researched. One source had said, with a trade in, the cost would be around $15,483 and another had quoted only a new price (without trade) to be $23,300. The board briefly discussed the option of contracting for snow removal and it was the general consensus that the county had been down that road before and it hadn’t worked well as it was often not done in a timely manner, frequently enough, or well enough, and that sometimes it was done unnecessarily during light snowfalls yet the county still had to pay for it. Gleason also mentioned that he had previously budgeted $5,000 per year for snow removal and that this might be a useful calculation or comparison when considering the idea of contracting versus purchase or repair. The decision to repair or to purchase a new skid loader was tabled for the November 24 meeting.
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Skies: PtcldyTemperature: 17F -8CDewpoint: 13F -11CRelative Humidity: 84%Wind: SE at 3m - 5kBarometric Pressure: 29.74FUpdated: 06:06:15 AM