Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

All right, I have 6 o'clock. We'll go ahead and start the meeting.

with me dear heavenly father as christ instructed we pray hallowed be your name may it guide our thoughts and our actions this evening that your name is holy and it is to be lifted up and that we are one nation under god community seeking to honor you and bring about your will on earth as it is in heaven Let us be reminded of our debt to you. The air we breathe, the sun and rain we have, the food in our bellies, the good things that you give us. Lord, you give us all things. I ask that we would be reminded of that in our hearts and spirits this evening. That we owe you for the grace that you give us. That even when we fail in our duties, even when we are selfish, even when we sin, Lord, you are gracious to us and you give us good things. Lord, let us be reminded that in this debt that we owe a debt of love by your commandment to one another as neighbors. As your commandments say, to love you first and above all and our neighbor as ourself. Lord, guide our hearts and minds and give us wisdom in our dealings this evening so that we may honor your commandments. We may love one another as neighbors and accomplish what is good. Bring prosperity and success to our communities and our towns and our neighbors, Lord. Lord, we are often tempted as the prayer reminds us by evil. Let us be focused, Lord, on what is good. Lead us not into temptation as we're taught to pray, but guide our hearts and minds in what is good and what brings flourishing to our communities, what brings peace and community. Lord, these are things that we ask that you lift up in our hearts and minds as you remind us of the daily bread and the good things that you've given us. Lord, we pray these things and we ask these things because you are the sovereign God. You are the one who has created all things. And you are the one who has all glory and all power and all majesty. Lord, we ask that we would be. faithful servants that when we are examined before your throne we can lift up our hands and say we follow through the law we listened to your word and we loved you lord and that we glorified you as the eternal all-sufficient all-powerful king and we pray these things so that jesus christ will be lifted up as Lord over all the things that we do. We pray these things so that the world will know of the goodness that you bring and the love that you give and the outstretched kind hand that holds for every heart and every mind and every soul. Lord, guide us in these things this evening. Give us wisdom and strength to make the right decisions that need to be made, to govern and rule and move our communities forward, to meet all of the needs that are brought forward. Lord, to genuinely care about our neighbors. And we pray again, in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Thank you.

Thank you very, very much.

All right. Let's go ahead and call our meeting to order.

Can I have a roll call, please? Here. Here.

All right. We'll go ahead and review the agenda. Any disclosures or conflicts of interest? Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. Oh, wait. We have to have an amendment. We have an amendment. Sorry about that. uh we uh need an amendment to the budget for i mean to the agenda for uh the liquor education for roseman bridge covered bridge gift shop do i have a motion to amend the agenda to add that license any discussion All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. Okay, the agenda is amended. So do I have a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Amended agenda. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All right. All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All right, the agenda is amended. I'll go ahead and entertain a motion to accept the consent agenda. So do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay, that brings us to the department head reports. Michelle, Mike, who wants to go? Okay, all right. I tend to get a little awkward.

That works. Okay.

Okay. um good evening uh my name is mike hackett i'm the madison county secretary of roads engineer thank you board for letting me come up here and talk for at least two and a half hours and 50 200 slides now that's not what you said we will circle back around to that subject but i will keep it very brief um a couple really good things uh well first of all i uh bring the board today three resolutions a b and c first one is uh hiring and equipment operators so another Another position filled in our vacancies that we've had down here. Resolution B is Rustic Avenue. We've got a bridge project under construction right there. That road is closed for bridge construction. And then Resolution C, last board meeting, the massive slide show and going through the fire construction program, the DOT budget. There is a process to that system that was presented and it's submitted to the Iowa Department of Transportation for review and approved by them. And I just bring up basically the title sheets back to say that it's been approved. This resolution that is presented today is for signing it and finalizing it. And once that's done, then those resolutions are sent back to the Iowa Department of Transportation. Going paperless has made it a lot easier. That's all I can say. We used to just present one sign and ship it. That's what we do. A couple things that did pop up here. Well, first of all, guess what? You guys, some of you already know, the Pitzer Bridge is open. We're not 100% done with it. We still have some seating, some cleanup, and then there's some shaping in the ditches, but with the rains we had, that might be a while. So it's open. It's good to get that project off the books. The other thing that came in late Thursday, last Thursday, about six o'clock to about 10 o'clock at night was, and I presented in the five-year construction program, that's the big arrows, I know the map, I didn't see it up there, about two years ago submitted what they call a CHBP. It's a grant that bundles structures together. The idea is that if you group three or four bridges that are similar, and you let it. And it's bundled together that you might get a better bid or a better project, and contractors may be more willing to come to Madison County and work on three bridges instead of one. And this concept has been done and proven before. We did this about six years ago with another grant process for that, except at that time, we were bundling as-like projects with... as like structures, got a little difficult when it's in other counties or other regions in the state. So with that being said, I got verbal approval that we've got those three that we had planned. So, yee-haw, we got about $2.9 million in federal aid for those three projects.

Do you have to piggyback state and federal money?

It's an 80-20. So 80% will be federal aid. That's that $2.9 million we wouldn't normally see. The other, they are on a farm to market system. So in planning of the Money 20% of our market dressed as a federal bridge money that we wouldn't normally receive. So this was a good one to get. Uh, again, we only receive about 900, 974,000 a year in bridge money and bridges cost close to 2 million. So getting this is a big boost. These, did you get the wake up? Okay. Now. During this process, I'll make this quick, I believe out of all of our bridges, I submitted 27 of them. And once it went to the grant system, they are looking for specific types and sizes. Now, all these bridges, and you remember when I spoke last board meeting, we have a lot of bridges that need to be worked on. they spit it, and sometimes that's the way bridges get replaced, is they just meet the right criteria for the money. And I'm sorry if you have a bridge just down your road that needs to be replaced, but we're working on it. These just fell into that slot, and you've got to take the money. Otherwise, somebody else will get it.

So were they taking white bridges with, like, the same construction?

Yeah, and they had to be on a... a roll collector, which is a part of Market Road. That was one of the things, because it's got that lay involved with it. And then as lifetime structures.

Now, we were very lucky because we got three.

And some of the other counties that are out there doing that, they have to share with other counties. So we hit the jackpot on this one. So good deal there. That's reflected in the budget. We are on the five-year construction program. That was part of that review. I was on the phone with the DOT for several hours working through the financing parts of this. There will be contracts to come with the DOT and the Federal Highway as this process goes through. Okay. I kind of hit the staffing notes. We filled one. We still have an equipment operator and a truck driver open. Cummings Road status 99.999. We have a patch for some detective work at the very end of the project where I would call the most northern and eastern part. We have a patch there that needs to be corrected. We'll have to see that once the weather stabilizes. That contractor is responsible for that and that will be repaired. What else do we have? Road conditions. Wet. Maybe even wetter tomorrow. But that's kind of what we do. I've talked about this before. Roads are kind of an outdoor factory and they're a living, breathing thing depending on what happens with the weather. Right now we're kind of transitioning from we would call our kind of winter type work into getting ready to go for local repairs and constructions. There are going to be bed dredging pavements, pulling shoulders for rock. We do a little winter cleanup and signs. You may see crew out blowing off salts and sands from bridge decks and that type of stuff. And then Bevington Park, Uh, schedule, I know this talk about this all the time, 7-21-2026. That's the letting, that's what it's scheduled for. Both of them at the same time. So I apologize to everybody that lives along that route. It's going to be darn inconvenient for a little while, but I figured that was the best to do it at the same time. That way we didn't do one for 18 months and then turn around and do another one. Um, but that'll be a project work through. It's going to be similar to what we had. a couple of years ago when we had that project closed, but they will be marked detours and we will work to get the other accesses taken care of. And then we've got to get working on these CHBP projects. So that's, I hope to have those. There is a deadline on getting those out. I remember we went over the five-year thing. I'm going to see if we can squish that down. Hopefully, knock on wood. That's all I have. Thank you.

I do have a quick question. Are we going to try to bundle going forward? or is this a one-time thing?

I don't know. This has become, this is the second time in about six years. Yeah, it's something that's starting to become very popular. Iowa's very unique. Iowa uses, they sit for bridges. They started this, oh, Late 50s, early 60s with the counties, they have what's called the county standard. They also have state standards. They can all be interchanged. We actually have a standard set of bridges standards. That makes bundling a lot easier. So we have, you know, five or six different standards of types of bridges we can pick from. That keeps costs down because then contractors don't have to specialize for special designs. Not all states have that, only a few do. So that's one of the reasons why we got that grant, because of the work that's been done longer for years. Anything else? Okay, great. Thank you.

I'll let the next one. All right. Michelle. Thank you.

That's right there. I saw it should be in your inbox. Good evening. I'm Michelle Brandt, Madison County Auditor. I start tonight's report with a budget process update. The fiscal year budget has been submitted as proposed to the Department of Management with all applicable notices for the public hearing that will be next Tuesday here at 6 p.m. It's been published in the Madisonian. The county contribution to health insurance appears to still be in play, and that was as of yet this afternoon. But the budget reflects an average of an 8% increase, more or less. Remember, it's just a budget number. The annual gap reporting was completed and submitted to the Department of Management about one time. I mean, it was within the time that we needed to be able to submit The budget. The state auditor report update. We had our preliminary exit conference on April 8th. The draft is confidential and they have been provided and they need to remain confidential. Both the auditor's office and the treasurer's office have been given 10 days in which to respond to the findings. I did submit mine last night. maudlin and jenkins have been updated and we're still unable to determine a start date for the fiscal year 25 audit hopefully very soon um the contract signing policy there was discussion about supervisor stanzel and myself getting together we have not been able to do that so i went ahead and took a stab at it it's in your packet And I would like to ask respectfully if you would review this. It's very related to the July 13, 21. And it just elaborates a little bit more, I think, to be in the spirit of what I heard here in the meetings. So the vault and the IT room conversion, we postponed that. Putting the IT room on as a new conference room until the server and camera updates retire upon. A note that while I received a copy of the RFQ, after it was sent to the two bidders, it appears the scope has changed from the original discussion. So I know it's on the agenda to talk to you tonight. It went further into more broader depth and deeper specifications, which I understand the reason you would want to do that. But my concern is that it would delay decision making, so I'm hoping that it doesn't. I also, I guess I was curious why we didn't seal these bids and have them submitted the way we did everything else. So that was my question. As far as the custodian at the courthouse, I am also providing as a matter of my packet, a job description. I know it's on the agenda to be discussed tonight. It's the building and grounds supervisor. It was taking in consideration of the duties that we listed out at the last meeting, and Kelly helped me with this. We think it really embodies the nature of what you guys were talking about at the last meeting, so hopefully we'll be able to talk about it. The concerns are the transition and training of new potential employees. The courthouse has an incredible amount of nuances and intricacies. These are just my bullet points. I don't have answers. I'm hopeful that we will be able to talk about this. The severance that was offered, I was asked about severance for the folks who are losing their job. And they've come at me with a few requests and they were very similar to what was offered at IT last year. Further, this is very important. I and as the auditor's office and they would like to stay on until June 19th. The reason being that gives us coverage for the elections of which the buildings and grounds plays an integral part of that. That does not affect the fiscal year 27 monies because we end the pay period. I already did that calculation. And even if the new contract has to start on the 1st, there's a nice then transition period. Also, we have projects that the three of those folks can actually focus on cleaning up areas of the courthouse. That would be really important to do before they're gone. Let's see. Inventory of clean supplies, I wanted that to note that since we have a substantial amount of clean supplies and inventory, that that be cataloged and we make allowance for that since it was part of the bid for reliable and that there's some kind of financial compensation or trade-off for that.

I have more stuff in there.

Again, I think it needs to be audited and evaluated and valued. Okay. When you see something in my report, it means that's been italicized. It's just I haven't had a chance to get to it. That's moving the server. But given the fact that we don't know where folks are going in the courthouse right now and that that may or may not be building on grounds as an office, I thought we would just pause on that. I also wanted to let you know that the VPN audit was complete and I have a new resolution that normally we wouldn't put into play. until later, but right now we are without a resolution. So I really, I'm hoping we can get it on next week's agenda. The one thing you might have paused with, and I want to point it out to you, is I would like, and I've had a number of, not in general, I've had three different auditors and two IT folks of other counties that ask that when a person has been given notice, or they give notice, that that's when the VPN gets shut off. And I mean, I suppose there would be some one-off situations, but just as a security precaution, that would be, but I've submitted that for you folks to look at. Let's see, then the last thing is just that I definitely want to put it back up in the forefront of the IT discussion between liaison and IT director.

We haven't had a chance.

I know we haven't had a chance.

I'm kind of waiting on you, because you have less flexibility than I do.

OK, so then I will go ahead and send you an Outlook invitation, all right? And like I said, I am concerned that I'm not being responded to for higher level things that I asked for. So just kind of keep that in mind as we go into our conversation. Do you guys have any thoughts?

Yeah, I do. Fiscal year ends June 30th. Why wouldn't you take them to the last pay period in June? Could you do that? I did.

That would be June 19th. Otherwise, we'd be paying out monies in July. All right. So you went to the last pay period.

Do we have a name for the conference room yet to be able to utilize the conference room?

Not until we get the cameras. Until those are moved. Correct. Now we have to figure out how to keep the glass clean. So I do have a concern, and maybe we can meet offline about it, but I am seeing on Facebook people's health information being shared.

Do you know about that? Yes, I know about that, and I'm a little concerned about that. Who's sharing that? There's members of the public that are sharing information, one of whom is me, my husband. And there's only certain people have access to that information. Okay.

So are you concerned about a breach, a data breach?

I'm concerned that someone is being given personal information about myself and my husband and they're sharing it on Facebook.

Oh, I think people could sit in the meetings and maybe that one meeting.

Diane?

So do you think that that's an auditor's office concern?

I'm sharing it with you. Right. So you can make sure that we're not... Because what I don't want to happen is... If you could give me specifics.

I have screenshots. Okay, great. That would be wonderful because you know I would never tolerate that. I know.

From my office. Okay. So it's not from members of your office. It's members of the public that are given this information. So that's a concern of mine because I don't want it to happen to anybody else.

But you know that if that's what you're insinuating, it's the same difference. If you're insinuating that my staff is giving information to the public, it doesn't matter who posts it, right? Sure. Okay, so that's what you're hearing.

Somehow that information is getting out there, and we need to stop.

Okay, well, again, that would be very nice to know what he says.

When we have our big meeting, you send me an invite, we can add that to our conversation. What's it on? Facebook. It's on Facebook. We'll probably be gone tonight, but I took some time. So when we get together about IT, we can maybe talk about that too.

I would agree.

But otherwise, I don't have any questions. Thank you for putting everything together. I encourage the board to go over the proposed resolutions as well as the job description. I think there are some other things that you mentioned that you would like to have in the potential job so i encourage you know like all three of us to go over that and give feedback to michelle okay yeah we need some time to we need to digest it so yeah yeah and then hopefully we can get something move forward on that well i'm hoping yeah i mean i mean these are it's time so yeah and then that's almost on the agenda later um to talk about is it addressed yeah for what period the um somebody wanted to talk about she discussed new building manager position yeah discuss the new building manager i was going to basically going to get their feedback and put something together but we have a starting point so that's good but we haven't obviously had a chance to read it yet yeah so but i would like to get some feedback as the three of us together and then we can go our separate ways and

But you would agree that that would fall under HR, is to create a job description? It's not us.

Well, we would give what we want. So the board is the one that's determining the position. So we would provide that information to, and hopefully, you know, HR would put something together that meets the desire of the board. But yeah, thank you for sending an initial stab at it. I appreciate that. And did that just... Question, did that encompass everything? Because some of the public comments in previous meetings, they listed some of the stuff.

I'm assuming it's in there. It's broken down between primary duties and secondary seasonal duties. It talks about functional guidance and authority and decision making. It talks about supervisory responsibilities. qualifications.

Can you send this soft copy too?

It's already here.

It just came through, yeah. Okay. Did you add, I looked at it, did you add all the stuff they do for the chamber? Yeah.

I mean, again, you would go into here, you go to secondary and it would be um um I've got to find it now.

Yeah, I see it already. Can you um So I got the, can you send that as a Word doc that we can change to track changes? Because right now you sent it to us as a PDF. Correct.

As part of your report.

Can you send it to, and then we can track changes.

Okay, we can do that if we're just tracking changes.

Yeah, just tracking changes.

All right.

That's just kind of how, it's easier for me because then I can see what it used to be.

Well, I don't want it recreated. I mean, that's the point, is I don't want it to be, I mean, I would like to be involved with this as the HR, as the HR following under the auditor. And again, you're going to give us a direction and what we've missed and what we need to include. Correct. But that's good.

But having it in a Word doc where we can check changes would be very helpful. Okay. So if you could do that and send it to the board, that would be great. Okay.

You forgot, deal with pigeons on a daily basis. Yes, no white, no white, Gail.

Again, so this is a job description. What I think you're talking about is a performance plan. I know, the pigeons. And a schedule of services. Okay, well thank you, Michelle. Thank you, thank you. I was just going to tell you that you can't review everything, but try to include the end date especially.

Oh, so we know when to do it? Oh, okay.

So she knows exactly what the ending is.

Oh, so you're suggesting, so whether or not we want to take your suggestion in June 19th.

I'm just saying I understand that you guys are obviously going to do everything that might not all be decided, but the end date is something that we would kind of know sooner rather than later.

How about we make the determination in the next meeting? Would that be sufficient for the next?

For 28.

Sure, sure. so so we can have that decision we can make a decision we just need a budget for some who's going to do it if they aren't yeah correct so if you ladies can kind of work through that until we're ready to make a decision next week that'll be great okay um get back to our agenda here all right so that we are now in the public comment period So what I would ask is folks, if they want to come up and speak, please come up to the podium, state your name and your town, where you're from, and you have three minutes to speak. For the folks on the phone, we're going to do folks here on site, and then once we've concluded, we will open it up for folks on the phone. So please be patient. Okay, who would like to speak?

Joel Walsh from Winterset. Let me be clear. We have some serious elections this fall. We need to get Dan Hutton and Alan Anderson on the Board of Supervisors first and second. If we don't, Joshua Hayes gets elected. You're going to see her just as frustrated and just as angry as you are now. Okay? We also need to get Stephen Swanson re-elected as county attorney. Ryan Bean is contesting him. He doesn't even live in the county. So I'm wondering why he's throwing his hat in the ring. But it's very serious, people. If these two, if Hutton and Anderson aren't elected to the board, you're going to get more of that. And Swanson needs to be reelected to make sure that we do. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak?

My name is Sherry Young. I live here in Winterset and have for the majority of my life. One thing that I would like to ask the board, actually I would like to ask Heather and Jess or Tessa, I'm not sure what she goes by, but I would like to, this day and every other day that I have contact with you, I would like to ask for your resignation as many people are requesting that and for some reason you think you need to continue to stay here and tear our county down you are not for us you continue to go against things that we wish the what i saw the last meeting about how rude brow beating and bullying you did to your own co-members of the board you did that to your constituents That is very unprofessional and very unacceptable. The fact that both of you lack the integrity that it takes to do your job properly. And I would appreciate both of you with your smirks off your face. Neither one of you are professional. Neither one of you are even acceptable for what you're doing. You're not qualified. And I don't know why you've come to town to make such a mess. I had a couple looks here at the oath of office that you've signed, Heather. This oath of office says that I will faithfully and impartially to the best of my ability discharge all the duties of your position. How does that go with the fact that you took away public health, you're messing with the veterans situation? You've taken away public health. Those were services that our community needed, and you essentially rocked Peter to pay Paul to do whatever with that money that you're doing, not saving our taxes, by the way. I also think that the population of Winterset and of our group should also be aware that we need to look at a hate group called Family Leader. because i believe that there are some people that are involved in that and they're trying to bring things that we don't really want in our community people need to pay attention to that or we will be losing madison county they are going to continue to destroy it if something is not done thank you anyone else speak

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, drafted by James Madison himself, the bedrock on which this county was founded, protects all speech, even speech that people in positions of power find offensive. The type of speech which are typically not covered under freedom of speech are seen material like child sex abuse material, plagiarism, defamation, and threats. Here today, the Board of Supervisors intends to discuss and undoubtedly pass on the two-to-one vote a new rule which, if enforced, would substantially limit the ability of the citizens of the author of this most sacred amendment's namesake county to express their opinions to those who claim to speak for them. In a landmark US Supreme Court case, which originated right up the road from here, Tinker versus Des Moines Independent School District, the school district passed a policy which would ban students from wearing black armband. It bans the protest of Vietnam War. The school district cited order and possible safety issues. However, the US Supreme Court did not go along with their fears. and inform the school that limiting that expression would infringe on a student's right to free expression. We don't always have to agree with or enjoy free speech. For example, in 1990, the case in Texas for B. Johnson, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a law from Texas and 47 other states that banned flag burning. I don't agree with that action or the message behind the people who performed it, but it's always been and has been determined by the courts to be their right to do so. The city of Newton was just sued for this exact issue. In Honorable Judge Rose's opinion, she found the Constitution does not permit government officials to silence criticism under the guise of preventing defamation. Indeed, no court of law's resort in this country has ever held or even suggested that prosecutions for libel in government have any place in the American systems of jurisprudence, yet that's precisely what the city attempted here. The record demonstrates that the rule is enforced against Peterson not because the speech was actually defamatory, but because it criticized government officials in a manner they found objectionable. In State v. Fratzke, the Iowa Supreme Court found the profane language in a letter criticizing a state trooper did not rise to the level of fighting words and was protected by the First Amendment. The court emphasized that he was exercising uniquely American privilege to speak his mind on public institutions. The application of assortment conduct of statutes, the meeting disruptions require actual interference in the meeting's proceedings. State versus Hardin, the Supreme Court found that repeated, sustained eruptions that stopped the meeting can be caused to remove someone from a meeting. Of course, that was not an actual governmental meeting, rather a political event. It was certainly not during public comment. The great irony in this whole matter is that we have sitting before us today a member of the board who, along with her desired pick for county auditor, is suing the sheriff, myself, and two other county employees, asking the county to pay millions of dollars because she should have the right to say whatever she wants on her supervisor's Facebook page, even if it's viewed as a threat by many citizens of this county. In her belief, the mere investigation of whether her speech was a threat or not is such an entrenchment on her rights that she's owed millions of the county's dollars for the alleged imposition on it. I say something that doesn't smell right. This reeks of rules for thee, but not for me, and we as a nation shrugged off imperialism a long time ago. I'd ask that my remarks be heard.

Motion to receive and file. So I'm second. Second.

Any discussion?

Motion carries.

Anyone else wish to speak?

I wrote the same thing about this rule change, which I basically look at like We have law enforcement here. If somebody's being threatening or using foul language, don't take them out. You're just paying for our people. And I can tell you right now, I've been going to political forums and public meetings for 27 years, and the most destructive person I've ever seen in any of them is sitting right there. So you ought to know what you see.

Anyone else want to speak?

Doug Jurgens, Hunter said, do I get to finish my three minutes this time or are you going to violate my constitutional rights again?

You think it's funny?

You think it's funny? You think it's funny you're going to sit here and talk to me now when you've been told not to talk, not do anything? Well, the attorneys come and you get sued for this because that's exactly what's going to happen. Both of you, and you know damn good well you did, violated my rights. You sat here right before those three minutes and said, no, we can't interrupt you. We can't talk to you. And yet, what do you do? You're saying bullshit again. And yes, I can say bullshit. I can say we're not here to kiss your ass. Because we're not. We're here to hold you accountable. And you don't like that. So now you want to change the rules so we can't hold you accountable. Bullshit. We're not going to put up with it. I sat in here and played that recording. You admit it. You admit it. that you defrauded taxpayers with that payment to Bergman and your bullshit crypto scheme that you were trying to do to spend county money on crypto. You know damn good and well it is. It's shown in writing. There's screenshots of it. You want to have them screenshots? Let's show them yours. You know exactly what you did. There's six hours of recordings of you admitting it and knowing you need an attorney. You know you did this stuff. You know you did illegal acts. And yet here you sit trying to act all high and mighty. You post these pictures of you Fawning over Donald Trump and the things he says. And then you want to come in here and clutch your pearls and act like I can't fucking say something like that. Bullshit. I can say whatever the fuck I want at this counter. And you get to sit there and listen to it. You don't have to like it. You don't have to appreciate it. You don't have to none of it. But the people get to have their say. And you two both stopped that last time. And now you're going to pay the price. You want your rights upheld? I want my rights upheld. And you violated my First Amendment constitutional rights. You will pay the price for that. You can sit there and act like it's funny and you don't care. But I informed you that you were violating my First Amendment rights and you did it anyway. You know what that does? That takes away your qualified immunity. So I'm not coming for the county. I'm coming for you two. Individually. Both of you. Your houses. Everything. We're sick of this shit. The entire... election for Michelle getting 70% wasn't enough to tell you that the people are sick of your shit, then I don't know what is. We're done with it. And if you think you're bringing Vander Plaats and the family leader and that bullshit into this county, you're wrong. Because you've been trying that. Everybody's going to know exactly what you're about. So this pearl clutching about cuss words when you sit there and kiss Donald Trump's ass, we've had enough. You don't get to play games like that and then act like I can't swear or say something in here when the guy you're infatuated with when you're cold swears like a fucking sailor. Fuck you.

Anyone else wish to speak? Otherwise, we'll move to the phone. Okay. For folks on the phone, if you wish to speak, please remember to hit star six to unmute your phone and then state your name and where you're from. And you have three minutes. Going once. Twice.

All right, we'll go ahead and move on.

We're up to the resolutions now. The first one is Approving Support for National Crime Victims Week.

This is something I think we've done almost every year. So I'll entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. The next one is approving S. Hutton as part-time paramedic starting April 4th. So moved. Okay. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. The next one is approving support of the nationwide efforts to raise awareness of the Lawrence Welk Show and its significance to American culture. This is something we discussed at a previous meeting. I'll entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Next one is a resolution approving our dyer as full-time equipment operator on a bridge crew. I'll entertain a motion to approve.

So moved.

Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Next one is approving a bridge replacement project number BROSCO61. I'll entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. The next one is approving the adoption of the Iowa DOT approved fiscal 27 secondary roads five-year construction plan. Do I all entertain a motion to approve?

So moved.

Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? Thanks Mike. Yes. All in favor please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. I'm going to do the permit that we've added to the budget so I don't forget it. This is for the Rosemond Bridge liquor license renewal. I'll entertain a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you for bringing it up. The next one is a motion to approve the application for the use of Madison County Grounds for the Winterset Wine Walk on Saturday, May 9th from noon to 7. I'll entertain a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. The next one is approving the amended application for the use of Madison County Grounds for the Madison County Farmer's Market. for the purpose of adding additional children's activities for May 23rd, June 13th, July 4th, and September 5th. I'll entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Next one is approving the application for the use of Madison County Grounds for the Quilts and Ballard Award Ceremony on July 4th. I'll entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. The next one is approving the application of use for Madison County Grounds for the Covered Bridge Festival from October 9th, beginning at approximately 11.30 p.m. a.m. actually. Is it p.m.? Is it p.m.? It starts. It starts, okay. They set up the night before. Ah, okay. So you go up on Friday night. Okay. Through October 11th this year, I'll entertain a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. The final motion is the application of fireworks display for Tony Link. In Winterset here, May 23rd, do I have a motion to approve? Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Okay, the next one is board reports. I'll let you, one of you gals, start. Go ahead, Diane.

Well, I met with the Soil and Water Conservation District Chairman to discuss the gun range. And we have troop knowledge meeting, insurance meeting, budgets. budgets um i took a cpr class that we kind of increased all the staff to take um we had a panel meeting another budget hearing and another budget meeting and then we had further is the trolley that you see in town i'm on that board so that's what i've done

We had a safety meeting and had several meetings with constituents and met with Tom Moss from Soil and Water. He had some really good information. I'm sure we'll be talking about it later today. We also, of course, communications are ramping up regarding Vanguard and I'm trying to respond to those as good as I can there. We also had Annette With Alliance out at the Elderly Services Building, they conducted the testing, got the testing to turn around pretty quickly, and I'm actually meeting ICAP tomorrow to bear a gesture out there as well. So I think we'll be talking about maybe getting that scheduled later, a follow-up meeting on that. And then I just want to address a few misstatements that were made during public comment. This would be the time to do that. I am not Tessa Baker. I can prove it, as a matter of fact. We did not take away public health. The only services that were ended, this happened before my time, but if you ladies can weigh in, but the only service that was eliminated was the homemaker program because those same services could be provided by multiple other programs available. Is that correct? By the private sector. using the same government funding for the citizens. So I'm not sure where all the services ending has come from. That's all I'm worried about for tonight.

Thank you. So budgets, budgets, budgets is what we've been doing. We met with True North regarding benefits. I've met with many members of the public regarding the Vanguard proposal, as well as on the phone and doing the best I can to respond to emails. So I'll have more meetings before. And just for the public note, so they know, the hearing for the Vanguard before the supervisors will be May 13th at the Winterset School Auditorium at 6 p.m. We've moved it to that facility to allow easier access more comfortable surroundings, air conditioned, and also make it easier for the presentation for the public to view and also give public comment. So it's gonna go from six to nine, so mark your calendars. That's the intended time. So hopefully, I don't know, it's up to the board if we wanna do the resolution that night or do a later meeting, but that's gonna be.

That was my question was, I mean, Typically, when you're doing a zoning public hearing, you also have a resolution to go over that.

I think we should do it that night. So we'll do it that night.

I just need that direction.

So it'll be an evening. It'll be an evening. And that is a Wednesday evening. So just so you folks know, that's going to be the hearing and the planned decision by the Board of Supervisors. I attended the exit conference with the state auditor for our audits. I went to the Islands for Tax Relief Tax Day Luncheon, met with legislators there to talk about what their plans are, which we don't quite know yet because they're still up in the air. Hopefully we'll make a decision soon on that so we know how to move forward. And that's pretty much it from me, the reports. Anything else before we move over to business? okay moving old business um fiscal 23 24 audit and the fiscal 27 budget this is just a standing thing until everything's done that we have on there the fiscal 27 budget has been put in the paper and we have our hearing on april 21st for that And then, do we do, I don't think we have a resolution to approve at the next meeting right after that.

Correct, because that's just the hearing. It's not, yeah, it's due the 28th.

Do we have meeting invites for that yet? For the 28th? For April 28th? Not for the tax hearing. I don't think we have them. No. I just put it on my, I just put it on my.

It's in the paper. So that's. And then there will be.

a team's meeting or a regular agenda that goes out for that too okay um so fiscal 23 24 audit uh as michelle said in her presentation i bet with a supervisor attends that and uh we're waiting on they give their findings and then we require the folks that are responsible for that which is you and kylie correct respond, have 10 days to respond and then there might be additional responses back and forth. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. And once that's done and they finalize it, then it can be public and then we'll be discussing it as a board for that. And they planned on doing the 23rd, fiscal 23rd at the same time. You guys got your copies. Yeah. So you can look over that. If you have any questions, please direct them to Michelle or Kylie. The next one on the agenda, if you have any questions on that agenda item, otherwise we'll move on. Okay, so the next one is discussing rebuilding management position. Michelle touched on that by giving us a starting stab at what is entailed. Very, very comprehensive. Thank you very much for putting that together. You're very welcome. So if we can, as, as members can look that over and give feedback and then when you send us the word doc with the track changes however you guys i know you prefer paper so um however you want to give feedback and then we can meet again to talk about it if we want to wait to the next meeting or we want to have a special meeting to discuss it it's up to you guys on what we're going to do i thought we already said we'd do it at the next meeting next regular meeting Do you want to do it then or do you want to ask a question? It's fine. It's fine. Okay. So, and then the appropriate titles. I just put it on there because I didn't know what that meant. You had mentioned building manager. I had said facilities manager. I didn't know what, you know, how we would title it. Michelle mentioned had a different title too.

Yeah, a building and ground supervisor, just from my time in the industry, what we're describing is that. A manager takes on a stronger, more autonomous role. I think these folks are going to get direction, but they're still going to be supervising the vendors. So that's why my suggestion was, as is my experience, that's a pretty appropriate, especially since, you know, I like to be very hands-on with the claims and overseeing, you know, the coding and the budgeting and the planning on that.

So that's... Well, the idea, I think, was, is that person, to your point of being autonomous, is they would also, they basically control their own budget, kind of like you do yours, and EMS does theirs, and zoning does theirs, so they would have more control over that. Obviously they work with you, because you do claims and all that kind of stuff. But they would have the control over the management of their own and tracking their own budget. Another thing too is what I've seen, at least in my, industry for something like this it's buildings manager infrastructure infrastructure manager because they they also take a role on not just the buildings themselves but the infrastructure so if there is an issue with like an outage for say fiber cut or something like that they would be in charge of notifying everybody you know in our employees or if there's an issue with, say, we have a roof cave in, Basically, whatever is going on that is really not under the duties that any other department had, they would be kind of that. So I wanted to have some infrastructure language in there to kind of capture that. I don't know how that looks, but at least in my experience, when we had a facilities manager managing multiple buildings, it had more of an infrastructure. So buildings and infrastructure manager Something like that.

A supervisor. You have to be careful you don't confuse it with a supervisor. We can research and name all of those. Yeah, absolutely. I don't want to call a supervisor because that's a good point. I'll call somebody that's a facility of a huge company.

Well, I like what you're talking about, though. It's the communication and the fact that not waiting to get something done. Yeah.

So yeah, and that's another thing too. I want to make sure that they have some kind of empowerment delegated from the supervisor. So if there is an emergency, like for instance, we had that fire alarm fail. I happened to be in the building, so that was great. But if something happens like that, I want to make sure that this person has the power to make a decision based on certain criteria.

How is this going to work if this facilitator, or whatever you call him, is here? and then you've outsourced your maintenance man What, do they have to wait two hours to call somebody to fix it? Are they going to be here every day, whoever? This is going to be an employee of the county. I know, but what are the people who do the actual pushing the brooms and cleaning up the puke when they puke in the sink? Who's going to do that? This person. This person's going to do it all?

If it's not under the contract of the facility. I mean, forgive me if I misunderstood, but...

The contract, they come daily, right? on the contract so they're going to hear they're going to be doing the same role right now they come down now if there's a one-off situation then the staff person will take care of that so we're plunging toilets it's a really good example it is and cleaning up on manure again we could i think you're going to find a lot of a lot of detail so so i encourage you to kind of use your experience from industries because you were in the private sector you have government experience i was in the private sector but completely different so we can leverage and you have that knowledge michelle so we can leverage our different experiences and maybe see how this comes out and give your suggestions and we'll get a hand and talk about it so this is just the first stab at it um and we can go from there all right so any other discussion on that before we move on okay so the next one is the security camera quotes um we exclude the bid from public exposure because it is security surveillance um we did not want to necessarily share what's what we're doing would you like to um did you do it did you do a spreadsheet between the two quotes I did not do a spreadsheet because I wanted to discuss it first and see what, I did not want to presume for the board on how to do that, so I wanted to discuss it first. At first blush, you know, Summit looks lower priced, but I wanted to dig into it a little bit more, but I wanted to kind of get a feel for what the board thinks before I do that, because I didn't want to assume Doing a matrix without talking to y'all.

Yeah, that was my assessment that basically we've got the failover that we would need and much lower price. From the summit proposal summit is also local. They have got a lot and actually, I don't even know that they specify the hourly rates in there, but I know they're on the block lower.

uh the jobs and controls they do not require the maintenance agreement there's a lot of positives uh for the summit proposal but i'd be open to a matrix if you think that that would be so i i kind of like matrices because it's easier to quantify it um the other thing i wanted to to let the board know is i i've made multiple requests from Johnson Controls for copies of all contracts for the past five years, I've gotten one response saying, okay, we'll do it, and I've never gotten a response after that, which is concerning to me.

I think companies, my experience in government, is that they're used to following a chain of command. It always came from the auditor. So when it comes to the Board of Supervisors, I think they're really confused. Well, on the ARC, it was specifically said who you're supposed to contact.

Yeah, and it usually never comes to the Board. Well, normally the Board doesn't have anybody on it that has IT background. So, you know, I think it makes sense to have someone on there that's aware they can actually read through it. I'm a little concerned, though, that regardless of the fact I am, We're still asking for information, and as a board, we're the ones that approve contracts. So I would think that they'd want to be responsive. They were non-responsive, Jamie. I had an inquiry that I made as well. So it seems that they are not doing that. I'm also very concerned that they allowed a contract to be signed that was not approved by the board by someone that's not authorized to do that. So I'm... know i'm a little concerned of that but from a cost perspective someone had a lower price so what if the board is open to that i'm willing to put together a spreadsheet to kind of quantify it so you can see it in dollars and cents um well you don't need a spreadsheet you just look at it it's considerably cheaper okay i mean there's no spreadsheet it's a no-brainer okay

I just want to give the board that option. Did you address the concerns I had with Travis about access? About access? Yeah, that only certain folks are supposed to have access. To the cameras. Correct. And that will be put in writing? Well, he'll know that because... I'd like it in writing. Okay. We can put that as part of my experience. I'd like it in almost a contract. So... But we do have a resolution for that. We do. But I would love it to be also contract specific.

We can do that. So if the board is Diane doesn't need a spreadsheet. I don't need a spreadsheet. Okay. So we do not have a resolution on here to move forward. I didn't want to put it on here because I wanted to have a discussion. Put it on the next regular meeting. Put it on the next regular meeting. And I will work in the meantime on getting the contract. Would you mind detailing with me what you'd like to see? Sure. Okay. They didn't send over that? They don't do it until we decide. And how long is the contract going to be for?

From a year to a year.

It's just a one year.

Because we're purchasing the servers, I'm assuming. Yeah, and all the licensing comes with it.

We won't need an ongoing maintenance agreement.

The only time they come out is if there is a failure.

And you asked me a question about Van Laan, the electricians. Do you have any other concerns about that?

They're subcontracting now. If they have the proper security credentials, no. Because that's very common in the industry. You don't have any concerns or you do have concerns? I do not.

Oh, I always have concerns.

I do not as long. It's very common. Unfortunately, it's very common in the industry. So what we can do is we can include that as part of the contract and get more specs on that. Okay. But I don't disagree with you on the fact that you want things in writing because in the past, I think it was done in history.

So going forward. Thank you. Can we bid out those subcontractors?

No, because it's the discretion of the person in the contract. So... Yeah, and we don't want to give everybody access to our cameras. So anyway, OK, so what we can do then is I will work with. getting a contract together, get some language from Michelle, and we'll have something on the agenda to approve at our next regular meeting. So it sounds like the consensus of board is that we're gonna go with the lower cost option, and we'll move forward on that. And then we're gonna have to discuss about the maintenance agreement that's occurred. That's what? The maintenance agreement with Johnson Controls that was signed without authorization. so but we can talk about that okay so anything else otherwise we'll move on to business New business, meeting the quorum, updating the board supervisor meeting policy. Jess, I think this is why you need to spearhead it.

Yeah, so I initiated this. Clearly our disruptions are escalating. And I think that, you know, I have concerns when I have citizens say they feel unsafe in our meetings. So while I believe that our current existing policy is sufficient and per outside counsel, I think it would benefit all of us to have some further definition. Now, I took a stab at a draft, this is just meant to be a draft and a discussion point, just to more clearly define how we're handling the deployment of these meetings.

So, thank you for saying that. I'm assuming you ran that by counsel. Yes I did. And he had no issue with it? Correct. Okay. But the county attorney did. Well, we obviously have two attorneys disagreeing. That's not the first time. Well, I think the point of contention, I think, is during public comment.

I think... both documents that were received from Swanson and what I generated, they reconcile, except for the public comment portion of it. And so if we could potentially change the verbiage on this, we could add a disclaimer to say, none of this applies to public comment, and you can drop that as long as you want, or we could do that.

so so first of all i want to get something clear is uh this is not it's an extent it's an expansion and clarification of definitions we have had something on our current meeting rules since 2017. we passed the current rules and procedure on december 20th of 2016 effective january 1st of 2017 and it the about decorum it specifically had the same language that's in the rules procedure now it was in the same language back then there may have been a sentence or two differently because it's been changed to 2017 but the essence was the same it talked about decorum talked about profanity and talked about interference within a meeting so it's this is nothing new but what we're doing is clarifying what exactly And I like that just because I think it's good to have a clear set of rules rather than having it subjective. The one thing that I would possibly remove is I think it needs to be, a certain amount needs to apply towards public comment because there's been two instances in our meeting where we've been threatened. How were you threatened? We had someone come up here and said, if we vote favor of the man guard, they're going to come after us with a minus and close force. At a meeting here? Yes. I don't remember that anyone saying that. No, someone said it. I'm not going to say who, but that person is the one who said it. So that, and so you can cuss absolutely. I don't like it, but they can certainly cuss. What you cannot do is threat. I have to agree. You can't make threats. You cannot make threats. And if people are feeling threatening and to the point where some members of the public no longer attend because they feel unsafe, that's concerning to me. It's very concerning. Because this meeting is for everybody, not just the people that either agree with us or disagree with us. Anybody should be safe in this meeting. And what's been going on lately has been unacceptable. So I think we need to define what is proper decorum, what is First Amendment, what is, because you don't get to light a fire in a theater and think it's okay. So there is a line, but I don't think we should be threatening people.

Diane, do you? The First Amendment protects the people from government dictating what they can say. I don't think we should threaten people, and I don't remember that being, we're going to, that he's,

This Vanguard project has created a lot of passion, and I appreciate that. And I think maybe that was part of it. But Diane, we cannot have people coming up there and threatening members of the board or having the board feel threatened.

I think we all agree on that. I think we all agree with that. I think the sticking point is whether people should be free to swear repeatedly, be asked to refrain, and then continue to swear, and then name call. And if the board is okay with it, whatever. Whatever in terms of the comment. Okay, that's fine. I don't agree with it. Constitutionally, they can do it. But we have had repeated, repeated disruptions in our meetings. Now, I'm going to apologize for not deferring to the chair to have this gentleman removed last time. It's my fault for not following Robert's rules. I apologize for that. But I think it behooves us to define this because we cannot continue in the manner that we have.

We can't conduct our meetings, and that interferes with the rights of the people that are actually here to hear what we're doing. Point of order.

Point of order. Point of order.

Point of order. You are out of order, sir. Give her a chance. You are out of order, sir. Your time to speak is over. You are out of order.

Give her one chance. She can admit that. Did she admit she was wrong?

You are out of order, sir. Please refrain from speaking.

Here's one of my favorite quotes. Can I say it? We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives. Listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty. John F. Kennedy. I don't like cussing. I don't think it's nice. And I can cuss like a sailor if I hurt myself, and I have. I don't like it and I don't think it's nice. But I do think the people feel like they are being governed by only two people that don't listen. And it's gotten a lot.

they felt that before I was elected, which is why I was elected. So when you went over here, people thought that they were being listened to and they weren't being listened to by during that courthouse project. So it goes both ways. And I can identify with that. And they have a right to say what they want to say. But Diane, we cannot keep allowing continued interruptions. and we cannot allow abusive and abusive threats from that podium during public comment, then we need to treat them with dignity and respect.

I don't think any of us have ever been able to defame us left and right for well over a year, Diane. This has been the first situation where I had an issue with the multiples wearing multiple. But hey, if it's going to be free reign, a public comment, that's perfectly fine. I just wanted some parameters here, but we have people that have been removed from meetings. We have people that should have been removed from meetings and weren't. We have people that were removed that were never asked to be removed. So I think greater clarity would benefit all of us. And I'm open to what revisions you would like for this draft. What would you like to see?

I'd like to see the board starting treating people with dignity and respect and listening i think we are i think if you go to all parts of the county and and not a small group you would find that is not how they feel i disagree with that because i've had plenty of people tell me keep up the good work have you been on the peru internal side yes they said they have never seen you Well, I don't know who you're talking to, Diane, because I've seen you. I live there.

This is a big county.

Let's treat people with dignity and respect, and we'll ask that they reciprocate it.

You get what you give.

You get what you give. Okay, let's be nice to one another.

Exactly. I don't think that we have done that because I have never cussed anybody out. I have never yelled at anybody. So I think it's unfair to state that. I didn't say you cussed people out. So I think it's unfair to state that. I've always treated people with respect. I can disagree with them, but I've always treated them with respect. I can't say that's been how... How is that going to treat me and treat her that way? Or I can treat her that way?

We also have in our board policy that people that repeat themselves and say the same thing multiple times, that we can ask them to stop. So should people be able to come in and just repeat the same things over and over? Should we remove that from the policy? I don't care. So we've had a rules of procedure regarding decorum for since 2017.

So it's nothing new. You're going to do what you're going to do. Well, we don't have a resolution. I don't have a resolution. So the purpose of assuming you brought this forward, Jess, is so we can get feedback on it. And Diane, did you have a chance to look over it? I did. And I'll send a marked up copy. Okay. So did you want to be the central contact person for that feedback? Sure. And then put everything together in the document? Yep. And then have it reviewed? Yep. And then we can talk about it again in our next meeting? Yep. Okay. So that's good. Okay. So... Any other discussion regarding that? No, thank you. Okay. Next one, the last thing on the agenda is 2026 priorities, ordinance review and update. Is Ryan here? I think they had a meeting. Oh, okay. Last I heard, they're still working hard on it. So, and they have, they do have members involved with their attendance meetings and give feedback, which is great. That's always important. And I think with this whole, the whole Vanguard thing with the shooting range, I think there's going to be additional discussion on that as part of the ordinance. At least I know I requested that to be kind of part of their discussion. So we have something firm going forward, regardless of what the board decides. Um, and there's a lot of good people on that zoning commission. So, uh, who are very thoughtful. So if you have any feedback, I would encourage you to reach out to them too, on your thoughts. Um, so they would have that in their consideration as they go through the audiences. Anything else? Otherwise I will entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. All right. Discussion to adjourn. All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. We are adjourned at 7.17. Thank you, everybody.

People, if you want, I have three more swans and swans in my car. More yard signs. Mr. Anderson is here. We are in the process of getting more yard signs.