Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

let's pray father we are thankful for you today we are thankful lord that you are in control of all things lord and we just pray that uh through everything that is said done here this evening father that all praise honor glory would be brought to your name lord that each one who is involved in this meeting tonight lord would be considerate of one another would be peaceable and gentle father that we just pray that as we know you are the king of kings you are the lord of lords and that uh Your word tells us that the heart of the ruler, the heart of the king is in your hands. So we ask and we pray that you will guide and direct tonight for we give you all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory. For it's in your son's name we do pray, Jesus Christ, amen.

Amen. Thank you, Josh.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Okay, go ahead and do a roll call please. Let's make sure folks can hear us. Can someone say hello? Make sure you hit star six before you say hello. Anybody? Can you hit star six and then just say hello? There we go. Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. Can I have a little call, please? Supervisor Haas?

Here. Supervisor Schanzel? Just a second. It should be on. It's on. Just here.

It's here. Get a blank screen. Hold on. There you go. Thank you. Is that it? It is. Yeah, it just had a blank screen, so... All right. I'm sorry. Supervisor Stanfield? Here. Supervisor Fetch?

Here.

Okay. All right. We'll go ahead and review the agenda. I know we do have an amendment to the agenda to add the use of the courthouse grounds for the Bible marathon. So if we Someone can make sure we do not forget that at the end of the meeting as he creates. So do we need a motion to amend the agenda adding the application to use the courthouse grounds for the Bison Marathon? So do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Okay that moves us on to the consent agenda. Is there any questions on the consent agenda? Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion to approve. Second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. We are now at the department head reports. Mike, you are first up.

Could you please give your votes?

Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, go ahead. Okay.

Mike Hackett, Madison County Secretary of Roads Engineer. Just want to make sure I thought I heard something there. Give a quick report, as quick as I can. First things first, I'm going to kind of jump around a little bit. We've talked about, I've talked about previously the cover bridges, what needs they are, how we're continuing to work on grants, funding. Every week I hear a little bit more for this federal byways grant. They ask for some more information so it's not, you know, gone, still going. That is an 80-20 type grant. So we would have to match with, you know, everybody's sitting down in here. So they, you know, 1.2, 1.4 type thing. I'm also part of the Madison County Covered Bridge Preservation Association, which I got my first look at radio, was that two weeks ago? That was an interesting experience. I got in there and started talking about what we need to do to tell people that we need to, you know, keep these bridges and what we have to do to go around that. So what you see up there and what I have here, starting coming into the festival probably in the next week or so, you're going to see CDs go up. Just so if you know what those are, what it is, it's part of the, I'm greater madison county community foundation which they set up a place for if anybody wants to donate to that that will go towards our match funding for a bridge project or if that doesn't happen then we'll continue to raise money for maybe a minor bridge project because they all are in need of stuff i've mentioned before that we are probably to the critical mass stages of this The bridges are in pretty bad shape. They're a wood structure. It has a lifespan. It's starting to come to the end. Right now, of course, they're not open to vehicle traffic except for the one that's a rebuild. And we will probably see a time here in the near future where we're going to have to not let test trains walk on. So it's time to get going on projects. If you hear of anybody that's interested, This is a good resource for that. I guess that's my plug for that. I will go into kind of what's going on with the road department. I'm going to hit these resolutions real quick. A couple things there. Resolutions. Well, road resolutions A, C, D, E, and F are all road closures. I believe they're listed on here. color they are approved they are actually road closures the the typical closures where we close the road were what i would say maintenance the other two closures are on bevin park road for those projects that are underway got a small thing on that so uh if you want to consider the road closures together you're welcome to do that so we can do a c d and f together yes Resolution that I bring to you also in regards to an alley vacation. This is in West St. Charles, also known as Hanley, which is an unincorporated town. Unincorporated towns, they are absorbed into the county as they become unincorporated. And that puts the road system, what they have for roads in there. We have these come around periodically. This land owner owns, I believe, all of the block and the adjacent property all around it. They are wishing to hopefully make some improvements. The alley that's there can't drive on it. So they have requested to vacate that. That's in the packet. There's only one owner. And we set a time and place, a hearing, which would be next board, regular board meeting. So that's what that resolution is.

Okay. Does a county just kind of give it to them then because it deflates their land?

So since they own the title to everything around it, we are allowed to do a vacation. Go to vacation, it will be recorded. It's then up to the owner of the property to bring their abstract file, quick claim, first time decision. This is a little different than maybe a road vacation that was taken easily. Since it was an incorporated town, the streets and alleys were detitled to the town. And then once the town became incorporated, it was actually detitled to the county. But it's an 11-foot alley.

This has been something that's been requested for a while, hasn't it?

There's several of them that have been going on. We've done a couple there before. The process is always not, it's best if everybody here agrees. So that's there, that would be the next one. All right, real quickly, keep moving on. Most all the projects that we talked about last time are still going. I will tell you that the bridge, what we call the overflow bridge or on Clanton-Beving Park Road. The deck was gone and the beams came out. That was in very bad shape. Actually, the excavator was out there moving the deck and the deck fell out. So I'm very glad that we got that in the system to keep going. If it wasn't, it would be one of those ones we would be forced to close. And then it would have to sit for a while before we could get it in place. But that's going. finish up kind of a lot of things here. We've got a few repairs and bridges that are going on. There's a shaping project up in Jefferson Township that's still going on. We'll hopefully get the last part of that wrapped up this week. Weather, as it's going to happen outside, we'll see what happens. As I remind everybody, we work in an outdoor factory. Okay, next thing here. Thank you for my, yeah, keeping going here. At the very end of the last meeting, Fuel tax was mentioned, and I believe Senate file 2472 was mentioned. I told her I'd get it real quick, and this will be quick. It's only 470 slides. No, it's canceled. We're supposed to save those for morning meetings. Yeah, morning meetings. I'll make this very quick. A lot of this stuff I've talked about before at either budgeting or five-year programs, so a lot of this we've seen. In fact, in these slides I did recycle. I'll go to the next one. This is just our miles, and let's just use easy math. So 915, let's just say we have 1,000 miles to go. Most counties all do. That's where we're at. Just kind of keep that in the back of your mind. Let's go to the next one. Now, as we're sitting there staring at this thing, the Iowa Department of Transportation gives us one of these every year. I don't have FY26 yet. It'll come. The spoiler is you get to see it during budgeting in five years, and I'd like to present that at that time. Something to kind of remember with road use tax is it's a balance of what we can afford and what we want to put on the public. I don't make those decisions, but it's a balance. We all want good roads, but roads are expensive. My main comment there at the end is why doesn't this get pushed through a little? Nobody likes taxes. I don't like it either. So it's a balance. I think that's the thing is our legislators have to make a tough decision on the balance of what's going to be acceptable for road use tax, both on the federal level and the state level. Of course, none of that's my opinion, but I think that's where it is. Okay. So the big green thing there in the middle, that's road use tax. It comes from the federal and the state. that little arrow that comes up over there these are other things that kind of come into this big muffler or big tank and it gets drained out and goes over and down the little white circle over there which is uh total funds for county secondary roads okay i apologize this is hard to sleep see uh we uh it's been 12 years you can add it's actually been more like 15 years since our taxes i think that goes up to 24 15 years let's say on taxes Currently right now, federal tax, it depends on the type of fuel, is 18 cents a gallon. I'm not going to break down every fuel. Gasoline, diesel fuel averages 30 cents a gallon. So 18 cents of every gallon you buy is from the feds and the 30 cents of every gallon is state tax. That goes into that muffler that we saw in the last picture. Next slide, please.

And do you get all of it? They don't keep any of it?

You get the 17 and 30? Yep, great question, Diane. Okay, road use, believe it or not, they have a formula for it. Remember when I said we have about 1,000 miles of road? It's population-based. There's other factors. The best way to explain this is population and miles, and that's how it's distributed, okay? All right, our FM money also comes from that. You've heard me talk about a resurfacing project or farm to market money. That also comes from that, and that distributes it back to the county. Okay, next slide. Okay, you've seen this before. Just keep in mind that the purple and red is produce tax money. I would say roundish that's that's local tax money pairs and same with a little green slip the other piece of the pie on the far corner looks gray that's pass-through or that's money that has been saved from years under the secretary road to go towards a catastrophe they always recommend 25 percent of your budget to have because let's say for example we have a spring like we had I think it was the 2016 we spent a million dollars in less than a month But let's say we have a blizzard, and we've got to address it. And also that money is also pass-through. You've heard me say pass-through, like a lot of these projects that we have that are federally funded, which could be like the Covered Bridge Project, or the Federal Road Project, or most of the bridge projects. They're either funded locally, pass-through, so we have to have money to begin with, basically to pay the bills, and then get reimbursed for it. So that's that account. That also works out of the FM account, too. Next slide. Thank you. This is what gets spent. It's basically what gets spent. Now I can tell you that not all of it gets spent because a lot of those are construction projects. So keep in mind that we get about 7.5 million in total tax, 2.6 from both property taxes and the rest is gas taxes. That's kind of what we try to spend every year. The rest is pass-through for construction. Next slide, please. Okay. So that kind of gives you an idea of where the tax money comes from. Real quick, and then Senate file. If you look at the bottom, it's hard to see. That 2.6 million, that's what comes from us here locally. There's a levy rate set by the code. I'm combining the two out of the two funds. And Historically, we run about 96% of the max levy. This is the last year, or this last year, we went 92% of that. It used to be, up until July, you could not go beyond 75% of that levy. The law has changed. As we go into the next budgeting cycle, fiscal year 27, you can go down to 51%. Okay, what does that mean? If we do not at least tax 51%, then they take away the $4.6, $4.5 million. You don't get that. So it's what they call skin in the game.

So you have to keep your bucket this full or they won't.

Yeah, that's right. Now, keep in mind, it's 2.6 million that we currently do. Our rock budget's around a million. There's not a lot, this number has gone down, or has been lower in the past. When that number gets lower, we have to make hard decisions about services or other things. But it's a tough balance, kind of like the front end of the other tax. But that's there, that's what it is, that's what legislators have passed, and that's- What is this $5 gas bill? Well, remember that other part? Yes. Budgeting at the budget time a year ago, we all talked about it. If you're in the ag, I'm sure you're going to put a cost on that. Same with ours. It needs to go back down. Otherwise, we're going to talk about maybe possibly cutting services or having to make a amendment to the budget. Now remember, one thing that's nice, I don't know if it's nice, you don't want your reserves to rain. You want to keep that. I want you to leave it. It takes years to get your reserves back. But if it stays at $5, $6 a gallon for diesel fuel, we don't have any other choices. We have to keep the roads open. Winter comes and it gets tough, then I'll be here. discussing whether or not we want to make a budget amendment to dip into our reserves to make up for the difference for diesel fuel. What happens here, COVID, I had to do that. You know, it went from two-something to four-something for a while. It kind of caused some problems. So yeah, it's just, it's part of, it's just like everybody else in your household. You have to make those choices. Do you go out to a movie? Do you stay home and watch the reruns? That's what's coming.

So this cap that the legislature put in, how is that, I'm assuming your association has been in communication with the legislators on how that's kind of trickled down to secondary roads. Because it's going to limit what counties and cities can do.

Yes. What that means is it's possible to generate less tax money to go towards the road system. So more or less, possibly. You can also keep it the same, too. But that's, again, open to our decisions. It's that balance of what people can, you know, what they want. Okay. All right.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, yeah. We'll go to the next one. Done. Perfect. Hey, time that just great. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I hope that wasn't too long. It'll be all right.

We'll get through it.

It's just all part of doing business. Sit down, take your stuff out. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, Mike.

Appreciate it. Don't forget. Oh, Mike, are we going to give, can we get something to get on the website, the QR code and all that kind of stuff? I think it's REO. It's REO. It's REO.

Yeah, maybe. I don't know if it... I think they put it up.

Okay.

All right.

All right. I apologize. We've had a lightning strike up where our voting is, so Michaela's going to go triage that. Would you mind going next, Kylie? Sure. Is everybody okay?

Yeah, they're fine.

We just lost power, and so even though we have battery backups on all the equipment...

Since the generator came in.

at the church at Dunedin. Oh, I'm sorry. No, you're not going out. Oh, no, no. Oh, OK. No, we're actually, yeah.

okay well um first of all uh i want to apologize um i'm sorry for the lack of communication on my part in letting the county know that the property taxes In my part, I was still holding onto the hope that not making the deadline wasn't going to happen. I'm not sure where all this went, honestly. One day it was the 13th, and then the next day it was the 31st. I should have communicated that it wasn't going to happen. Communication has not always been my strong suit, I will admit that. But it isn't something I'm going to, or it is something I'm going to be working on. in a big way because I understand how important it is, especially in a situation like this. I know saying that I'm sorry doesn't change the fact that taxes are late and it doesn't undo the frustration or inconvenience that this may have caused. But I genuinely am sorry that I do need this sooner. It was never my intention to leave the county wondering what was happening or feeling like you weren't being kept informed. I should have said something sooner, even if the answer was simply we're not going to make the deadline. That part is on me and I take responsibility for that. I also want to take a few minutes to address a bigger question that I know has been asked many times. Why are the property taxes being released late to the county again this year? I have honestly struggled with how to answer that question because I don't want to make excuses. I'm not for that. But I certainly don't want to point fingers or place blame on anyone. That isn't productive and it isn't what I'm trying to do. The honest answer is that I'm still working through a significant backlog in the circumstances that happened over the last two years. I understand that nobody wants to hear excuses and I'm not standing here asking anyone to accept an excuse. I'm simply trying to explain where I am and why getting caught up has taken longer than I hoped it would. I think it was just about six months ago I stood here and said that I was approximately six months behind. Reaching the end of the year didn't mean that everything then was caught up. I mean everything still was like all those months behind. So that didn't magically fix things. I was still carrying that backlog forward is what I tried to say. At the same time, there have been changes within the offices, new policies and procedures that we are working to implement and processes that we are taking a closer look at so that we can better understand them, correct what needs to be corrected, and hopefully avoid making the same mistakes in the future. I do want to say, I want to clarify with that six months backlog, I'm not saying that I'm not already working on like July and August and September. So I'm already learning the past mistake. So I don't want to be, we won't be that luck or where we're at right now. So I don't want people to worry about that. So anyway, there is a tremendous amount of work that happens behind the scenes for every department. Balancing takes time. we were completely up to date it wouldn't take nearly as much time but the reality is that we aren't there yet some days i can move through everything quickly and have very few issues other days i can come across something that takes a day to figure out sometimes it takes a week sometimes it takes two minutes or more it honestly depends on what i find and how complicated it is and then after after i figure something out on my end all of our systems like the auditor and secondary roads we all have to match and that becomes an entirely different challenge not saying that they're doing anything wrong but it just all of our systems have to go together There are mistakes, there are misunderstandings, there are things that we have had to go back and revisit. And while it's frustrating, I also believe that's how we learn. We identify what happened, we fix it, we understand it better, and we work toward doing it correctly the next time. I also want to talk about meetings because I know that there have been discussions about whether we need to attend them or not. Because I know that was said that it takes up our time. I understand that I don't necessarily have to be here, but I'm not comfortable sending another employee down here, especially if they're going to spend hours here without being paid simply to listen on my behalf. I don't feel comfortable relying on a phone connection for something that is this important when that connection isn't always reliable. I believe it is part of my responsibility to be here and to hear these conversations myself. Do I want to spend two, three, four hours of my day in meetings? Honestly, no. But if I walk away knowing that I heard everything clearly and that I understand what was discussed and that I can possibly say I know what was agreed upon, then those four hours were worth something. But I'm also going to say that here lately, I've had enough. I don't want to come. I'm tired of the drama, which is also a perfect segue into this. I want to acknowledge something else because I don't think we can ignore the elephant in the room. The stress surrounding all of this has taken a toll. I mean, I don't know every county employee personally. I know a good number of them, but I started thinking about this when I was writing this and I just started to jot down the names of people who have come to me and express frustration, sadness, anger, or just simply the feeling that they aren't being heard. And just within just a few moments, I had more than 40 names on that list. That tells me something. This environment has not been easy for a lot of people. A lot of people. And I also want to talk about something that honestly causes me a great deal of heartache. My heart breaks for the women in my office who answer the phones and have to go through this tax issue again because they don't deserve it. They don't deserve to be yelled at. they don't deserve to be cursed at, and they certainly don't deserve to have one of their coworkers or themselves be threatened with violence because someone is angry or frustrated about taxes. I think sometimes we forget that when we pick up a phone and speak to someone, we're talking to a real person. We're talking to someone's daughter, we're talking to someone's wife, someone's mom, someone's grandma. I would ask everyone just to stop for a second and think about that before speaking to someone in our office. Would you talk to your grandma that way? If the answer is yes, then please ask the employee answering the phone to put you straight through to my voicemail. Because you can yell at my voicemail all you want and I'll document it well. I will not tolerate threatening, abusive, or disrespectful behavior toward my employees. Being frustrated is understandable. Being angry is understandable. Wanting answers is completely understandable. Threatening someone is not. i want to make sure people also understand something about our phones if you call and we do not answer it does not mean we're ignoring you a lot of the time we're at the counter helping people who are physically standing in front of us that's normal for our office you may not realize it because you're not seeing everyone else who's walking through our doors when several people are calling at the same time While we're helping people at the counter, our voicemails fill up very quickly, especially during these kind of times. We do our best to listen to those messages and return calls as soon as we can. We really are not ignoring you, I promise. You matter to all of us. But we are a busy office, and there are constantly things happening that require our attention. Sometimes we can't answer the phone because we're helping the person standing right in front of us. That doesn't mean we don't care. It means we're trying to serve everyone who needs us. So I'm asking for patience and most importantly, basic respect. We can have difficult conversations. We can disagree. We can be frustrated. We can ask hard questions. But we can do all those things without hurting the person on the other end of the phone. And please hear me when I say this. I am not saying any of this as a complaint. I'm not here because I expect this job to be easy. If easy were what I was looking for, I would have walked away a long time ago. I'm here because I care about getting this right. I come in early, I stay late. I spend a significant amount of time working through these issues because I want us to get caught up and I want us to be confident in what we're releasing. I don't want something to be released and then not be able to give people the correct thing. But I also want people to remember that I'm a mom. I'm a wife. I'm a person outside of this office. I have a life and responsibilities outside of this county job. just like everyone else does. For the last two years, this job has taken a much bigger place in my life than I ever intended it to. There is a note on the whiteboard in my office that my son wrote. There's some funny parts of it, too. But part of it does say, don't work until 12 a.m. Because he knows I have and will again. That puts something into perspective for me. So when people ask whether I'm committed to this county, I hope they understand that the answer is yes. Please don't question my commitment because things aren't moving as quickly as any of us want them to. I promise you that I'm doing everything I can. And if you see me walking around during the day, sometimes I'm simply taking a few minutes to step away, clear my head, and come back refreshed. That's part of making sure I continue doing this work effectively. I'm sorry that this year isn't working out the way that any of us want it to. I wish I could stand here and tell you that everything is caught up and running exactly the way it should. We're not there yet, but we are working toward it. We are. Honestly, the thought of that day makes me very emotional. We're going to get through this. My commitment is strong. So, I want to be completely honest with you like I have been. I don't know exactly when the taxes will be released. I wish I could stand here and give you a date. I know that's what everybody wants to hear, and I want to give you that answer just as badly as you want to hear it. But I don't want to give you a date simply because it's what you want to hear, only to have something come up and disappoint you again. When I have a date I'm confident in, I will communicate that to you. I will. So once again, thank you for your patience with me and thank you for hearing me out.

Hi, thank you.

Yeah. When people call us, can we simply say they're going to come out late and you will not be penalized? Yeah, that's 100%. All right, then that's it. Our answer will be for you. So they don't have to call you. We can take something you can say. They're coming out, they'll be late, and you won't be coming back. This is due date of shifts, right?

Yep.

Alright, that's what we'll do. Yep.

I am sorry you're getting through this. I think the board... As I said, we've taken anger as well.

Yeah.

It's not very good. It's uncalled for and it's inappropriate. And I wish people, like you said, pretended that they were talking to their grandmother. Can you give the board an update as to balancing or at the year fiscal 26 is closed? Yeah.

If you tell us... If you tell us and they call us, we'll tell them that so they don't call you.

Can you give us an update on that? Yeah, so just right at the end of the day, I know that Michelle worked through, she got the last bit of November. And so I'm in February, but that doesn't mean, I mean that means something, but then You still have the three of you, that means that. Right, exactly.

And I've got a presentation on, just for everybody.

We all have to go back in. Okay. But you're through November.

Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Kylie.

All three or just you? No, all three. All three. Okay. And then, I don't know if Michelle's been talking about this, but fiscal 2016, is that closed? I'll talk about that. You'll talk about that? Okay.

Unless you want to.

No, if you Okay.

So, um. No, I wanted, I had a sense of what's going on.

Okay, so she's working on that. Did you want to, do you have any other updates that might be helpful for the public? Um. As to what you're working through, or challenges, or maybe how this affects, um, the other taxing authorities, because obviously we get our taxes late, they're going to get theirs. I know. Yeah. Taxes late. Mm-hmm. And, um. Your money's late, how do we manage that? I know, yeah.

Honestly, I really, I have a goal in mind.

I have a very big goal in mind.

So, I'm going to work my booty off for that goal. So, yes. I'm hoping that it is really, anything is an impact, I will say. I know what it is. Is there anything we can do?

to give you assistance, like different solutions, or is there anything we can do that would help you sort all this out?

Okay. There is a city in this county that is, their board clerk is quitting, a long-time board clerk, because she's so tired of being screamed and yelled at for horrible things. What if you If you're so busy at the counter, let it go to voicemail. And when it is so nasty, simply don't call them back. Because that's hurtful. That just wears on you. To have people calling in and saying really mad at you for some insignificant thing. Somebody dropped a rock on the road. Well, go move it. Yeah.

Well, the thing is, is that one of the There was generally that he called, and then he ended up calling a different office. He did get through to us, but then he called another office, and that office let me know. So then I called him and talked to him. But when he had calmed down, he kind of bended a little bit to me. And he specifically said that he wanted to beat me up, not my office, but he wanted to beat me up. But I have to like... People are frustrated and I always try to see the best in people and know that it is... Our county is just going through a lot. We really are. And so I try to... I try to stay really calm with people on the phone and that conversation went really well and i felt like it it ended well so i i just tried to do this and and if they're going to yell and scream at me on the phone then i guess that's what they wanted so they're going to get what they want so

But if they want me to call them, I'm going to call them back because I don't want them to keep calling.

Well, yeah, and because then it's going to get worse.

So, okay. Well, thank you for, thank you for that. Thank you for the update. And we look forward to you meeting your goal.

When you do have an update, if you could email the board, we can help.

share that information as well because i didn't know about this public notice yeah and so it was actually given to me so from somebody else yeah outside of county government so if you could any communications you just copy the board yeah that would be great because then we get calls and then we can just send stuff out and we can field that call so they don't call okay thank you thank you no problem i'm here oh

Okay.

So a couple things. Michelle Brant, Madison County Auditor. A couple things to go over before this slideshow. But we'll talk about the other stuff first. The roof repairs and the new drains being installed at the annex starts tomorrow. I believe after the rain. We're going to try to wrap it up before the rain. weekend so that is one thing and then the the boiler project where the condescending return lines that has all been completed we're just waiting on the concrete that should happen as soon as that it's more of family business and so they've had something go on and so And so. I thought a slideshow about outstanding issues. And the reason I decided to do this was because of, um, I tried to stay off Facebook, uh, but, um, since, you know, there's just a lot of anger and a lot of frustration. And one of the biggest criticisms was that our notices that we're putting out aren't expletive enough. We're not giving the reasons behind the why. And no matter what I do, I'm not blaming anyone. I'm just going to be reporting what's happened over the last year. And I will echo, before I start this, Kylie's sentiment and her observation that there were some very complicated things that happened from an accounting perspective. No Mount Beesons there, just complicated Things that required lots of journal entries and reversals and double warrants and closing the year without her being ready for it last year. do that again this year to get taxes out but we don't want to do that so i'll be very clear about that so without further ado i'll have mckayla do my first slide again so the county system software in madison county uses vision and vision they are amazing they support the treasure auditor secondary roads the recorder and the assessor and all the departments are separate but connected. It recognizes unique duties and responsibilities of each department and supports collaboration. It provides checks and balances and helps us complete tasks quickly and accurately. Without it, they used to do all this stuff by hand. And this is what solutions provide. Yes. Again. So it's integrally, most integrally, tied is the treasurer, auditor, and secondary roads. Without one department, the other cannot proceed through the benchmark and tasks. And for example, just implications for my office, and I'm sure there's more for secondary roads and more for treasurers, the month end balancing must occur before year end, and year end must occur before appropriations can be concluded in the fiscal year. Therefore, I can't post to fiscal year 27. So then also posting the current year transactions must occur before pulling current financial information, which is general ledger requests, the budget variance reports, the fund balances, and etc. The year end must be completed in order to produce the annual financial report. That's a cash basis report due December 1st to the Department of Management. The current year balancing september 2026 must occur before gap can be done and so that's also due by the first however one of the consequences that aren't fines but i cannot certify the next year's budget and gap must be done before allowing we get to allow this and certify the next year's budget which would be um this year and i've been chasing this my entire first year in office Again, I mentioned that fiscal 2025 was closed without balancing. There was very little done when I took office in September 3rd, which I, that's not a reflection on anybody. It just, it was what it was. Approximately three weeks later, September 23rd, the taxes went out and that could happen because the year end was closed. Incorrectly, but it was closed. So then we had to reopen fiscal year 25 to balance the year. And then the dates go, November 7th, I was able to file the annual financial report, the cash one, because we were able to reclose correctly fiscal year 25. And again, this might be boring, but again, part of the criticism was we're not giving enough detail. So March 25, 2026, I was able to complete the AFR gap and certify the fiscal year 26 budget in April because September 2025 is balanced. May 2026, we balanced October and as of today, November has been balanced. Go ahead. I want you to know that during the year I have offered to help, given suggestions, brought concerns to these meetings. My approach has always been to work the problem, and a lot of these efforts have been rebuked. And communication is really critical, and I'm excited that that's going to be a priority. Go ahead, Michaela. I want to reiterate that I did not cause this. I cannot control this, and I cannot fix this. And that's why I'm telling the board today, we need a plan. I can't do any more than I can do right now.

What do you need from us?

The board and the treasurer need to work on a plan on how we're going to get to where we need to be. That's absolutely right. That's absolutely right. I've got confidence. But I just want for the record to say I can go no farther. And so we can go ahead and shut down that. Shut that down. And then I want to talk about public health.

So on this bill. We are balanced all three entities are balanced through November so and

She's farther down the road in December, so tomorrow morning, when I get here, I will start working on December. Okay.

So, in order to get taxes out, I want to make sure I understood your presentation. In order to get taxes out, we have to work on closing fiscal 26. That is my understanding. Is that correct?

How do you understand it as well?

Like you said, we could release taxes, yes. We could make people happy and give out taxes. But you don't want to, you need to be correct. But the problem is, then, is that I can't receive taxes in. Right. I do not want that. No, at all. It's a very scary thought. Yes. So we have to close, I want to make sure I understand this right, we have to close fiscal 26 in order for anything to move forward.

Yes, I'm right now, I have created a tax file, and then there's, I think, four steps that Kylie has to do, and then I can start with the final create. And that's called certifying the taxes. But even when I get to that point, I still have balancing to do before we can produce the statements to go out.

On your side.

Because all three of you have to work together. On taxes, two of us. Oh, taxes, two of you. But then everything else is three of you.

Yeah. But they're very rarely the problem. Right. Do you hear that, Mike? You're very rarely the problem. Someone has to be the bad guy up here. And again, I just want to be very clear.

I understand that the treasurer's office and the auditor's office are very symbiotic. You have to work together in order for them to see it done. So I just want to make sure I understand and the board understands the steps that still need to be focused.

So a week from now, if we don't know where we are, again, I'm telling you, somebody has to make a decision. I'm not sure what decision you're asking for at all. how we're going to get through the taxes, how we're going to get through the year end. Because we've closed one month in five months. I mean, I don't know.

How are we supposed to answer that question?

So this is kind of your guys' ballywick, and I'm asking for guidance. Because other than providing you more resources, We can do more resources and solutions. I don't know where you are on the budget for that, but if that's what it's going to take.

Again, as long as it depends on what Kylie wants. I know she wants to get through this.

We are here and ready to help you guys. We just need guidance on how to help you because this is Can we call another county to help you? To come up and help you with that? I would call another county. Do you want that, Carly? To call another county? I mean, there's nothing that they can do. I mean, honestly. I don't understand. I think the board wants to assist in any way we can. I know. We're just kind of looking for guidance on what we want to do.

I'm not saying that I am against that.

not okay so would you both maybe talk and let us know what y'all need to help you through this because i think we're ready to help you on that we just need you to tell us what that is because we don't know tell us we'll make it happen if you need help i'll call wherever you want okay so you guys start talking and get back to us

Again, I can do no more than I'm doing. So can we then talk about just because the amendment is on the, or excuse me, the resolution is on the date. So what this is about is it is creating a A budget amendment, which I've got a message into solutions to see if I can even do that.

Again, that's a good question.

I went in today and looked and I'm like, oh, yeah. So anyway, public health is no longer, our 28E agreement has terminated with Warren County, and we are in the process of, or the Board of Health is in the process of, what would you call it?

They call it an RFS.

RFS, request for services, and we did have one person respond. The issue right now is the money is currently, our grants is going to Warren County, and in order for us to grab that money back to use for our public health, We have to have a budget set up. Well, when we got rid of in-house public health, we let the money go. We don't have a budget built. And so in order to make this happen, we have to do a budget amendment. And what I'm thinking about is maybe I can just certify one on DOM with them, and then when we're ready we can just go back and build it into solutions is what i i gotta call it down today department of management because the most important piece before thursday is for us to have a document that can be published so we can have a public hearing on this amendment so everybody kind of knows what's going on and the reason why we're doing this is we can't

Because we shifted everything to Warren, we removed the monies that we would spend from the expenditure, and we also removed the revenues from the revenue side. You know those worksheets we get through budgets? So we can't spend money until it's budgeted. So even if the revenues come back? They won't come back until we have a budget. Oh, they won't. That's what Margaret was saying. Oh, OK. So that's why we need to do a budget amendment for the revenue side and the expenditure side in order to allow... The revenue is really important, but yeah. And we also need to submit forms to them, I think, to allow it to come back.

You don't know about that piece. That's not part of what I do. I think that's great.

You have to fill something out. And I think Joelle is ready to do that. Yeah. Our side is we have to do a budget amendment so we can spend the money and receive the money. So, yeah, if you could keep us informed on that.

Well, the two things I'm waiting for is for the employment attorneys to come back and tell us what that structure looks like with the person.

And I think the chair reached out to them. I don't know what they- That's fine.

And then I did meet on teams with the person that we're looking to contract with, and we, I gave her what I need, a mailing address, equipment, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So that was a good conversation, and we had that yesterday. Good. Hopefully we can get this going, because I think she'd be a good fit. I'm pretty excited. I think it's going to be really good for Madison County. So, okay.

Anything else on that?

No, I hate to be the bad guy, but I just felt it was really necessary to delineate where we are.

No, I appreciate that, and I appreciate trying to figure out how we can do a resume without it. I got skills. Okay, but that's my understanding. Do you have some more questions? Well, just to clarify, I did talk with the board president, but it's been a week or two ago now.

They don't need an office space.

No.

So that's what was communicated to me.

They will not need an office space for whatever reason they make to fill the gap for this 2080.

Yep. Okay. Thank you. She'll need a cell phone. a computer, and that's it. She'll need a BPM in.

She might need a printer too.

I've got a very big old pan and printer I can't get rid of. It's going out of the public health.

Only the Lord of Health will figure that out.

Yeah, so I'm really trying to stay in my lane and just get her what she needs and identify what budget needs we have.

Okay, great. Thank you. So do we need to set a date?

We will during the resolution.

We have a resolution to set a date for a hearing for the budget amendment. So it says Amendment 1. This is going to be Amendment 1. It's just for the Board of Housing. Okay. So it will be pretty easy peasy. All right. Thank you. Anything else? Anybody else? All right. Thank you.

Are you good or you want me to come back over there?

All right, so now we come to the time for public comment. What I would ask is if you wish to make a public comment, please go ahead and come up to the podium, state your name and where you're from, and you have three minutes.

I have a few questions for the board following up from the meeting this afternoon. I have a question regarding the recent public records request involving county emails. One of the specific search terms in that request was harassment. For any individuals, departments, email accounts, or responsive emails excluded from the search for that term? I'll move on so I don't lose my three minutes and I'll give you the list at the end. Can you provide documentation showing which email accounts were searched for the term harassment? And which, if any, were excluded. My third question, who reviewed and sorted the responsive emails before they were released and what authority did that individual have to review them and determine what should be withheld and what should be redacted? Number four, what process was used to review these records for confidential or legally protected information before they were released. Moving on, were the records reviewed for information involving victims, minors, sexual assault cases, ongoing investigations, or attorney-client communications before they were released? Before these records were provided to the requester, Who had access to the unreacted emails for the purpose of reviewing, sorting, or preparing them for release? Was every person who had access to the unreacted records authorized to view any confidential or legally protected information contained in them? Heather, how many emails did you give him? 550. I want to end by asking this board to remember that behind some of these emails are real victims and real families. They came to the county officials during some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives, believing they were in a safe place and could trust the people helping them. Please do not lose sight of them while debating policies, records, for politics, protect their privacy, protect their dignity. And please, stand up for the victims, because you'll never have to wonder whether asking your county for help could someday, I'm sorry, .

Oh, do I have a motion to?

I will make a motion to receive and file your questions.

So if you're all in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed, motion carries. Anyone else wish to speak? Please state your name, where you're from, come to the podium. You have three minutes.

Nick Scar, Earl of Iowa. Not guilty, not guilty, not guilty. Open records request, clarity and accountability. On approximately June 19th, they requested information about the information with Auditor Sands office and all Madison County, Iowa domain email addresses. After 90 days of back and forth, I still have no answers. Finally, I was told that Michelle was able to come up with 325 emails between a MadisonCountyIowa.gov domain and the state auditor. Steve Swanson came back, thankfully, with 788 emails. It doesn't add up. The report from the state auditor, same request. Emails from January 1st, 2025 to the date of my request. Keep in mind Mr. Sand is coming here for a hearing about information about paying bills. The state auditor came back with 15,406 emails. 19,846 email attachments. 389 team conversations. 826 additional documents to my math the county has 14 293 missing emails where are they since there is no longer any investigation in regards to the press audits i ask that the board of supervisors release all information about the 23 24 audits and all emails pertaining to that for clarity of the public and citizen taxpayers, there is clearly something missing. Where are 14,200 emails? Where are they?

Thank you.

Anyone else wish to speak? Please state your name, where you're from, and who you represent. All right, we're gonna go ahead and move to the folks on the phone. If you wish to comment, please hit star six and state your name and where you're from. And you have three minutes. All right, hearing none, we'll go ahead and move on to the resolutions for board consideration. The first one is approving setting the public hearing date for budget amendment one for fiscal 27. I spoke to Michelle about this. There's, you know, we have to give notice. So the first available date, I think, Michelle, was September 28.

Monday was the sweet spot, but Tuesday, you suggested Tuesday.

So the first available date that we allow for publication is Monday, September 28th. I also, we can do it that day. We also have the standing 930 on Tuesday the 29th. So I wanted to let the board know that. I know that the public health is to get this gala started. So yeah. So I'm fine either way. I just want to make sure the board had both options. So did you guys want to do the 28th? Michelle, we can do the 28th. It's your decision. 1 o'clock, the 28th? I don't care.

Yeah, I can do the 28th at any time and it would probably be helpful for them to do it better, right?

So that's the earliest we can do it. So part of the 28th. That's it. I don't have... They'll give the board of health chair a And Michelle and dollars and Cooney time to get a document and numbers and all that kind of stuff together. So she can do a budget posting.

That'll have to have that has to happen by this this end of this week. Yep. So 28 Michelle. Thank you very much. Okay.

And you said what time? 930. Do you guys need me there?

I'll write minutes for you. No, I mean, Sarah can be here. I just was looking. It's like, oh, I have something. I can't.

Sarah can do it. That's fine.

Thank you. So 930. Yep.

all right so i will entertain a motion to approve the resolution sending the public hearing date for budget amendment one fiscal 27 on september 28th at 9 30. so do i have a second second any discussion all in favor please vote aye aye all opposed motion carries mike talked earlier today and said that we could approve resolution a c d c

And F, I don't think he was in there. Was E in there? No, E's road shaping. It's A, I didn't make the motion, all road closures, A, C, D, and F. You could add E. You could add E? If our man misspoke. You're okay with E? Yes, they're all road closures. Got it. Okay. A, C, D, F, E, and F. Okay.

All right, so I'll entertain a motion to approve those resolutions for Secondary Roads. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. So the last resolution for Secondary Roads is 090826B, approving the setting of the hearing to vacate a 20-foot wide alley. Do I have 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. We're going to go ahead and do the application for the final marathon first so I don't forget. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Is that a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. The next one is the application for temporary liquor and wine license for Des Moines. Time out. Did we skip G?

G was F. It's both. It's the F. I'm not going to be approving.

No, you're looking at that. I want to talk about that. Okay, I'm still on G on the other one. Alright. So, I'm sorry. So, do I honor your motion to approve the application for a temporary mccora and wine license for Des Moines Mobile Bar? Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. The next one is an application for a temporary wine license, liquor and wine license for the Covered Bridge Winery. Do I have a motion to approve? Second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. The next one is an application for use of Mass County grounds for Covered Bridge selling on October 10th. Do I have a motion to approve? I move. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. The next one is a motion to approve an application for fireworks display for W Wearmouth on St. Charles Road. Do I have a motion to approve? I move. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor please vote aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. All right, we are done with resolutions and applications. We are now up for systems request to be heard. Sherry Young. I have many things I'd like to talk about tonight. Please forgive me if I repeat or miss something.

Some of my questions that I have already prepared have already been answered. by meeting earlier and by things that have been addressed in this meeting. However, the things that I would like to address, the things that I have to say are going to be directed to the EOS, which is indeed Heather and Jess, as Diane has repeatedly not involved in any decisions or input. The BOS, we demand your resignation as you continue to harm our county and whose lack of integrity is repulsive. I have several things that I would like to talk about. Once again, both of you were observed earlier at your meeting browbeating Diane. We all saw it. It was disgusting. That's what you continue to do to her, and it's not fair. It's not fair for you to do that to other people. Jessica, stop. Really, grow up, bitch. I'm sorry, people, but that just came out. Wow. Yeah, wow, I'm sorry. You know, you tie yourself as Christians. You bring in a prayer group. I have nothing against that. But, five minutes after the prayers are done, you've got those nasty looks on your faces. Really, how Christian is that? How you treat people is not Christian. Not in my type of Christian, anyway. You have continued to cost us money. You have continued to disrespect other offices, other voted-in offices, as well as county employees. with your ongoing abusive, belittling, badgering behavior on all levels. Political agendas have no place in county government. You are elected to protect and serve for the betterment of our county. You are paid to do this. You signed an oath to do this. You have continued to damage our country. Your self-serving resolutions have hit an all-time low. The resolution by H&S, the Board of Supervisors, for H&S, giving them access to very restricted documents and records. You had no business accessing law enforcement, EMS, and ongoing investigations. Please fact check this. There is proof that Heather at least accessed one shared and a privileged email with a private citizen. This was verified in the earlier meeting this afternoon. What else have you shared? Your complicit smirk earlier when that mother voiced her concerns was absolutely repulsive and certainly not Christian. Your ongoing use of our money, misuse of our money, mismanagement of HR, you've made it a toxic workplace environment for many, many people, outsourcing employees in punishment because they did not approve of your private agenda that's going on. And the waste of money with your outside counsel. I have questions here about the outside counsel. How is asking for an invoice a violation of lawyer privilege? How is that something that we shouldn't have access to? A bill. A bill. That's not a violation of attorney privilege conflict. Everybody in the world has to get a frickin' invoice to have something to pay, and you people continue with your manipulation and your just outright lies and disgusting behavior has continued to damage our county. I would like to, oh, the other thing too is, you know, they have used outside counsel for county business, but we don't know what kind of county business or what we're paying for. which I think we should know. We see what you are, we see who you are. I would like once again to ask for your resignation as it is very indicated. I would like to thank those other members, Diane, for your awesome job and your continued abuse by at the hands of those two. Respect i would like to thank and respect the rest of the county officials that have continued to respectfully do their jobs for this community all right moving on to other business board member reports which one would you like to go first same go ahead

i attended mike and i attended the optimist club and we discussed how much we need money for the repair and preservation of the covered bridges and they've been wonderful we have ideas um one of us came up with the idea may you guys can help us um of making remember when you're in uh sunday school and you have the little churches and you put your money in them that's what we think we'll do with covered bridges and take them all to all of the schools and kind of make a contest of who can bring in the most money and um we've also discussed having three kids from each school dress up as covered bridges and walking through the covered bridge festival I worked at Farmer's Market. Once a month during Farmer's Market, we have let little kids come into the courthouse and we play I Spy games and do history, and that's really successful. I attended HURDA, CCOG, and then HURDA again, just because this is a long month. So that's what I've done. Jess?

uh work with a lot of work with the um future dungeons affairs space and we'll talk about that more when we get to that line item that's going to open it aside from the meeting crap and um for open records and all these other things and um i i don't recall that rendition of how this meeting went this afternoon i don't think that was an accurate portrayal at all

I think it went well.

Yeah, so maybe y'all can watch it on the Madison Report. That's not an accurate portrayal of how this afternoon went. So, anyway. But, ultimately, we're making some progress, it sounds like, on several different items i know we talked about another handbook session might be something we need to talk about for going forward when we're working on some of our schedules i'll cover the rest of my stuff when we get to the early services building section okay um i had the board of health meeting and i had um I finally got the legal sign-off on the SMG camera contract, so those have been submitted. I sent copies to you both, and I sent one to you, Michelle, for the record, along with the insurance certification. Those have been processed. They are in process. It can take anywhere from four to six weeks to get the certification.

FROM NOW OR FROM WHEN?

FROM WHEN I SENT IT LAST WEEK. SO, YEAH. SO, I TOLD THEM, IF YOU FIND ONE SOMEWHERE ELSE, PLEASE GET ALONG AND UNDERSTAND THAT WE WANT IT QUICKLY.

SO, WHAT IF IT WAS CLOSER TO FOUR WEEKS THAN SIX WEEKS? YEAH, WHAT WOULD THE DATE BE?

FOUR WEEKS PER THOUSAND? OCTOBER THAN OCTOBER. So I'll be following up with them and let them know if there's any delays. So that's on the way. Also too, and this will be later on in the agenda, we got the response from the engineer, the inspector engineer. So hopefully you guys will let me talk about him. Then I talked to him a little bit about that. There was an MPO meeting that I attended. Let's see what else. That was calls regarding our taxes. So I think all of us are getting calls from folks, not just our treasurer or our auditor. So hopefully we can put that to bed soon and resolve that. I don't understand everybody's anxious to pay their taxes, but I do understand that, especially for those with mortgages, it can cause a challenge with escrow. And loan closings. And loan closings. I got an earful at the bridge. So there is an element that's outside of, you know, our schools and cities not getting payments. It causes some disruption for those that pay their taxes and their mortgages. And to your point, Michelle, loan closings too. So that's all I have to report on that. All right, moving on to old business. I just have this as a standing on here until we have the hearing. I know that the state auditor was going to be working with you, Michelle. Do we, have we? We don't have a hearing date yet. They said that Restricting it to you guys have copied on the email Restricting it to a Tuesday at 930 is going to be restrictive is too restrictive for them and they want to know if we have some flexibility I didn't want to speak for the board.

So and I'll just clarify. He's not sending me this primarily I'm just copied. So if you'd like me to transition into some kind of other role with this

An earlier email, he said he would work with you. So I just made that assumption. OK. It's probably best with you. So I'd like to give feedback to him on what the board wants. I didn't want to speak for the board until I talked about it. So what do you guys think? I know you'll reference this at Tuesday at 930. Well, if that's restricted, do what he wants. They said he'd try. You guys want me to tell them to be flexible? We'll be flexible. They can give us some other days. We can't guarantee that they'll work. I mean, depending on how much notice they give us. They'll be posted mid-line soon, so they'll have to have posted mid-lines.

Are they a day time?

Yeah, they would be during the day.

One thing I did forget earlier is should we have that Board of Health hearing in the afternoon or evening, because it's such a... The meetings are at night. Well, what? The board meetings are at night, right? Well, yeah, just... This is a budget hearing. This is not the budget amendment hearing.

I know, but that's, you know what? Now that I'm thinking of it, well, we've done budget amendment hearings in our day meetings, though.

Right, but I'm just throwing it out there as maybe that would be better perceived by the public.

So the 28th, do you want it changed?

I don't know. I'm talking to Heather right now.

It's up to the board. We just did it to get it done as soon as possible for them. The 28th was the soonest we could do. And if we do it in the morning, we get it approved, and they can start the paperwork process on Monday, whatever the paperwork process is to get someone hired. So it's up to the board. But regarding the state auditor, do we want to be open to meetings?

as well or do you want to do those hearings how about if you do it monday the 28th at i can't see anything what date can you do uh they want evening no they don't well this is our budget amendment they don't care there's nothing for health this is oh what are you talking about now they're talking okay there's there's two different the budget we've already done the budget so you're doing the um auditors okay so we have

Michelle kind of inserted a different topic in the conversation, so I'm sorry. I'm clicking. I'm sorry, Michelle. But yeah, we should probably stay on the same topic here. So the hearing date of the state auditor, we do not set it. The state auditor sets it. I sent him the preference for the time and date based on direction of the board. He responded saying that he would like some more flexibility.

and i did not want to speak until i spoke to you guys so if you guys are saying okay with me saying yes we'll be flexible just let us give us a heads up and let us know as we get into the paper um you guys okay with that i'm fine with that i mean we you know if we're we're setting this budget hearing on the 28th i don't know if we want to try to say hey we've got some availability on the 28th now i do have a courthouse security committee meeting on the 28th at 2 30. but aside from that i don't know if that's enough notice

okay okay so they're in charge it's not yeah they are in charge of the hearing we are not the only thing where they just got to give us a date yeah so i will i will communicate with them that the board is finding flexible and we'll get somebody to shoot us three games and we'll figure it out all right moving on the fiscal 27 budget amendment two budget expenditures and revenue reports this is a standing as well so we have we can talk about it if it came up i think michelle and kylie did a pres you know gave us an update during their presentations so unless there's any other questions we can move on any other questions okay elderly services building did you have an update okay so i got

bulk of the scope finished and gotten it to council to review however i have not gotten a response from city of winterset fire department i have not gotten a response in the report from state ada my recommendation to the board i've spoken with a local architect who i would like to do some drawings i think that will bring some consistency for these people who are these contractors that are bidding it i think that will give us some reassurance that we've got ada compliance all the applicable building and fire codes and all of that. I spoke with that local gentleman, like I said.

He's meeting me on site tomorrow morning at 8.

He thought that he could move this along fairly quickly, given it's pretty small, but he's versed in this. And this will be a protection to the county. It will ensure consistency with what people are bidding and allow us to just be 100% ready to go once that building sells.

So are you working with Thaddeus on this, on the design as well, or are you just kind of relying on them and running it?

Well, I got to get a draft to Thaddeus, but I walked through it with him several weeks ago and discussed what wall would be removed. I don't believe it's a bearing wall. We discussed where he would want an additional outlet, for example. But yeah, walk through all of it. So now I would like to get an expert involved who can put this together pretty quickly for us and ensure that everybody's bidding consistently the same thing. Ensure that all codes are being met. All the latest codes are being met. So that would be what I would make a recommendation for. Now, of course, I don't have a quote from him. So if he gives me a heart attack with that, that'll be probably a different discussion.

But I don't think that will be the case based on just talking through the project with him. And I've shared the scope that I have drafted thus far. I think that it would be pretty straightforward.

so my question to you is this seems to be a simple simple project so i don't do we really need an architect i mean why not just give the only parameters to if we were just remodeling an office space and not changing design at all i think yeah we wouldn't need an architect certainly but what gives me pause is adding the ada compliant bathroom and changing the walls and doing that piece of it, as well as just ensuring that we have all the proper signage, that we have all the proper codes that we're following for all this stuff. I think it would be the safest route for the counties.

I think in 10 years the state's going to say you have to build on Deer Jail and the plan was always to knock that building down and build on from that corner. I think we'll put money into things that they're going to be forced to change in so many years. Because we can't go out north because that's built. We cannot go out north. Well that's not what Phil Clifton told us when we were talking about it. We should have sold that land in a go. No, it's filled. So we have to go the other direction. Isn't it filled, Mike? Yes. It's Bill. What's Bill? Bill Brown. No.

Then why didn't we sell that property when we had an opportunity to do McDonald's?

Because they probably didn't want it after they got the other side. I wouldn't want that side. No, we told them no, and then they went to the other side. I would never build it. In fact, Bill was very emphatic. Well, you'd go the other direction. You'd knock on the old building, which was the plan many years ago. So I'm concerned we're dumping money into a building that they'll have to tear down. Or we'll have to build a new jail, which would be not popular. Just add on to it, and they could use the old part for offices and add on. We're not going to be able to add on to that. It's too old for building. Well, it's not that old. It's 30 years old. Yeah, 30. My house is 150 years old.

I looked at this three years ago. We had somebody come in and talk about that. I met with the sheriff. I can't remember who the architect was. Chai Haggard. and they they talked about you know this is an older building you're not going to be able to retrofit it very well you probably need a new building regarding the sheriff's department You can't retrofit the way it's at to comply with the new standards. So you need a brand new one. Just leave it and build on the jail side. I'm telling you what the architect, I'm just telling you what they said. So I'm not an expert on this. So that's what they said. So it is no real thing. But whenever I've inquired regarding future needs for the building, no there's no future needs right now for it and hopefully we do not have future needs because that means we're arresting more people and we have more crime i don't really want that so but as i understood it uh the plan was of course winners that field house that would create some space and that's not going to happen now it's now not now not now um so then that's been in the back of my mind is you're going to need more space over there And I don't know the answer to that.

Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. Well, I can get the information and bring

a resolution forward Tuesday when I have it all defined and laid out. I think this will help us and prevent some change orders, just having that consistency with drawings on the front end.

So each better? So each better, yeah, versus each better having to develop their own drawings and they're all bidding something different. And, you know, I can just, I can plan on bringing it forth. I don't know if I'll have it by next Tuesday. What is ready for the architect? A resolution for an architect to put together drawings, please.

Well, next Tuesday is going to be an off meeting anyway.

I know, but if I can have it ready by then, I'd like to bring it. It shouldn't be a long discussion. Okay. can talk but i would like for you ladies to consider it so okay i mean your point is well taken by that wow okay and then wait to hear i'm still waiting to hear a date on when the duct work is going to be replaced and the roofing too okay do you have any questions about cleaning

oh coding for the um the project or cumulative of you know all the costs we're working on that we're the we're the we're the we're paid out of that how codes no i just see you guys on that do you want to do you want a tally of everything since i can't produce a gender ledger with that number would you like to see that'd be great yeah you know i want to see yeah

That would be fabulous.

I'll make sure it's a part of the meeting before the resolution.

I think you started it, didn't you?

We did.

Yeah, so I think keeping that going would be great.

We're trying to grab them as they come in. Things that are related to the relocation.

Yeah, because there was that, oh, that integrase. Yeah.

For very electric that I sent. So, a little geeky background if you want. Let's go quick up. So when they built the new ambulance garage, they didn't build a new coat. So they were sticking all of the expenses from the ambulance garage into the sheriff. And so, again, we'll have a really good picture now going forward.

And that's been there since. It's not a report.

It's just like that answers her question. but we're going to delineate going forward so we know and we have a true accounting yeah that's so that's all that's that's good that is true that is all that matters yeah yeah so we know going forward so again um then if you get the number i can add that to your Yeah, and an architect. Because we still don't have a budget right now for this.

And the architect can help with that as well. Yeah, we don't have a budget for it. Yeah, FYI. Right now. No, I know. I know. So, yeah.

And it's my job. You know, it's not here to tell you you don't have enough money. Yeah. Okay.

Anything else on elements? No. Okay. All right. So the next one. is i i sent the board the response from don from stanley engineering i don't know if you had a chance to look at it um i'm i'm i'm thinking that we might need to set a closed meeting to discuss that and how to you know what we want to do moving forward if we want to move forward on anything um That seems the safest bet to me. If we're going to talk through some of these sensitive details, that's probably the safest way to go. So what I can do is I can give some dates and times to hours. I don't know how they want to, you know, dates and times.

If you ladies want to give me a few dates and times that work for you, or what can we piggyback on a Tuesday? Since we already have Tuesdays reserved, I wonder if we could piggyback on before or after normal start time on Tuesdays.

He had sent me an email. He said he wanted to talk about it on Friday, actually. This Friday, the 11th? I was like, I don't know. I was like, I'm sure your office is open. I don't know if this has already been a featured date. I don't know. Right. So that doesn't get a lot of notice. But I can make that work. But I can just, I can tell them, I'm like, we're going to set up a closed session meeting and here are some options for dates and times.

Especially if you have to get AILERS first. Yeah. Availability. Why don't you get AILERS first and then shoot us an email?

Can we please narrow it down? I have very little tolerance for 20 emails coming around.

What about Tuesday after the regular BOS meeting? Tuesday the 15th? No, the 930. 930, or sorry, the 22nd.

No, he doesn't want to wait that long. So, how about Thursday the 17th?

I could do 11 or after on Thursday the 17th.

So is there a reason why I don't? I want to give them three dates and times. So we can do and request the 15th. After for the 15th. We could do it at 8 or we could do it at what? When would we develop that other one?

We've got Canvas, RP. Kansas, Canvas at 930. And then 945 we're starting the special meeting. So we could do it before or? We could do it at 8.

I think 8.30 is probably soon enough.

8.30 to 15th.

I can ask at 8.30. 8.30 to 15th or if we're starting the other one at 9.30 to say 11, could we do 11 or 11? 8.30 or 11 on the 15th? You're going to get two open records. Oh yeah, that's open records. I didn't have that one on there.

I think the only option for the 15th is 8.30.

I agree, yeah.

Unless we want to do in the afternoon. That's safe to say. Okay. So the option I'm going to give them is 830 on the 15th. What about the 16th or 17th as options?

16th is Badger Creek Watershed, which is where I'd like to really go to. And the 17th?

As soon as I could do it would be 11. How long is that? 17. 17. How long does that magic week? It usually lasts a couple hours, doesn't it?

It'll last a couple hours. You'll walk in that good. I planned on the whole morning. Oh, it's not that long, but it's a couple hours.

So are you wanting to do like an afternoon, but we need before? Let's do a Thursday, because she's got that.

She's not going to want to come back. Oh. Well, I want to give them three dates. Oh. Because I don't know when the schedule is.

Is 11 too late on Thursday the 17th, Michelle? I don't think so.

Thursday the 17th? No. No. Is the closed meeting right?

Yeah.

Closed meeting the 17th. 17th will be the second date. Okay. So what's the third date?

How about, can you do it Wednesday then? That would be another date. Okay.

She said she could do it before or after, but did you want to do it after, like at 11? Would that be okay with you? When does the meeting start, 9?

I don't know, I just reserved it for morning right now. If that will work, we can always do Friday the 18th.

Are Fridays good for you, honey, or are they bad for you?

Don't pick Friday.

I can always ask for 14th too.

I can see if we can meet on Monday.

It's at 9 a.m. so. Badger crease at 9.

It goes to about 11. So what about Monday the 14th? I can ask for Monday.

Or Friday the 18th. How about Monday the 14th?

Will that work? How about Monday the 14th? That work for you?

As long as we're doing it before 1 p.m. So 9.30 just to be consistent? Yep. Okay. But these are all tentative? These are all tentative.

Supervisor Stansley, you said you cannot do the 17th. I cannot do the 17th. Anything on the 17th.

I can do afternoon on the 17th, but I can't do morning.

That might work because she works a full day on Thursdays.

Oh, she does. Oh, well, then we have one. We already put the 17th closed meeting.

I just looked at my personal thing. I'm sorry. I sent you in the morning. Can you do it right after lunch? Yeah. One? Yeah. You do one?

Because you work the mornings and Thursdays, right? Yeah. Okay. So we have Monday the 14th at 930. These are all time events. Three options, right? And then we've got Thursday the 17th at 1.

Oh, but also the 15th at 8.30. And then the 15th at 8.30. Okay. Okay.

These are all tentative. Tuesday the 15th at 8.30. Monday, I'm sorry, Monday the 14th at 9.30. Yep. And then Thursday the 17th.

Tuesday, Tuesday the 15th at possible 08.30.

Yeah, Tuesday the 15th at 8.30, Monday the 14th at 9.30, and Thursday the 17th at 1 p.m. Correct? All right, I'll give those to Jeff. All right, so moving on. Discussion with possible motion regarding the July 9th minutes. I don't know if you guys had a chance to listen to that meeting. I provided some questions, corrections to the proposed minutes based on, because I sat and I listened to it again, based on those minutes. And our auditor didn't concur.

I was disagreeable.

You didn't concur. So then it comes to the board for review. So if you guys want more time to review, that's fine.

But I guess what's the main point of contention that you ladies are in disagreement over?

Well, I wanted to make sure that things reflected accurately what was said. And some things were in the original revised version were things that were not said.

But the revised that I gave you were.

The corrections I did was because I wanted to actually listen.

I did too. Well, I know I had some serious heartburn with one of the statements in there saying that there's a sentence here on the revised draft. It is one, two, three, third paragraph. Second to last statement, statement or sentence. She characterized the topic of the meeting as a potentially unlawful attempt of our county attorney and sheriff to access the system. That's not accurate. They attempted to hack the administrative passport. You prefer that? Yes, please. So, so.

And I was just trying to be kind to. Right. Supervisor Stanzel. So that there wasn't. Yeah. I just thought that was.

Well, I guess I don't know that she stated it, but I'm... Well, those were her exact words, actually, what I put in there.

Those were her exact words.

No, those were not. I disagree with that. But what I would encourage folks to the board to go ahead and listen to the meeting themselves and see if the changes are even part of the changes or not. Because we want to make sure that under Iowa code, the minutes are supposed to reflect board action. That's it. It's not that you have any conversation.

It's the board action. I think we should start. Some counties leave a lot of narrative in it, and I think that opens you up for a lot of issues. If you just board action, and if you say, I want the minutes to reflect...

I wasn't there, period. I agree with you on that. Because Iowa code only requires that the board clerk record proceedings, actions taken, motions, resolutions, amendments, ordinances, and votes. And then Robert's Rules of Order 48.2 provides that minutes are recorded of what was done, not what was said.

So I can take out all the discussion that you put in. I would absolutely.

I would agree to take out all of what you put in if we are going to take out the fact that you told me it was none of my business.

No, well, first of all, that's not what I said.

Okay, so you said it's none of your concern and not the subject of this meeting.

Because it's not the subject of this meeting.

That's fine. I'll be happy to take out. To me, it's like.

So Iowa code's clear, as is Robert's rule. So I think that we've been putting in a lot more narrative than we need to. I think we just need to do what the code says. Robert's rule seems to concur. And that was a relatively short meeting, so I think it could be a relatively short minute. All right, I will take everything out and put you at it.

We're just going to do action items and very little narrative.

So what we can do is, you can do that, bring it back to the board.

I'll just give you a review in an email form, and then you guys can say, yep, that embodies

And we'll get it on the agenda. Simple. Just keep it simple.

Okay, so did you want to go through the other list of outstanding minutes? Do you feel like that's been... I would like to know which ones are pending. I just don't understand what the big... Well, that's... The thing is that we've sent them over, they've been approved, and now there's a problem.

No, well, there's not a problem. There's actually a question. So the question was... is first of all on the july 28th minutes and this is an oversight on everybody's part okay um the board took action and tabled minutes and approved some minutes tabled others some of which we approved later and but that language was not in the minutes that we did that we never we will do that we've never done that so when we table minutes you've never put it in you've never done that before even though it was action taken yep Pretty much. So, we should probably start. Yeah. So, because that's what kind of made me confused on when I saw the minutes for July 14th, I'm like, we already approved these. There are two meetings on the 14th. Oh, I know. We approved the 14th on the 28th, the regular meeting, but we tabled the special meeting, which we approved, and that revised one we approved on August 11th. So, that's why I was confused when we saw the the July 14th minutes appear on this agenda again when we already technically approved it on the 28th.

During the meeting, you also said that you did not approve them. So you approved them back to me and said, yeah, they look good. But then during the meeting, you talked about not approving them. that's why okay maybe that was the confusion is that there was two meetings on the same day one was table one was approved so now we can we're going to see steps going forward that we're going to send you guys out timely minutes typed in fact you already got the one that's happening i saw that all right yeah so and that you guys will make a commitment to

get them back and turn them around quickly and then we can hopefully our goal can be that those minutes will hit the next meeting period yes period the end so now we could i'm sorry if we could if the board decides hey we need this to be tweaked just noted in the in the minutes that the board is tabling these minutes tweak i think what we've always said is we just pin and eat it i mean it's just a

but that thing is we've had reviews where they were just pin and inked and we had to just bring them all back it was like so anyway i just want to make sure you know down the line if people are looking at our minutes they know exactly what we get um well and and again sometimes being the board clerk I would include things because guess what? You can search for things much easier than if, you know, a meeting was held and that's it. So it's like wouldn't you want to know that a decision was made to go forward with an architect? Wouldn't you want to make, you know?

That would be a resolution.

You were going to bring it back to the table. So it's not a resolution. That should be in here. But don't you agree that that discussion about getting an architect should be in the minutes? Because what, you know, then how are you going to vote?

The decision was made to discuss it with the next meeting. So that would be in the minutes because it's a discussion.

So I think you're right. There's a, there's a, there's a granular line.

But the main thing is, if there's going to be a resolution for it, then that's when it would be covered, right? No, because you guys, they have to have a discussion item.

We have to have a discussion. There was a policy.

Noted before you put a resolution on. Before you put a resolution on. So in that case, then yeah, that should be in the minutes. Discussion meeting, she's writing a resolution. But you were discussing it. It was on the agenda.

The Albany Services Building was on the agenda to discuss. So sure. I get it, yeah. So here's my question.

Which minutes are still pending that need to be revised and or approved? Did she answer you today? Or no?

Did she not answer you?

Sarah. Sarah? That was a, I saw that. I've been hands off because I'm doing some other stuff, but.

I think I said that Friday. okay otherwise i can um follow up and have her i just want to make sure i know what meetings do i need to make sure i'm looking at so i'm prepared i'm getting feedback to you ladies soon on and so we're all on the same page of what's pending i would say if she has not answered you yet i will follow up with her tomorrow then what she said this morning was it's just referencing 728 and then Stancil you had mentioned 714 so because we had 714 approved on here that's why I was confused because I thought we approved it on July 28th so if if you could confirm Michelle what's still hanging out there so and if we're not sure we'll just approve it again yeah And then I have one more question. Michelle, is it helpful to you ladies that if I'm reviewing minutes and if I just, like I've done on a few of them where I just highlight it and make a comment, is it, or is there a better way, an easier way to give feedback to you ladies if I am requesting a change?

Whatever is more comfortable for you. I'm just going to tell you that.

It's okay to do what I was doing.

What if I just attached a word off? Are you finding that the changes were not being made doing it that way?

No, but we've been all over the board. That's why I want to make sure. Just continue that. That's just fine.

Okay. And I'll just, if it's just something. But that's a little. I'll just highlight it and I'll just send it over to you.

Yeah. You know, again. Okay.

All right, anything else about the July 9th? Otherwise, we'll move on. It's new business.

We already took care of new business, huh?

Yeah. So, yeah. All right. Why have something under new business? Well, we have one more thing under old business. The contract employee hiring process, I put that on there because, specifically because of Board of Health. Yeah. Do we have a finalization on those documents and stuff like that? Can the Board of Health use that, or are we going to use something different for that?

Well, that was what we were using in our office. But, you know, again, Greta said she was going to call Ehlers. Otherwise, I would have been happy to.

Okay. Does that one, Ehlers, review that one for you?

Yes, but the biggest thing here isn't, it's the IPERS. Yes. I have, so contractor, which is a 1099, we don't withhold. They carry E&O insurance. Contract labor, what does that look like, versus employee. Does that make sense? And I've reiterated that to everybody. For my purposes, I need to know what it is. Because if she's going to be a third-party contractor, then she just sends you a bill. Well, she needs E&O insurance. Oh. You know what I'm saying? It's like, it's all. Okay. We'll leave that to the lawyer. I don't know what to say. Okay.

We'll leave that to the lawyer. It's too complicated. Okay. Or before Avis comes back and says, no, no big deal. Great. Okay. Well, hopefully. It's just very simple. Okay. I'm just trying to protect the county. Well, no. No, I appreciate that.

It's like, you guys, I mean, I've been in business too long to look the other way. I mean, this is as simple as a volunteer citizen wanting to clear out a path.

like well the thing is this is a this is a a board that has their own authority so we have to you know but if we're gonna but if we're gonna come to the fund yeah any money yes i know but it's a little different because they're a separate board so i want to make sure that we're not stepping on their authority either um okay well she's talking to the attorney and hopefully Okay. And then meeting minutes guideline. We already discussed that. Okay. Diane, you said you had something?

Yes. There are maybe one time when you might go three weeks without meeting because of that long time. Yeah, we have an extra week. so what that does is cause late fees on the bills continuous bills like media comm bill which is a it's a continuous bill i would like to us to do a resolution that when that happens they pay it and then they bring it to us as due to um and just just pay it because i'm not paying late bills fees so just have them right

They can write on the claim because of the long meeting date or whatever they want to write. Well, like September, we have five Tuesdays. So put that in there. Don't pay a late fee.

Just have them pay the bill. But we can just have a Sunday bill claim. Well, just let them pay the bill because it's a continuous bill. It comes every month. Don't let it be late. Pay it and then just write it.

Wait, just the continuous ones?

It only happens once in a very long time.

It's almost nothing. No, because that's going to affect it.

Because then it's like, I know you're paying Mediacom, can you sneak this one in? I know, sneak's the wrong word, but you know what I'm saying.

I wouldn't do that. puts her in a precarious position.

I'm okay with it, but I'm just saying it would have to be a budgetary item.

Yeah, and I think you wouldn't do that. I don't want to pay late fees. I would be more comfortable that we have a chance to do it. Again, it's up to you guys. I just think that's something trustworthy.

You automatically pay those.

You know, do we ever get that case? Usually we get a bill and they give us Nope.

We've even got them coming electronically now.

So they don't give you 20, 25 days to pay them?

No. Just think about it. Let's move on. You can think about it. But I don't want this to pay late fees. I don't want to either.

Okay. So the next one is ordinance review and update. All right. So anything else? Otherwise, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Second? Second. All in favor, please vote aye. Aye. All those. All right, everyone.

You won. You won the bet.

Eight o'clock.

Eight o'clock on the dot.

Wow.

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and send this around for initial.

And this one is not so large. There you go. Wow, it seems thin. It is thin. Have a good night. I do want this.