Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

of Warren County Boardroom, and we are here for our regular meeting, the first for the month of August. Could I get a roll call for attendance?

Here.

Here.

Here. Here.

Here. And before we get started this morning, let's all rise for a Pledge of Allegiance.

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

and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, and indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, item number one this morning is our consent agenda. and all items listed under the consent agenda will be enacted by one motion. We had claims in the amount of $614,229.24. We have minutes to approve from July 20th, 2026 and July 21st, 2026. Approve new hire Dylan French in the deputy sheriff, in the sheriff's office. Approve a new hire Casey Garcia, motor vehicle specialist in the treasurer's office. Approve a step increase for Logan Miller, MG operator one in secondary roads. Approve step increase for Kenny Cocaine, equipment operator one, secondary roads. Approve step increase for Luke McKinney, equipment operator one, secondary roads. Approve six month increase for Brianna Rodriguez, driver's license specialist in the treasurer's office. Approve wage change for Macy Dennis, motor vehicle specialist in the treasurer's office. Pursuant to Iowa code We are approving to abate the taxes in the amount of $356. Pursuant to Iowa code 435.25 approve the abatement of taxes of the following mobile homes and they are listed by parcel and VIN number with the amount of total taxes. Approve a five-day Class C retail alcohol license for your private bartender LLC effective 9-24-2026 at the Prelude located at 206-32 35th Avenue, New Virginia. and approve a second five-day Class C retail alcohol license for Apres Barco LLC for the date of August 28th, 2026 at Bochner Farms, located at 1707288th Avenue, Indianola.

I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Second.

Roll call.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. DeWitt? Aye. Arm? Aye. Item number two is a public hearing to consider the preliminary plant for Rosewood Estates submitted by Dan Cruz, Cruz Development on behalf of Topsoil Investments LLC for their property owned by Topsoil Investments LLC.

I'll make a motion to go into public hearing.

Second?

McIntyre? Aye. Erickson? Aye. McCook? Aye. Witt? Aye. Arnold? Aye. Good morning. Good morning. The applicant, Dan Cruz, and owner is requesting approval of a preliminary plot to create 42 lots and two outlots on parcel number 058-0600-6000. This is, like I said, preliminary plat. They were recently approved, but, well, let's back up. So they are within the two-mile radius of needing to be reviewed by additional cities. So they're in the city of Norwalk's two-mile radius as well. They did undergo review and approval by them, by the city council. They were approved by Norwalk City Council on June 18, 2026. They've also been through the zoning commission here. The Warren County Zoning Commission recommended approval with a vote of five to zero as well. Sorry, I don't have the exact date. I think it was about two weeks ago, a week ago. And so I'm going to go through the findings of fact for you. Does the application conform with environmental and health laws and regulations concerning water and air pollution, the disposal of solid waste facilities to supply public community water supply and wastewater treatment, and where applicable, private on-site water and wastewater treatment? Yes, the application and proposed project will conform with the following regulations listed and will need to be reviewed by various agencies to ensure compliance with environmental, water, air and solid waste regulations. Number two, has the applicant shown the availability of water that meets the applicable county environmental health department and Iowa Department of Natural Resources standards, IDNR, and is sufficient for the reasonably foreseeable needs of the subdivision? Yes, the applicant submitted a letter from Warren Water who indicated there was capacity for 45 services at the proposed site. Warren County House Services indicated the applicant owner would be able to obtain some kind of code compliant septic system which each of the parcels will install through the county and Iowa DNR. Three, is the site served or will it be served at the time of development with all necessary public utilities, including but not limited to electric, gas, and broadband or communication services? Yes, the site will be served with all necessary public utilities, including but not limited to electric, gas, and broadband or communication services, which will be available at the proposed project site. Four is a site in an area of the county that is appropriate for proposed development activity, which will not contribute to the need for inefficient extensions and expansions of public facilities, utilities, and services. Yes, the site is located near many city jurisdictions, including the city of Norwalk. City of West Des Moines and fronts onto R63 Highway, a heavily traveled paved road. The site is located in the urban fringe land use category within the Warren County Comprehensive Land Use Plan. The proposed plan review requires approval by the City of Norwalk and Warren County. The applicant will install septic systems for each lot and utilities are available for the site. Five, has the applicant shown the availability and accessibility of public services such as schools, public safety, and fire protection? Yes, the lots are within, and actually it says Warren County School District, but I think someone made the comment they're actually within the city of Norwalk School District.

Yeah, Norwalk School District.

So they're located within the City of Norwalk School District. Public safety and fire protection would fall under the County Sheriff's Office and one of the local county fire departments. Six, will the site represent an overall development pattern that is consistent with the goals and policies of the warren county comprehensive land use plan and any other applicable planning documents adopted by the county the site is located within the city's identified growth area within the urban fringe land use category of the warren county comprehensive land use plan divisions of land within this category typically require approval of adjoining jurisdictions since it is located within a two mile review authority for subdivision plants the applicant has received final approval for the subdivision by the city norwalk and will be reviewed has been reviewed by the zoning commission and today is being reviewed by the board of supervisors Does the site and application conform to all applicable provisions of these regulations? Yes, the site and application conform to all applicable provisions of these regulations. 8. Does the application consider the effect of the proposed subdivision on existing public streets and the need for new streets or highways to serve the subdivision? Yes, the application has been reviewed by the county engineer for compliance with Title II transportation of the Warren County Ordinance. The site fronts onto an existing paved highway, R63, where two separate roads will lead into the subdivision. Nine, does the preliminary plot show the location, spacing, and design of proposed streets, curbs, curb cuts, and intersections, all of which are consistent with good traffic engineering design principles? Yes, the preliminary plot shows the location of two streets coming off R63 highway that enter into the new subdivision. The plans include proposed streets, intersections, dimensions, and overall layout for the proposed subdivision. 10. Does each lot on the map of a residential development have adequate and safe access to and from a local street? Yes, according to the submitted plans, each lot will have access to a local street within the subdivision, which will then connect to the main paved road, Highway 63, R63. 11, does the site contain a parcel, lot, and land subdivision layout that is consistent with the zoning ordinance, good land planning, and site engineering design principles? Yes, the site contains 42 parcels with a layout that includes four cul-de-sacs, which is consistent with the zoning ordinance and contains good land planning and site engineering design principles. The Warren County engineer has reviewed the preliminary plot for design and layout compliance. 12, will the site be laid out and developed in a manner that is sensitive to environmental features and or characteristics of the traps or parcel, including but not limited to topography, slope, soils, geology, hydrology, floodplains, wetlands, vegetation, and trees? Yes, the site has been laid out in a manner that will be sensitive to environmental features and characteristics of the tract. The site is located on old farmland. The west side of the lots are located within the floodplain. However, the buildable lots are located outside of the floodplain. Within the floodplain are rows of trees adding visual interest to the project site. The forested area and floodplain is outside of the area plotted for lots for construction. 13, does the applicant agree to dedicate and improve land right-of-way and easements as may be determined to be needed to effectuate the purpose of these regulations and the standards and requirements incorporated within the subdivision ordinance? Yes, the applicant will comply with regulations and provisions set forth by Title II of the Warren County Code of Ordinance as requested by the county engineer. That concludes staff's presentation. The applicant owner is here as well for any questions you may have.

All right, so that was the second reading then. We had this one already?

Apologies, yes. And you may waive the second and third reading if the board wishes to do so.

Oh, we had this before. Was it rezoning then? Oh, yeah. No, that's rezoning. All right. Gotcha.

No, don't do that with a preliminary plat.

To approve the plat. I guess that's my question. This is the first time the actual plat's been before us, because the last time was the zone, the change in zone.

Before it was the zone, yes, the rezone. So this is the first time y'all are here in the preliminary plat, and then you will hear the final plat.

Yeah, okay, thank you. Well, it looks to me, I mean.

No, not on the preliminary plat, no.

Okay. I mean, everything looked in order. To me, there was a stormwater management plan that was in there that wasn't there before, and I understand the property owner had some discussions with Norwalk, and they might have had some additional requirements that they were requiring, not us.

Correct, and they can tell you about those requirements as well. Yeah, okay.

We are in public here, and is there anyone from the public that has some...

Well, the driveways, we've had some issues with driveways lately. Have you met with the county engineer and gotten these driveways set in stone? I mean, are they... Does he see any issues with them? The one that is a little bit farther to the south looks like maybe it would have some issues with the corner.

Hi, Brad Cooper with Cooper Crawford and Associates. Yeah, we've staked the access points and Tim has reviewed them and approved our entrance permits for both access points.

Okay, and then as far as zoning goes, zoning has zero issues. Everything's been looked at really well by zoning. No issues? Correct.

Okay. Anyone else out there who wants to speak on the preliminary plan?

Sorry, I didn't hear a word just...

Still public comment, anyone? I will point out that the board will issue a, there's a motion. If we get a second and we vote on it, there will be a written component of it as well, adopting findings of facts and rationale that will be provided. And I'll second Supervisor Erickson's motion to approve the prelim plan. Exit them. Oh, sorry. Yeah, you're right. I'm going to make a motion to end our public hearing. Second. How about that?

Yeah. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. I forgot we went into public hearing early. We really did. Well, now I will make a motion. Make it all public.

I will make a motion to approve the preliminary plat for Rosewood Estates, submitted by Dan Cruz at Cruz Development on behalf of Topsoil Investments, LLC. Second.

And waive the second and third.

Nope, no second and third. There is no second and third on the prelim plat, so I'll second. McIntyre? Aye. Erickson?

Aye. Dukas?

Aye.

DeWitt?

Aye. Arnold? Aye. Thank you. Thank you. Item number three this morning, consider resolution for medical examiners and medical death investigators pursuant to Iowa Code Section 331.802.3 with possible action.

So this is just something done annually. Jeff Dumermuth reached out and by Iowa code section 331.8023, it requires that a physician be appointed by the board of supervisors of a county to act in an official capacity to investigate and make a report of any death outlined in the aforementioned code. And the county medical examiner is authorized to appoint deputy county medical examiners to assist him or her in the fulfillment of their duties. And the medical examiner is authorized to recommend county medical examiner investigators to the county board of supervisors and to the state medical examiner for appointment to assist them in their duties. So the appointments would be Lori Miller for county medical examiner, the associate medical examiners, Dr. Eric Ash, Dr. Joseph Kimball, And then the medical death investigators are Jeff Dumermuth, Michelle Hunter-Dose, Lee Koons, Kayla Shark, John Carter, Jody Hall, Kelly Wandishian, and Alex Kerr.

I'll make a motion to approve the resolution for medical examiners and medical death investigators pursuant to Iowa Code Section 331.0231.

Second.

Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Item number four, consider veteran affairs request to backfill part-time certified veteran service officer position with possible action. This was a vacancy in the office which came with the resignation of one of the employees there in the office. So it's not an additional position but it is filling an existing position.

I think the best part is Deb's gonna stay on and volunteer, so. That's what I hear, yeah.

I'll make a motion to approve the backfill of part-time position in the Certified Veterans Service Officer.

Second. McIntyre?

Aye.

Erickson?

Aye. McCook? Aye. DeWitt? Aye. Armour? Aye. Item number five, consider a resolution endorsing the City of Norwalk's grant application for funding through the Iowa Department of Transportation's Revitalize Iowa's Sound Economy Rise program. for the city of Norwalk, which would extend Delaware Street to assist development and construction of track development technology park with possible action.

This has been a

area here, that would be the area where Michael's Foods, Windsor Windows, there's I believe Mini Storage, some warehousing there. The county's been supportive in the past as probably one of the hottest little markets industrial park job creation probably that we have going on in in the county and this would be this is just a resolution in support of their grant although we have supported the project monetarily in the past but that's not what's before us today we're just it's just a motion in support of them getting the grant again to extend that a little further. So something that's sorely needed in Warren County. We need places for industrial properties to locate and that seems to be one of the locations where they do want to locate.

I'll have to say this is a project that I see moving the city of Norwalk forward but I don't know until this project came up that I've ever received emails not to help improve infrastructure. Likewise, I agree.

Been here a little longer.

I know there's a Hot Topic project possibly coming to Norwalk, but to not improve our infrastructure, with the help of the government, the state of Iowa, the feds.

It doesn't make any sense.

It just doesn't make sense to me not to support this. So I'll make a motion to approve endorsing the city of Norwalk's grant application for funding through the Iowa Department of Transportation's Revitalize Iowa's Sound Economy program. Second.

Second. I will also just add a personal thought on it. There are still 650, give or take, one or two miles of gravel roads in Warren County. Anytime the state of Iowa or any other entity that's not a local Warren County taxpayer for property wants to improve a gravel road, I'm going to be supportive of it, just on the record blanket going forward. If the feds or the state wants to pave another 10, 20, 50, 600 miles of Warren County gravel roads, I'm good with it. So I'm supportive. Okay, roll call. McIntyre? Aye. Erickson? Aye.

Cook? Aye. DeWitt? Aye.

Arnold? Aye. Item number six is the, consider the memorandum of understanding between the Warren County Emergency Management Commission and Warren County, Iowa regarding E911 duties, responsibilities, and funding allocations with possible action.

So this MOU formalizes the transfer of EMA commission funds to Warren County to compensate county employees that are performing Chapter 34A eligible E911 duties. The only thing that I actually left off of our work session last week that was a request, because this is done on other MOUs that we have in the county, is to add a department signature line for the department head. Kelly, would that be possible? I think it's the departments that are responsible for the duties. So such as Tim would.

Okay.

I think we're okay. That's all I have on it.

Okay. Stephanie, what's the duration again?

One year.

So we'll have to revisit this every year is what...

ema will revisit it every year um as we're continuing to see changes in the surcharge allocations um you know those funds have been historically dwindling down each year we're getting less and less so um yes this will be something that the ema commission will continue to look at annually well that that's one of my big concerns with this because we're

we're giving some pretty substantial raises, supplemental raises to the departments and the employees that are performing these duties. I think the pro rate of reduction, if next year, I guess I giving somebody that amount of money and they get accustomed to it and But in the next year, it's pulled out from underneath of them.

And I think we've been pretty clear with the employees and the department heads in those meetings that that is why it's a supplemental pay. You know, we don't want them to rely on this. This is coming from a fund that we don't manage. It's coming from EMA. And since they're doing the work, It certainly absolutely could go down next year. I can't promise what the EMA Commission would do.

Okay, so I've got a couple, I got a couple item, a couple issues here. One, I'm really not thrilled with the idea of paying people who are part of the collective bargaining unit outside of the contract. To me, that just really opens the door. I mean, if we're going to pay certain people who are covered under the collective bargaining outside of the contract, I don't know why other people outside of the contract wouldn't also expect to be paid outside of the contract. So I don't know.

I think we have two employees. Tim, could you speak to that, how this has happened in the past with supplemental pay for the union employees?

I also have an issue with paying one person $7 an hour and then paying two people $1 an hour. So to me, that's also an issue. we're allocating $20,000 and 15,000 would be, which is basically $7 an hour going to one person and then two additional people would receive an additional dollar and that would be outside of their collecting bargaining agreement.

And I think the reason that that is different is the delegation of the duties.

um one took on a substantial much more and um the other two i'll let tim speak to the union employees i was just we were approached back when a change happened that said hey we have duties that need to be absorbed by different departments i've always been a kind that We can help out, but I'm not gonna ask my employees to do other departments work or extra work for free. It's been in the past, we've had certain employees take other duties on, whether they be payroll or HR duties or whatever's been asked. Typically there's always been a MOU between the board and department heads that said this is what we agree on if we're gonna ask this employee to do extra work outside of their department for a certain amount of time. I didn't, this happened before I was engineer. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of asking people to do other departments work for free. If it's something that really is a holdup, then the option to hire a replacement, a full-time replacement for the other employees still out there. One employee is taking all the the contacts from the citizens, the first line of contact from anybody who's asking for addresses, when's this sign done, my sign's damaged, I need this, the billing, all that part of it, debtors are installing the signs, and like I said, It was just one of those things that if we're taking on extra duties, I prefer to pay my people for those extra duties, especially if they're outside of our department. It said our sign guy's job is to install signs, but it's not to manage the road sign inventory and make the signs and go on private property for private trails and campgrounds and all those things. So I mean, at the end of the day, it's up to you guys. I just think that from the very get go when we were approached, I didn't ask to have any of these duties go to our department. It was we can help you out, but I'm not going to ask people for to increase their workload for free. So and it's not just our department that's involved in it. So

Right, I have the same concerns with the dispatch center too because it says the 10,000 is gonna be allocated to the dispatch assigned

911 duties which i don't really know but they're same thing there are dispatches in the collective that person would be pulled that person would not be a part of the union because they would have supervisory duties this is this is not something um i believe that dispatch is considering now but

Forward thinking. It says $15,000 is going to the dispatch supervisor and $10,000 to be allocated to a dispatch assigned additional 911 duties. Yes. So $15,000 is going to the supervisor, which the supervisor just got a $16,000 raise. last year. So, to me, I think maybe we could use the additional funds to pay for the raise they already got. It would make sense to me, but I don't know that we'd give someone $15,000 two years in a row that would probably throw the rest of the department head salaries kind of out of balance, in my opinion.

I think what we were doing last year with a large raise there was we were This person was brought in, I'm trying to be sensitive how I say, this person was brought in and promised a salary and was never given that salary. So when the supervisor became over dispatch, which happened last year, we had that conversation with him about how to get him to where he was promised.

No, I was there. I understand that from last year, but I mean, to give someone $15,000 raise every year, that's going to, I just think that's going to create problems with the other department heads in the county. In fact, I know it is, because I've already talked to some.

They've already talked to me about it.

But it's not our money. It's a supplemental pay. If other department heads want to take on some of these duties, I think EMA would probably have that conversation. But if this doesn't go through, the alternative is EMA, we're going to go hire someone. We'll put it out and publish it today if we need to, because this work needs to be done. And again, I realize that sure, if that's the holdup is the one department, tell me what department wants to take on that work then, because dispatch has taken on a lot of the work.

And what is the work they're taking on then at dispatch?

You can pull up the spreadsheet.

Looks like dispatch would be administering and maintaining E911 call handling systems used to receive and process 911 calls, including hardware, software, and network components essential to operations. Managing CAD-related E911 functions, including system configuration, interface with GIS data and address points, user management, and continuity procedures directly tied to dispatching from 911 calls.

So what part of that did they not do before? It sounds like what they, I mean, what was additional that they weren't doing? Okay, so. Sounds like everything they were doing before to me.

No. The MSAG and ESN, they manage that now. That was under E911, Director. Street and address updates and TAC 10, though, that is going away. E911, Director, did that before. Dispatch is now doing that. Road closure updates through GEOCOM. E911 director did that before. Dispatch has taken that on. Wireless provider coordination. That was E911 director. Dispatch has taken that on. 911 system equipment maintenance. E911 director did that. Dispatch has taken that on. Vendor coordination. E911 director. Dispatch took it on. Tax hand database. E911 director. Dispatch took that on. let's see and of the 29 duties dispatch took one two three four five six okay so how does this work i guess i'm going to look at it as a stop gap for this year

assigning these duties to other people or other departments to make sure the job is getting done for the money that we receive to complete these jobs. Say in five years, the E911 money is almost completely gone.

And it will be.

Are these employees going to be asked to continue to maintain these tasks, and then we are going to have to help as the county, we're going to have to give these raises back to those people through county money. Does that make sense?

Or hire someone, which was the alternative presented here. Now that 911 is under EMA, there are other funding mechanisms that we can look at. I don't... guess i'll just say it but we're not looking at this right now so if if people hear levy we are not looking at an ema levy um but now with 911 underneath ema and being managed by ema we have a lot more potential so that 4.2 million dollar tower upgrade we have coming up um this is going to be a way through an ema levy that we we could help fund that um i i I think the state knows this is coming, and counties like ours, they continue to take a little bit more percent each year, and that's why this has come up. So...

But you see what I'm saying with the...

I do see, but I think we've been clear with the employees that this is not a guarantee of pay.

But in five years when that money's all gone, and somebody says, well, I used to be paid $15,000 a year for this.

And they're still doing the same job, dude.

And they're still doing the same job, but now they're getting... $1.50 extra an hour.

I think that's going to be EMA's problem. When the employees say we're not doing the work anymore.

EMA can't just levy money for the communication system because it's not under their jurisdiction. It's under the jurisdiction of the border supervisors.

Correct.

So they cannot levy for the communication system when it's not in their jurisdiction. Correct.

okay we're talking pretty long range here there are other counties where communications is under ema and they do ema levy i think we talked a little bit about that last week to cover these expensive things these are three four years out uh the state may stop they they may continue to allow us to keep our percentage of the surcharge fees. They may not. I can tell you that for five years, that board had been structurally deficit budgeting, and it just wasn't long-term sustainable. Over 50% was going to salaries. It was going to expenses for the employees. It was vehicles, cell phones. There was a lot of duplication of services. You know, I guess I'm obviously in favor of it. This has been a very long year of meetings and working through this. And I believe that the employees should be reimbursed. And I think this is the best way to do it is through a supplemental pay. It's not a full-time raise. I could go back in history, but I won't.

i could show you an employee who got a twenty thousand dollar raise and they're no longer doing that job but they're still receiving the twenty thousand dollars i guess it's my opinion that this is a better alternative than hiring somebody to do one specific duty with the wages that they would be paid plus insurance and benefits and all that stuff yes i guess My opinion is I'm going to look at this as a stopgap for this year, and we have some serious discussions about it during budget season, and we can figure out maybe a better path forward. I just think we're opening the door to expectations that probably can't be met in the future, especially with the state's 2% cap.

these are funds that we we don't control these are these are separate funds right now no and i understand that but like you said in five years they could be they could be absolutely yep so i guess the state has a has a disparity in what we collect on surcharges from landlines to cell phones cell phones is quite a bit less and landlines have gone away so They absolutely hear the concerns, but I feel like we have been very clear with the employees that that is why it is a supplemental pay. It is not a raise. It is for duties as assigned. And any other department or employee in the county wants to pick up duties, I am sure that we could allocate out some of these duties.

And I'm with Tim. I want our employees that are doing extra work to be compensated for that. I don't, if somebody goes on, leave or whatnot fmla whatever it is and somebody takes over their duties yes they should be compensated for the duties the extra duties they're taking on so i understand all of this i've just like i said i think we're opening the door to expectations that probably won't be able to be met in the future so i'm going to look at it as a stop gap for this year and we revisit it and move on move forward

I do have a question. I agree with you, Travis. I don't think it's long-term, the plan. I don't think it makes a lot of sense as the funding source is going to eventually dry up. Here's my question. Will the employees that are taking on additional duties that are currently being paid to work 40 hours a week, will they be working more than 40 hours a week?

Right. It's possible.

Have they been in the past? Were they?

I mean, it's possible. Well, it's in the MOU to document and not to call anybody out. But Heather, can you kind of speak to the documentation and whatnot? Are you going to have to keep track of all the hours that you spend on this? I don't really know.

I mean, I spend quite a bit of time on the path of things.

So there's a clawback clause in the MOU that if records don't match up to time spent.

34A funds.

Yeah. So I would think some documentation is going to have to be pretty detailed to make sure that these hours are covered.

Well, here's the reason I asked the question. Just big picture on it. Let's say an employee is working 40 hours a week before taking on any additional EMA duties, right? They got a job. They get paid. Now they take on EMA duties. Are they now working 30 hours at their job and 10 hours at EMA duties? Or are they now working 40 hours at their job and 10 hours of EMA duties? And I'm not even nitpicking about the pay part. It's a supplemental pay part. I'm wondering, however, if it runs afoul if they're not working overtime, does that create problems? Or are they salary and it doesn't create problems and they can work 60 hours a week or whatever? That's my minimum concern. It gives me a little pause. But for a one-year stopgap, I could be convinced to... be okay with it but that that's my question are am i now paying let's just take um i'm not no names but like let's just pick someone who's picking up additional duties are they now doing less of the original duties that we're paying them for or are they working additional hours to earn additional supplemental pay by taking on ema duties Or are they working 8 for 430?

I think that comes down to their department head. For instance, Tim's office, he has to manage the duties and responsibilities his employees do. So we had to put that trust into Tim. Dispatch reports to us. So we have to make sure that that can be manageable. And maybe that side as a board, we have to sit down and talk to it. But for Tim's office, as a department head, I know the work's going to get done, and Tim's going to make sure it gets done.

100%.

But I hear your point. I do hear your point.

But my... My pause with it, and I'm still not against it, but my pause with it is what if someone in Kim's office now got paid to do a job a year ago and it was 40 hours a week, but now it's 20 hours a week, and that's what they're doing for the auditor, but we're paying them their current rate plus a COLA raise. I mean, that just creates a little bit of inequity between other employees that are still doing it.

That's why you want to pay it in a separate line item so it doesn't come up with COLA or merit.

I understand. And I'm willing to look at it for a year. It isn't perfect. I've got some pause. I will also point out that as much as I do have respect for all the departments, the ones that do report to the board, those are a little bit different than an elected. Like Kim's office, for example. Kim is our auditor who does a very nice job running elections and does a whole host of other duties. But the voters of Warren County pick. That's your choice. If you don't like the way that Kim Sheets runs the auditor's office or the elections go, then find a candidate that you like and challenge her. So the elected officers of the county have some ability and... options to run their office and do their duties as they see fit so I might disagree with how something in the sheriff's office how Joe runs something or I might disagree with how something that Doug Eicholz does in his office or Kim or one of the electeds the recorder or the treasurer but I don't get to dictate to those people how I'm going to run their office for them because the voters that's your choice voters conversely The engineers office and dispatch and it becky and zoning, those are all offices that report to the board of supervisors, so make no mistake about it i'm very happy to work with everybody and i'm happy to have dialogue and to. figure out how to make them efficient and to get the job done. But at the end of the day, the buck will ultimately stop in those non-elected offices with the Board of Supervisors. So if the Board of Supervisors as a majority determines that, hey, we want to see this happen in dispatch or we want to see this happen in Matt's IT office or the engineer's office, we can have that conversation. Right. And we would and we would be respectful. We would try to find some solution. But ultimately, if the board of supervisors lets them know that a majority of us are absolutely set on this path and this is the path that this is our expectation, then then that director and that office has some choices. They can follow the path or they can say, hey, board of supervisors, I'm not interested in doing that thing. that your way. I don't like it. And I'm going to not do that. That then creates a problem because that's who they report to. And that's you tell them the boss at your private company that, hey, I don't want to play ball. Well, that doesn't always work out real well. So, you know, I'm okay with it for a stopgap for a year. I don't think it's long-term sustainable. I do have some questions about are we reducing the duties that we're otherwise paying for to fit this in within a 40-hour workweek or not. But those are my thoughts.

The other issue I have is looking at the fact what you brought up that we have these contracts with these other entities that have these employees that now you have picked and chosen someone to have an extra duty and I think that that has to be like bargained out or you know bid upon. So I don't know if we're fulfilling that part of the deal.

I'm sorry, was that the end of your thought? Thank you, I didn't mean to interrupt you. The idea of the supplemental pay, I'm in theory supportive of, I think two things. One, the amount of the supplemental pay in here is too great. It's just gonna cause problems with the other department heads.

And all those department heads can step up and they can say they wanna take on some of these duties. because we would be happy to allocate them out.

And I will say, if we're not interested in doing it, we might as well publish the job. In one case, someone has been compensated Already, in my mind. You've already got a 16% raise in one year. I don't know how much further you can go than that without causing problems. That has already caused problems as it was by itself. I don't know if it's appropriate, though, to have personnel conversations up here without him here. Another increase. So the amount of the supplemental pay is going to cause problems. And secondly... We just got done negotiating these contracts. The ink's barely even dry on them and at no point was it brought up supplemental pay and paying other people for additional duties. The union didn't bring it up in the context of the negotiations and neither did we. I don't wanna be in the arena of doing that. I don't think, to me, the amount of the supplemental increases is unreasonable.

Stephanie, looking at the reimbursement procedures and controls, the salary documentation, each employee will keep track of the time spent on database management and work directly associated with E911 and work directly associated with E911 addressing timesheets, must document each employee's time on the assigned additional duties. So is this a, when we say, this mou that they're going to get x amount of dollars added to their salary to cover these additional duties is this an hourly wage or is this something that these time sheets will solely reflect so we can't necessarily say that they're going to get 15 000 when they've only spent you know maybe 100 hours for the year is that is that correct in thinking

Based off of the time analysis and what we went through, so keep in mind this was a full-time position before, we determined the amount of time it should take. And, you know, I don't think it's fair to ask the employees yet about tracking, though I do appreciate that because I don't even think Heather's seen the MOU. That is something that after we probably leave here, we're going to have to get together in that core group again and figure out what that tracking method is. and how we're going to do that. That, I mean, we've had so many meetings that I didn't want to have another one because we didn't know what we're going to do here. So again, I imagine this is a fluid process that is going to go up and down and change.

And I appreciate you for bringing all this together because I know how hard EMA is to get together.

It is very difficult, but...

I just want to make sure that we are doing... best that we can do and like i said if this is our stop gap for the first year i can accept that and we go through the year and make sure and see how things are working i don't think it's a long-term deal though i think there's also a 30-day termination clause in it too so i mean that that

And it may be worth getting together with the EMA executive board and our whole board, having them come to a work session and talking through all of this. That might be... What I'm asking today, though, is we have a deadline with the state. So this has been approved by EMA. And I believe, Kim, do we have 30 days from this to... to submit them to the Secretary of State and get them filed. So what I'm asking today is that we just make a decision on it, because if EMA needs to get back together, we will, and we'll figure those processes out.

If there is a 30-day clause in there, I don't think 30 days is a long enough period to try this.

I would ask... No, we have to file this with the MOU. I understand that. I'm just saying... I understand the MOU itself has a notice of termination.

Right. The notice of termination would be a 30-day deal. Right. My guess is we could... The board has votes for it. You could limp it along for a couple months and see how it's going. And then if it's not going well, then you can provide notice. Stephanie is correct that we've got to make a decision. You can't keep the can down the road forever on it. They do have a state deadline.

And Chairman, I do apologize for interrupting you. Thank you. No problem.

Okay.

Any other thoughts on that? I do have one question actually for Kelly. The one thing I did notice on the back pay is the employees would be back paid to March 25th with the exception of dispatch would be not back paid and supplemental pay would start July 8th. Is there a reason that we divided it? no i yeah i think that was that was read wrong because they were going to pay the full amount um to the dispatch director from march 25th through july 8th and then it would scale down uh to the lower amount but so that's that's the only change that i see how are we going to do back pay

Without the time sheets and stuff. Without the record keeping.

I mean, we didn't ask them for it. We asked them to do the duty. I don't know. Does the engineer's office track stuff like that? Probably not.

I just want to make sure we're not treading on thin ice with doing the back pay and not having any kind of record keeping on it. If the state of Iowa or EMA has to report that, then

We do, and we'll have to get the documentation to support that information should it come up in an audit of EMA. I'm going to say that that's got to become our responsibility. Miranda's back there like, thanks.

I will make a motion to approve the MOU with Warren County Emergency Management Commission regarding E911 duties and responsibilities and funding allocations.

I'll second that.

Can we have discussion for a second? I'm still really concerned about the union, I feel like we're going to get some grievances in here.

Well, union and non-union alike, I believe, are going to have some grievances, but one's a formal grievance process and one's informal.

Yeah. Well, yeah, right now I'm concerned more about the AFSCME. Isn't that the one over the sheriff's? Teamsters. Okay, that's the one because of what dispatch is taking over. I don't believe that it was given an option for others to also participate. So I do feel there's going to be some legal issues we may face because of this.

I would add that the alternative, if the board's not inclined to do this proposal, is to have EMA hire someone and they would need to do that, I would assume. EMA did hire part-time since the former EMA director departed. I don't know if that's another part-time or one total full-time person or what they're going to do, but there is no, just so the board's aware, there is no free alternative. I mean, it's going to cost one way or the other.

One way or the other.

But I hear the concerns, too. My vote will be dependent on a trial basis on a... You know, at the end of the year, I want to take a really hard look at it again and see where things are at.

But if it passes, because I don't think it's a long-term solution.

But people have done a lot of work since March 25 as well. So I'm not discounting that either.

As far as the Crystal, as far as the dispatch center... It calls out the salary increase to the dispatch supervisor and then $10,000 to be allocated to a dispatcher assigned additional E911 duties. I guess maybe if you look at it as maybe like a bidding opportunity through that, that may ease some of those concerns.

Yeah. All right. Thank you. I'm good. And I think as far as the board is concerned, we can continue to monitor this and make sure that going forward it's okay. And we do have 30 days to put in a termination notice, yeah. So I'm good.

The last thing I would like, and it probably should be in the motion, is back pay on dispatch since his was set at a different time because he has been doing duties as well since the 25th of March. Do you want to remake the motion then? Do we need to resend our motions, Kelly? Or just amend it?

Okay.

Thank you. I don't wanna speak for the dispatch director, but again, I think, We have asked our other departments to be creative, right, to find other revenue streams. The county attorney has done a really good job of that, finding other counties that they can bill for. I have tasked Travis with that as well, too, is there are other counties that cannot sustain, right, their own dispatches. And as we're seeing tower upgrades and expenses, that is something, and again, long term, It's not happening right now. It's probably not even gonna happen maybe even in this budget cycle, I don't know. But if he's able to pick up another county, he would need additional help on that supervisor role. So this would be kind of an assistant director. Again, very conversations that are gonna involve him, all of us sitting at that back table, hashing it out. that's what that money would be used for and to help with that as well too. That would also give us opportunities where possibly if we're picking up more areas to dispatch that we could be eligible for their 34A funds, their surcharges. We currently do not get NORWACs because that goes to Westcom. So if we can go and pick up another county, we may be able to pick up those funds as well too to provide the services to that county in our county. So I think the goal with Travis had in mind was this would be someone that's not a union position. They have supervisor duties. I just don't think we're at that point right now.

Do we have someone in the dispatch that has supervisor duties besides Travis?

No.

Because now we're talking about creating a whole new job classification, another job.

But I think Stephanie's looking towards the future.

if we were to take on other counties right yes it is it's not happening like right now we're not having that conversation right now we're just the conversation we're having is it's for future so if funds aren't spent and they're not used they will go back to the 34a fund and we'll go from there

So do you want me to resend?

Do we need to resend it, Kelly? I guess that's the one thing we weren't sure.

I'll resend my motion and let you make the motion.

And I'll resend mine as well. It's my second. Let me pull up the... Of course, I'm not on my agenda anymore.

I closed it out.

I will make a motion to approve the memorandum of understanding between Warren County Emergency Management Commission and Warren County Iowa regarding E911 duties, responsibilities, and funding allocations with one change to the current MOU, and that is on the back pay, that all employees who perform the duties would be back paid to March 25th, 2026. Clarify the date. March 25th, 2026. Okay. It's written in the agreement. It's just the one employee was separated out. I'm sorry if my wording wasn't clear, Kelly. Second.

McIntyre? Aye. Harrison? Aye.

Cook? Nay. Witt? Aye. Arnold?

No.

Item number seven, receive and file reports for A, Humane Society, and B, Veterans Affairs.

Make a motion to receive and file the two listed reports.

Second.

McIntyre?

Aye.

Erickson?

Aye.

DeCook?

Aye.

DeWitt? Aye. Arnold? Aye. Item number eight, supervisor report. Any supervisor report today?

R57 is open.

Yeah.

The bridge.

Exciting. R57.

Give us the glorious details of it.

It's Tim Hershberger. It's Congressional Bridge Funds. It's nice. Get up there and check out Norwalk. Spend some taxable income up there on gas and hotels and use the bridge. It's very wide. It's very nice. It's a really nice bridge. I think the engineer did mention something about there might be a few minor things left to do, but it's nothing that's going to keep the bridge closed going forward.

I meant to drive that way down this morning and forgot, but I'll certainly take that way on the way home this evening. And I did have a couple other things real quickly. I got a nice, I guess, card, postcard from a Bradley Smith, and he thanked us for taking down the thistles along G76 Highway. So good work to the... the roads crews out there handling the thistles before they were spreading and I'm ecstatic because if he's happy with the removal of the thistles he'll probably be really pleased when we resurface that road later on coming up in the fall here too. And then also I'd like to give a shout out to the Hinterland Festival. I wasn't able to attend but I received zero complaints about traffic or anything else i don't know any other supervisor did i understand there's noise there's traffic and there's other things but i didn't in years past i've heard a lot from every this year i didn't hear anything so um nice to get that um done i know it's an inconvenience to some of our people down there but they um appeared to been tolerant of it this year and Seemed like it was run well because I didn't receive any phone calls or emails on either the traffic or the noise. And I think that's all I got. If anyone else has anything else?

I just have one. Is anyone else going to Warren County Economic Development Blooms and Breakfast event tomorrow morning? Yes. You can't? Okay. All right. I was just making sure we wouldn't have a quorum there. And then other than that, it's been really busy here in Indianola. We have the Balloon Classic in town. And I did get some recent tracker numbers from Stacey Schoenbrand. The Balloon Classic brings $6 million in economic development to our community. So I think it is a big event. We've got disc golf going on coming this weekend. So ESPN will be here and lots of visitors. But busy time. That's all I got.

I was going to add a little more than just the bridge. I also wanted to touch on hinterland, the balloons, and just generally economic development. So from about a thousand feet up on taxes, I think most people think and genuinely dislike property taxes, right? Homeowners, if you own a property and you bought it for a hundred thousand dollars and Now, if you sold it, it's worth $300,000. The value went up, but you didn't actually realize any of that because you bought it for $100,000. It's worth $300,000. It's assessed at $300,000 or whatever. You pay tax on $300,000, so you don't like it. People don't like property taxes. I hear it a lot. I understand it. So what are the options? States made some big changes. More changes are coming. And so I want to give a little insight into my own thought process on economic development. So things like the balloon classic in Hinterland that draw in Thousands and thousands and thousands of people, sometimes not who don't maybe live in our county. They come here, they eat here, they spend their money here, they buy gasoline here, they might stay in a hotel here. All of those things have taxable consequences and benefits for us. They're good things. They are helpful things. The hotel motel tax, a lot of that funding goes to the arts and it goes to things that get minimal funding. And so when events can happen, that's a really good thing. And when industrial parks fill up and manufacturing and commercial development happen in the county, those are going to become, they're important now. but they're gonna become even more important going forward. And here's why. Because the most recent legislation that's coming with the 2% cap that you hear about, that's why there's a lot of cities and counties that are concerned. And I will tell you this, on the record, if you are a very small, probably rural county that's not growing, you're not adding hundreds and hundreds of new homes dozens and dozens of new businesses and meaningful businesses. I'm talking about large commercial industrial properties that don't have a residential tax rollback. If you're not adding these things and property, the state going forward is capping it. So even if your home was at 300, but now it's at 400, it's going to be a 2% cap. And I'm just telling you like, Fire trucks for the people that live in a city, those are a million dollars plus, 1.4, right? I mean, they're expensive. A police car, when our sheriff needs a new cruiser, all fitted out. They're not giving them away, folks. The things that you want cost money. Folks generally don't want to pay money, and I understand that. And future growth is capped. But what's not capped is new growth. So every time people are shunning new business and new things, that is where additional money is going to come from. And what will happen, and it won't be this year, the county's doing really well. Our reserves are looking very good. The budget report a month back or so, like that was outstanding if you dive into that. But in the future, you're going to run into this cliff. And that cliff is caps are going to keep happening. People are going to want more than a 2% raise between Amerit and Acola. And you're going to run out of money if you're a non-growing small rural county. You won't have a choice. You're going to get cuts. And some, and I get it, elected people like to throw the worst case scenario at you. Like, we're going to cut public safety because people genuinely like cops and fire. And if you call 911 because your spouse's heart explodes in bed, you want an ambulance to come. I understand that. So that's the scare tactic. But reality is... you're going to have job cuts. You're going to have less services. Your nutrition department's going to look different. Your general assistance is going to look different. Anything that's not codified in the state code, that's going to be the maximum of what services you're going to be afforded because there's not going to be money to pay for it. So it's just one more reason to stress economic development is a good thing. I'm not saying it's a perfect thing. I'm not saying that there's not inconveniences. If you lived right next to Hinterland, you heard music, right? It was probably blasting pretty good until 11 o'clock. And if the wind's blowing right, you might even hear it a few miles away. There might be some inconveniences with it, too. And I'm not dismissive of it, but... Those sources where you can bring in real tax revenue that hits, things that help, that is the future of how you're gonna pay for stuff between that and commercial manufacturing, industrial development, and new home builds. If you don't, then cities and counties, you're going to feel it. And I'm almost questioning whether or not, to some extent, that needs to happen. Because there's still a disconnect between folks not wanting to pay property taxes but still wanting a lot of services. And my point is... There's nothing free when someone says, but it's from the government, it's free. It's not free, folks. Someone pays for it. And so there has to be a balance. I think our board's done a pretty good job of being stewards of the taxpayer resources that we receive from our smallest portion of your count of your property tax bill. But that's coming. So I think we have to continue to look for ways to be efficient. I think you've got to continue to look for ways to get more done with less. But at some point, we either grow or services are coming down. And it's just that simple. It's not our board or it's not your local city council trying to be punitive or be a jerk to you. It's just they've got to match revenue with services. And so Hinterland was a great example of a big influx of economic development. The balloons are doing... spectacular. I've not been there yet, but I'm intending on doing so.

We're looking for more volunteers, Aaron.

The weather's not too bad. It's not 100 degrees at least. I'd have to wear my Norwalk stuff, but just keep that in mind as you get opportunities to... chime in and support or not support things like because it's going to matter. And it might not be today, it might not be the next budget cycle, but it's coming in every single city, I guarantee you, they're scrambling. I've seen that Newton with franchise fees at some some cities are looking at different ways to raise money or what to do. And ultimately, it's going to be staff like it's, that's, that's what's coming, there's gonna be less services or, or less people or some of both. And maybe that's what people want. But you're going to eventually feel it. So I like economic development and I'm happy that Warren County's rocking it recently. That's all I got, thanks.

Any other supervisor report?

I do have one last thing. The city of Indianola did pass last night a resolution of intent want to give you the right words it's a resolution of intent the city of indianola and warren county will collaborate and work in good faith regarding acquisition of real properly property commonly known as 207 north b street and related parcels so their library they did pass out last night five zero okay

Talking of economic development, I'm grateful that we have such good events here in Warren County, but I don't wanna go backwards. This county was paying tens of thousands of dollars to some of these events when I first got on the board. Our engineers, motor graders who cannot work outside of their right of way were working on some of these events, which is illegal. I don't want us to go backwards. Where we are now is good, but let's not go back. Supporting these events by promoting them, volunteering, helping when we can, but I don't wanna see our tax dollars go to things that are already successful. That's all I have.

Any other Supervisor report?

seeing none i'm going to move to the public input comments will be limited to three minutes per individual the board will not take any action on the comments due to the requirements of the open meeting laws, but may do so in the future. No public input will be allowed for any of today's agenda items. Is there anyone from the public that wishes to speak this morning? I've seen one. If you'd like to. Well, no, no, no, no, no. We got another back there. But just state your name and address.

Jeff Goughlin, 3925th Avenue, Cumming, Iowa. Good morning, board. Good morning. Respect. I used to live in Madison County. Much respect. I respect the fact of your fiscal responsibility and stewardship, and I do appreciate that. Aaron, I disagree a little bit because you just said a while ago that some things aren't free, and then they are free. That road that is going to be developed on Delaware is coming from some of my other taxes. So it's not free. So I respect the sermonizing. I don't say that in necessarily a negative perspective, but at the end of the day, I expect you guys to provide a balance for the citizens of Warren County between responsible growth and preserving our way of life. And if you're not doing that, you're not doing your job. Living close to Norwalk, as I do, and seeing some of the things that they've done, yes, they are growing. I'm concerned about the responsible growth. Because again, are we sacrificing our way of life for tax revenue? I listened to a little bit of Norwalk's last council meeting where they talked about how they're going to spend all this money that they're getting from this proposed data center. I don't like it because I don't think they're necessarily representing their citizens. I'm concerned that the people that are being primarily affected, negatively affected by this proposed data center are not represented because they are not citizens of Norwalk. So who's in there fighting for them and their quality of life and their way of life? I will also cite the fact that when Norwalk Sports Complex was developed, even though those people were represented, they were apparently represented poorly. Because you think about the light pollution, the noise pollution, the traffic, and the reduced property values that those folks are experiencing now that live right next to that. I don't want to be that victim. I live immediately south of Cumming. I see what's going on there. I see what Hy-Vee has done in terms of light pollution and increased traffic. And they've done that rather responsibly. However, what's coming is not going to be good because G14 isn't going to get any wider, or Cumming Road isn't going to get any wider. And so we're going to deal with increased traffic, with increased noise, with increased urbanization. And I'm not sure that at least the residents of my neighborhood are looking for any of that. So my observation to you folks, my recommendation or commendation to you folks is please consider responsible growth. Growth is inevitable. And as to Erin's point, growth is necessary. If you don't grow in this business, you die. But we need growth that is truly responsible. And I guess I'll cite some questions. I don't think you can answer them in this forum. But do we have a policy in the comprehensive land use plan regarding data centers? Because this is, as I'm sure you guys know, a very, very hot topic right now. And we need to have some kind of policy that balances responsibility to the public welfare with that need for increased tax revenue. And so if we don't have that policy, we need to have that policy. We need to start considering that again. We are an agricultural state, an agricultural county and community. And so when do we start saving our farmland? We don't need any damn buckies. And quite frankly, I'm not sure we need another data center. But that's, again, that's my opinion.

So yeah, tax revenue doesn't necessarily justify leveraging our future quality of life.

And I'm here representing my kids and my grandkids and those that follow because they are going to be the victims of whatever kind of decision making that we make here. So thank you for your time.

Thank you. Any other public input this morning? Going once, twice, three times, okay.

Motion to adjourn.

Second.

McIntyre? Aye.

Erickson? Aye.

Cook?

Aye. Witt?

Aye.

Arnold?

Aye. We are adjourned, thank you. Thank you.

Brian, tomorrow can you speak at the event about the county?

Yeah.

It's usually just like a two minute update of what we