Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Make a motion to approve the agenda. I will second.

Call for a vote.

Tippett, aye.

Seaman, aye. Bowles, aye. Perfect. Minutes.

I read the minutes.

Didn't see anything on the line, I thought. I saw nothing. Make a motion to approve the minutes. I'll second that.

Okay. Call for a vote.

Tippett, aye.

Seaman, aye.

Bowles, aye.

Andrea, why don't you go ahead and start on this 28E agreement right now.

Okay, so every five years the county signs the DNR 28E agreement that allows the county permitting authority over the installation of new wells, reconstruction of wells, and abandonment of wells. So with this agreement we're able to charge a fee We have to pay like $25 back to the DNR, but right now we charge $225 for new permitted wells. So we came at $200 revenue and paid $25 to the DNR. We have to have ordinances in place, and we have an ordinance for the water well permitting, which really just says that we have to follow the rules of Chapter 49 from the state. So it's just... an agreement that's signed every five years just saying that the DNR is delegating that authority to us for us to be able to permit wells and kind of enforce the ordinances that we have in place.

So this is the same thing we've been signed in the last five years?

Yeah, the last time it was signed was 2021.

Okay, so it has not been updated or nothing, okay. Alrighty, I understand it now. How many wells do you actually do a year, ballpark?

I don't know for prior years, but I want to say it was about 15. It's not too many. Okay, okay.

All right. And that information has to be recorded back to the DNR besides you taking care of it?

So they actually have what they call IWIS, which I don't remember what it stands for. but it's a way that we can document everything on there. It's actually available to the public and it goes back to the DNR as well. So that's where we record all the water testing, well plugging, well reconstruction, well abandonment, and well permitting. So when a well driller wants to drill a well, they have to submit a permit after we go do and verify the setbacks. So that's what it says in the agreement that we have to make sure that all setbacks are met. So that means it's far enough away from a septic system or from a contaminated site then we can issue that permit through IWIS and then after that the well contractor can start drilling the well. And then during that we also have to do an inspection at some point in the process and well contractors have been very good about notifying us when there's a well that needs to be inspected.

Got it. My questions are all answered. Thank you. No, can I get a motion to either?

Wait, I did those in order, so.

Oh, you did?

The numbers.

Okay. Okay. The subdivision. Sorry about that.

Okay.

Okay, you want to comment on the variance?

Yeah, so we had approved a resolution 2657, And Mr. Darland's surveyor submitted the final plan. And while I was reviewing it, I realized the resolution was referencing another property. So I have written the wrong property in there. So this resolution is to amend that to correct the right property and also to waive off the requirement of having restrictions that run with the land because they're not going to be building. And because they're not building, we also added that Outlet A is not being developed. So all of the waivers are dependent on that Outlaw A not being developed as they said it was going to be. This is the one where they wanted to move just the line, adjust the line, so it was away from his pond.

Yeah, the pond guy. Okay, got it. You guys remember that now? I do, I do.

Sometimes I need like a little reminder. Too many things.

Okay, so can I get either a motion to approve or disapprove Resolution 2665?

I would make the motion to approve Resolution 2665, which is amending Resolution 2665 57 variants for our subdivision ordinance.

Okay, one second. Okay, call for a vote.

Tippett, aye.

Seaman, aye. Bowles, aye. Okay, 2666. So that's the one we just more or less talked about, right? Mm-hmm.

I'd make a motion to approve Resolution 2666, entering the 28E agreement with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

I would second that motion.

Okay, call for a vote.

Tippett. Aye.

And you also need the 28E signed too. You need both of them?

The one you gave me?

Yes, I do need both of them.

And that one just needs to be signed by you.

Okay. all right i'm going to let you comment now on your discuss and approve the extension of the part-time employee environmental health and land use administration and so as you know we hired martha back in april to help us with scanning and just being present in the office when we're out in the field she has been a great help to the department right now she's in letter

H or I of scanning the old septic records. She's also been helpful kind of spearheading the water testing, which increases during the summer. She's been able to help us create a database to follow with dog bites investigations and also following up with people during the initial evaluation and then after the 10-day quarantine period. She's also being kind of my resource person when it comes to all the Morgan Valley power plant things and data center kind of gathering information on that as you know some of those applications are very lengthy so she kind of takes over reading those and providing a summary to people that need to be aware of what's happening. I would like to request an extension to her employment to no later than the end of January. The salary was included in fiscal year 27 so it's not going to be having to amend the budget or anything. And it actually was created to be like a full-time position. She's still just part-time. The only difference with having her to be continually employed is that we're going to have to offer IPERS. So that's a 9% increased cost to the employer. But that's also, again, added in the budget as well.

Gentlemen? Well, for the reason you hired her, she's not done with the job yet. And she's doing well. I mean, this other stuff got thrown in that you didn't see coming. So I don't have any problems with the extension.

It's in the current budget. Yep. That is correct.

OK. Can I get a motion to approve? I'll move to approve the extension of the part-time employment with the Environment, Health, and Land Use Administrative Assistance.

I'll second that.

Call for a vote.

Tippett, aye. Seaman, aye. Wools, aye.

Did you want to put a date? I said no later than January. I think she might be going back to school.

Okay. Thanks, Andrea.

Thank you.

Do you guys have a copy of? Here's the bin. We only got one.

Yeah, you have to, that's all they want.

Nobody's opening it yet. Oh, no, no.

You should have done the meeting. If you didn't.

We stayed local. We sent out to Irvin's and Tice. We sent it out to Sky also, but obviously they're closed.

Except for one white vehicle.

Yep. Is the plow truck gone? There's a plow truck out there too. 44 955 Mm-hmm that says for really doing three There was a change or a band has gotten a hold of us Which we I'll bring that up at a later date But they got they've got a Tahoe they want to get rid of some other police equipment So we're gonna maybe work a deal with them to acquire that stuff. I It'd be all within my budget, I mean.

I don't think so.

No.

Got a trainee going out on one of the trucks. We're kind of in a hurry again. We don't have any spares. I really don't want to put a trainee in it.

You got anything that's... Decent enough for a spare?

We don't have any spares.

No, but one of these trucks is in good enough shape to keep as a spare?

Well, we're thinking about keeping one of them, just something to pull the boat with, or I don't know. We're going to look into that. Because we don't have any spares right now.

So...

$4,000 a month to put a train in.

What kind of vehicles are these?

Durangos. With the Hemis.

V8s? Yep. How soon are they going to come?

A couple months. Last year we got lucky. They got them built within literally two weeks. But that was luck. I talked to them yesterday. The high end's three months.

So these are pickups that we're selling?

We'll be getting rid of pickups, yes. Yeah, trading them in. And they should bring good money.

Trading them in down there with the vehicles?

Yeah. That's what we'll do.

But the trade-in money has not been established yet? No.

Nope. Okay.

And if it's three months, you might have to stick a tranny in that one.

The fluid's burned. It keeps throwing a code. They said if you do a tranny flush, it'll probably just kill it. I don't know. Probably going to have to or do something. But it's got like 110,000, 15,000 miles. It was one that one of our deputies had. He worked a lot of traffic down on 30. He's no longer here, so I think it probably got abused pretty hard. It was a deal for 16 truck.

It tires way before the rest of them.

Yep.

This wasn't the one that was in the accident on 380.

I don't think so.

Okay.

I don't think so. No. Nope.

All right. I guess I kind of look at this as kind of... No-brainer. Only one bid.

I would move that we accept the vehicle bids from Tice Automotive. Three vehicles. Price of?

$44,955. $44,955 a vehicle. $27,000. $27,000.

I believe. $27,000. $27,000.

And I'll get back to you when we start trading them in. Like I said, I've got a Jeep we're going to get rid of and a couple trucks on it we're going to see. We've got to do some more jockeying. We're getting there, though.

So you'll have to get new cages for the back end?

Already got one bid. What's it going to cost?

Radios will be the same.

We have the radios, yep.

New light bars.

Yep. Radars will probably be good. Urbana's got a couple radars.

Camera system should transfer.

Yep, camera system will transfer, yep.

Radio will transfer.

I think most of them have rifle racks already, so the rifle racks should trans... that most of them trucks have rifle racks. I don't know. I can't remember for sure.

We have a motion over here. Second. Okay. Call for a vote. Tippett, aye. Damon, aye.

You want this? Yeah.

Thanks everybody. Have a good day.

Okay, 915. Engineer. I didn't realize we had an appointment for you.

Morning, Myron. Morning. Quick, easy one. REC, East Central Iowa REC, out by Rogers Park is wanting to bury some new cable. Distance is relatively short, but I had told them here a while back that just arbitrarily I threw out 500 feet. If it was less than that, I'd just do a working right-of-way permit. If it exceeded that, do a utility permit. But basically from the T intersection just south of the Nature Center, they're setting a cabinet, I believe, in Boring North. About 500 feet and east about 300 feet. Setting a new cabinet just west of the parking lot.

Shouldn't be a problem.

But I would ask for the board to approve the utility permit for Central Iowa REC. It's in Jackson. Did you have a section? I did not have a section.

Can I get a motion to approve the engineer's permit for REC? So moved.

Second that.

Okay, call for a vote.

Tippett, aye.

Seaman, aye.

Fools, aye.

There you go. thank you that's all i had unless you had a question no not at this time okay catch you later all right greg thank you for allowing me to meet with you this morning i had

Three things I want to bring to your attention. I only have two on the agenda, but one is, you're going to laugh, but our group wants to put up a bat house. Somebody made a bat house, and I don't know if it's going to be 10 to 15 foot in the air. We're still trying to figure out where to put it, but because it's the county's property, we need to get permission to put a pole in the ground to put the bat house up. So I'm asking your permission to allow us, we'll do the, what is it, 811? Before we dig. to make sure that it's all mapped out so we don't hit anything. We've done that many times before. We're OK. But I think we're going to put it next to the little hoop, probably kind of quasi in the middle of the garden. But we haven't established that yet. But I wanted to. They were talking about it. Everybody's pumped up. And I said, whoa, whoa, whoa. We've got to ask the supervisors before we do anything, because it's our property as a county, right? So anyway, I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. So any action you want to do on that, that's fine. If you want to defer it, whatever, that's OK. The second part was to do with fence. And I'm not going to pick on Tracy. I appreciate all the help you've had. I just wondered if you had any update on your fence and anything that we could do to help progress that project. And I don't want to open a can of worms. I'm just asking. And I say that very respectfully. Okay. So.

Let's do the first one first.

Okay.

Any objections to the bat house?

I have no objections to the bat house.

I have none. I actually put one up and I've never seen a bat.

Yeah. You don't know that they're there. They just show up and you'll never. Was it close to the ground? No.

I put it up on the pole.

You'll never see it unless you're out in the middle of the night. Okay. And the benefits are to eat mosquitoes and also to keep a little bit of insect control and environmentally friendly because bats are protected in the state of Iowa. So if we killed one as an extension office, we're supposed to report it if I was told right. Because they are a protected species. So we're propagating that because we know we have lots of bats in Benton, but give them a place to live and all's better, I guess. Yeah, it's an environmentally friendly way of dealing with bats.

I have no problems with a bat.

Right, exactly. There you go. Okay. Bad issue. Now, as for the fence, Rick did get a couple of bids.

Okay. He hinted to that, but I didn't know for sure what.

It's outrageous.

Okay.

So I said I will ask for you guys' help. Yep. When it cools down now, we'll do it.

So that's November? I'm teasing. I'm teasing because of the temperature, not because of you. Okay. So I agree. That's fine. No problem.

It was outrageous. I just, I don't want to say the. Right. That's fine. It was. Yeah.

For the actual fence or to install. Labor.

Labor. We have the utility or we have everything here. I bought the cement two years ago. Yeah, you had it on the palace. Sitting over there. Mean it was long enough. I bought the cement for two dollars a bag right now to buy that same spin as five dollars a bag So yeah been a while right? It's still sitting over there. It's covered in plastic.

Hopefully it should be in good shape yet Well, we will give you all the help that we can we do not want to be responsible for any Miss putting poles in the wrong place or anything. I'll be grunt labor is what I'm saying.

I figured I'd put a the two corner posts in by myself. And then once I get that in, then I'd want a crew to help me do the line, you know what I mean? If I can put the one at the 45 degree angle and the one by the gate post, and then the center ones will go easy, they'll go fast. So that I do on my own. It was on my mind, but like I said, this weather.

And that's why I said respectfully, because I've hounded you so long that you're probably like, is he going to call me again? And I apologize, but we like to keep two and four legged critters out of there.

I've been seeing some animals in there, so...

Yes, there are a lot of people walking. Every so often we'll find a little feces, and that also keeps people from using our porta potty. We lock that one gate. It sounds funny, but we did lock the gate and it stopped people using our porta potty because it's been given to us free, and we don't want to spend extra money to clean it when it's just for our employees.

Now, if we get closer to fall and I actually put them gates up, Well, how are you going to dry your onions?

Myron just asked me that this morning. Myron's like, OK, remind me. I said, no, we're going to put the two gates off by the fence. Nobody can touch them because we're going to have to buy a new racking. Well, we have racking. We have woven wire and some other things that I bought a long time ago if they wanted to go to the effort of setting it up. And as you've probably seen, we're starting to dry onions. We're about three, four weeks early on our onions, but we don't want them to rot in the ground. And so we start pulling them all out. We're about done. It's been a very unsuccessful year for us as a garden. We had so much wet and stuff and it just, our potatoes are not doing well. Tomatoes are going to look pretty decent, zucchini or cucumbers and some of the other things. And if it was not for that little hoop that we put up, it's generated almost 750 pounds of produce in itself. And Dennis Bryce has done a great job of taking care of that. We were a month early on a lot of little things, like radishes and stuff. So we've generated quite a bit of produce. So that'll be our salvation, sort of. But we're going to be way low on produce this year, versus things just didn't work well for us this year. So we had lots of thinking to do. And we tried to get potatoes in at the right time. We didn't. And they just didn't turn out. But the hoop looks good inside as far as tomatoes coming along. And we planted squash. I think the squash is going to be decent. And then we had somebody donate extra plants of tomatoes on the out corner there that we're going to. And then we have sweet potatoes coming on too. So, yeah, we do sweet potatoes as well. So that was one of our members. He's still a member, but he's moved to South Dakota basically. He's an engineer, so he figured out the most bounce for your buck on a dollar and most energy and most protein and everything you can generate is a sweet potato. So he said that we're helping feed people, let's give them the most that we can give them for a pound of what they're eating. So a sweet potato is supposed to have most vitamins and all those things, and that's an engineering mind, so that was okay. So we planted those even though he wasn't here to do it this year.

Is that even with the butter? No, I didn't say anything about that.

No, I don't go into that. Sugar's good in moderation, right? That's what I tell myself when I dump a lot of sugar in my coffee. So anyway, I just wanted to ask the question. So no comment necessary. You've given me plenty of information, and we'll plan on that. And we might even get some youth to help us at that point. We've got Boy Scouts helping us last night. I had a couple football players today. We keep trickling some. We're down considerably on help because we've lost the AmeriCorps people. You know, they would come back for a weekend after their training was done, and they had to do a certain amount of personal hours, personal volunteering hours. We'd knock that out for them, and they just loved it. And we'd get a whole crop harvested in two days, but that no longer exists. So anyway, that's what we're at. Third thing, which is not on the agenda, but I wanted to make you aware of it. Our lease is up December 31st. So, you know, if you guys want to re-look, look at the lease. Have you seen our lease?

Okay.

I've got a copy of it if you need it, but Haley's got a copy of it. Just make sure you look it over. I think it's set up to roll if we don't do anything, but I know we need to make sure we keep it within a year and a half or something like that because if we go too far, it has to go up for bid. And we could easily be outbid. Let's be honest about that. You can't do like a three-year? No, that was what Dave told me way back when, and I think it's been told me many times. You can't go a three- or five-year lease on that because it's county property. It has to be a bid out. And we're okay with the way it is, and we're okay with the price too. So we'll lease it for a buck a year. So, yeah. And we're very appreciative of the support you give us as far as the place, location. I think we might still try to do a garden party, but I'm a little ashamed of our garden this year, so I don't know. But it's like farming. You have good years and bad years. But we do the best we can to get food We have four excellent volunteers Wayne Shannon Myron Myron McGowan And Dennis rice and then there's then there's other ladies that volunteer So we have some really good crew on stat are on the project about almost every day So they keep monitoring things and making it happen. But I I feel kind of blessed that God has blessed us with the ability to do this. This is one of my personal passions way back when, after Mike said he was going to sell it, to feed Benton County. And the idea came, and I'm sorry if I'm rambling on here, the idea came because the county did a health survey, and one of the number two, number three things was obesity in our community. We understand that the food pantries get a lot of high-carb products. Very seldom do they get vegetables and good, healthy, the other balanced part of it. And so we made it our mission as Master Gardeners and others to help solve that problem. And that's how this became about was to balance out the food pantries of all of Benton County We serve this one the most, but we also do the Wesley United Methodist Church there once a month. We do Urbana. St. Mary's has a little food pantry. We do one in Atkins. It's a Presbyterian church. Walford, there's a cowboy church is what they call it. And then Belle Plaine has two twice a week in theirs, and we service them as well whenever we have enough product. And then we also have a gal from... Klosky that comes in I would ever so often we call her if we have excess and then if we really have a lot of extra We send it back with the haycap truck to Cedar Rapids so that we don't lose anything So and we also take donations So if you know of anybody that has extra tomatoes extra cucumbers, whatever all they gotta do is call me on the number on the sign and I'll come make sure that gets in the cooler and And so we take XX produce, and that helps our numbers, but it also helps feed people.

So just to give you a synopsis of what.

So that was my personal mission, but I luckily had a lot of people that jumped in on board with me because I'm pretty lazy and I don't do a lot. So they've been very helpful in making sure that it flows. So way more than you needed, but just a lease for consideration, and then we can meet at a later time. Or if you decide to renew our lease, we can take it from there. Thanks for letting me meet with you this morning.

All right.

And thanks for all the stuff you do. And I will continue my contract with the SC.

I know the community appreciates everything you guys do.

Yeah. We're kind of quiet, though. We need to advertise better. And we have somebody working on a website for us to make it a lot more front page, kind of. And so, yeah, that's what we're trying to do. But anyway, thank you. Appreciate it.

If somebody has a bunch of... from their garden, they can just bring it up to you?

Yep, absolutely. Yep, all they gotta do is call us. Or they can just set it there. We're normally there every day, so we'll catch it, put it in the cooler. We have a big walk-in cooler that becomes our hothouse during the winter. That's where we start seedlings, so it's that big cooler in the middle of the hoop here. And then we flip that air conditioner, turn it on, and right now we have tomatoes in there. But if you bring in any produce, we'll make sure it gets in the cooler and then it gets distributed because every Tuesday it's here and then Belle Plaine is twice a week and all they got to do is make phone calls or deliver to them and they'll take it so yeah so spread the word if you know if anybody's got excess produce that's the one main reason we don't plant sweet corn is because once sweet corn starts it's coming out to everybody's ears and usually people can get it fairly well and it's high it's a little higher maintenance to take care of than what regular produce is so a little information for you today so i'll shut up and sit back here so thanks much i'll put it in the minutes that you're accepting donations yes absolutely both monetarily because we are 51c3 so both monetarily and vegetables So is Benton County still part of the watershed project? Okay. Have they met lately, or do they meet pretty quarterly? Last week. Okay, I've kind of dropped off because my Iowa State address is gone, but I might try to figure out.

Last week.

It's all Zoom still?

Yeah, Zoom. The last couple meetings they had was all further north. Right. Nothing close. Okay.

Because they go all the way up to Austin, Minnesota, right? Yes. Okay. Yes. I'd love to still be part of that, but I think because of my Iowa State thing, it's probably dropped off.

Yeah.

Is the gal from E.C. Cox still running it?

Yes. Yeah, I know who she is. Alicia or...

Yeah, she's on that census, that's 2018. Yeah. Okay.

If you don't mind sending me her email address, I'd appreciate it. Have you got my email address?

I don't know if I have your personal one. You can write it down if you don't want to know.

Oh, that's fine. My personal email is gwalston, W-A-L-S-T-O-N. I'm proud to be 68.

I'm right here with you, brother. Are you ready? Yes, I am.

So did you celebrate your 50th anniversary of class? Did you graduate in 75 or 76? Six. We're doing it in September. Yeah, we did. I grew up in Tri-County. I don't know if you know where Tri-County is. Thornburg, Watcher, Keswick.

Right.

And we just celebrated ours in Oskaloosa. Yeah, it's fun. We've lost a lot of classmates, though. We lost two. We lost two before we were seniors, as we were seniors, in a car accident. Yeah. Did you graduate in 75, 76? Eight. Oh, you're a pup yet. A pup.

Thank you. All right.

Discuss and appoint Mariam Gallagher, the DO, as Deputy Benton County Medical Examiner.

Yep. And I think I shared Dr. Meeker's email. She's a new doctor here in town. Maybe I didn't. I'll forward it. But he sent a formal request. Years past, we've always had a deputy and investigators. So we haven't had a deputy for a while. I think, in lieu of his retirement upcoming in a few years, that he's trying to get somebody else on board. Because the actual examiner has to be a doctor. And she is .. So she'll be his deputy examiner.

OK. Understood. Can I get a motion to approve it?

I'll make the motion to approve Miriam Gallagher. as our Deputy Benton County Medical Examiner.

Second. Call for a vote. Tippett, aye. Seaman, aye. Moves, aye. Discuss and approve Resolution 2667, amending Resolution 1619 to approve the Article of Agreement with the Middle Cedar Watershed Authority.

That one I know I said.

Yes, you did.

So to answer your question, Greg, it's on the agenda today.

Wow.

It's weird. Because back in 16 was when we originally joined the watershed.

And the city of Benton is a member too, right?

Yeah. There's quite a few.

Well, as I remember, when they first started, it was a good project to try to help flooding, but also make everybody aware of the things that are going on. Yeah, I got more involved because of the nutrient strategy way back in the day, so.

I believe all the entities have to do this since they amended the articles.

Yes, they do. If I could get a motion to approve resolution 2667.

I will make a motion to approve resolution 2667, which amends resolution 1619, approving the articles of the agreement with the Middle Cedar Watershed.

I will second that motion.

Call for a vote.

Tippett, aye.

Haman, aye. Wolfe, aye.

There you go.

Discuss and approve resolution 2668, Committed Funds.

Yes, so those we do every year, like I have them listed out. It's funds that weren't used when we ended the fiscal year June 30th, but departments have budgeted for things, so it's carrying over for projects and things. So I did add that RACOM maintenance agreement this year, That's going to be ongoing for a few years. So out of that fund dollars, we definitely have to save money for those. Okay. The sanitarium vehicle, we left the same amounts. I think $84,000 should be plenty for a vehicle. We did some conservation ones. Shelby had already had some use for the committed funds, right? And then the EMS trust fund, that's... obviously we have to commit all that for that and then the last for the aerial flights we did some it things infrastructure and then for election equipment as you know that's expensive to replace so i have to just start putting a little bit away on the last one for the pictorial

Wasn't that going to be split three ways, that bill?

Well, we had it in the past, because the loss is supposed to be 25% of that tooling, so that's going to be forced to that. But I know the assessor has money on the other side of this, but nothing was ever really spelled out when you guys did the budget and talked about it. So right now, what I've been doing is just paying the payment 65,000 hours lost. Years ago, we used to transfer into the general basic and pay it that way, but now I just strictly pay it. If you want to split it, find ways to utilize tax relief in other areas, I'm sure. and then these amounts also when you look at the budget that last sheet we have now restricted committed after i plug in those numbers this will show up again in a few months

Well, I know Myron uses it, and of course Larry does too.

Yeah. The only additional thing that Larry probably utilizes that we don't is the change finder where they outline the buildings and then they can see it. somebody added on, but they didn't catch it with the permit or driving by, then he can go and get those flagged and look at those properties. And that's an additional cost, but I think that's through our other shareholders.

I guess let it alone for now. Let somebody else down the road worry about it.

What do you want to see more of? Normally the departments, after their AFR, in the fiscal year, they make sure they communicate with me. Or this is just what I've made notes in budgeting, so if I'm missing something... Well, I just thought... Yeah, you need to speak up.

I just thought, you know, there was agreement, verbal again, that everybody was going to pay a third. But that could have been one of them... One of them passed from... That's how we used to do it. Yes. I guess that's what's still stuck in my mind now.

But I have to also be careful, cautious, and make sure I utilize 25% tax. Because I have to list out that stuff. So this is definitely one of my...

I thought when they came in and asked if they wanted to do that area, that's when we discussed that theory.

We discussed it, but then we never... We never acted on it? And they let us pay that three-year, we split up. So it's $65,000 a year, rather than us paying that lump sum of money.

Oh.

Maybe that's what you're thinking.

Well, that qualifies under the tax rule.

Well, like I said, years pass. I remember it was split up.

Yeah, we did E911A, engineer, assessor, and GIS department.

Like I said, that's what I still got stuck in my mind. But if... if the conservation uses it you know what i mean that'd be hard i can't believe you guys would use it as much as larry or 911 you know what i mean no but it is so it wouldn't be fair my personal opinion it wouldn't be fair to you to pay one fourth or one fifth of the bill yeah you know what i mean that'd be kind of stupid yeah right so i guess leave it the way it is okay all right getting back to it 28 resolution 2868 committed funds can i get a motion to approve

Make the motion to approve resolution 2868 for the committed funds. Do you want me to list them out, Caleb? Okay.

All set. Okay, call for a vote.

Tippett, aye.

Seaman, aye. Wolfe, aye.

number nine yeah so I found out for Julie we've got it coordinated with the court there's no court that day so Monday August 31st in the afternoon is when we like to close to the public and do all of our required trainings Yeah, I know we talked about it, but I was waiting to hear back from Kyle Lynch, some of our training officers and stuff, so.

That was going to be split up into three separate, one group's going to come up this time?

Just one whole, no, we're going to do all, because some of the activities we're doing is a whole group.

A whole group, just like we did last year.

Yeah, harassment, all those kind of things. We do employee recognition, but we're doing additional active shooter training and things like that. So that's why the courthouse would have to be closed. this 31th and then i'll put a notice to the newspaper that will be closed but once you guys have that i'll send more notices to the department probably a payroll stuffer for employees okay i'll start it off we'll make a motion to put august 31st

our official all county employee training day in the afternoon and all offices will be closed one o'clock i was going to say either 1 to 4 30 or 12 34 i would like everybody to have lunch because then we don't have time to have lunch before they come so then all offices will be closed in the county from one o'clock on on monday august 31st okay Can I have a second? I'll second. All right, call for a vote.

Tippett, aye.

Damon, aye. Bowles, aye. Perfect. Reports.

I had a pay cap Thursday evening, and all I could get was it was waiting to let me in the meeting. I waited an hour and never let me in. So somewhere something went wrong. So I'll try to connect with them this week and get an update for you.

Okay, Bruce? I didn't attend a meeting, but I did get a, CeCe sent me an email regarding the wellness. Currently we are at 19.17%. the fax form online assessment we've had 61 employees do it so we're at 50.83 which means we haven't earned a single point yet we need to make a push we need to make a push so this will do that at the home yeah people you know we're going to run out of time here all of a sudden and we need to get that up because that saves a bunch of money would it be possible to have something set up so people usually we do a wellness update at that meeting too So that's, I don't know why we don't want to wait until the last minute to get a day off.

We've had laptops available for employees even to sit down or we would help them get online and do it. Again, some of them are just hesitant to answer those questions. I think it's going to go.

I know it, but it's all the tip of the nothing. We need to get our department heads to start.

So the physicals and that online assessment are the two most important things for everybody.

Right, yep. And we're, I mean, we're at 50. 50%.

We have until October 31st.

Right. But, you know, that's going to be on us. We'll be handing out candy to the little barbers.

Well, and you heard Isaac tell us on their wellness stuff, too, they keep trying to make the program easier. Yeah. But, yeah, that's... Participation.

It's big money, and it's good.

That's all I got.

Okay.

Add landfill. Rig by it. So I don't think we got any unfinished business. And then how about a little bit of new business?

We're under reports, whichever. So we, I think Tracy had alluded or made comment about Hannon having some septic issues. We are in need of a new septic system for our dump station. at Cannon, given the amount of sites and everything, it will require DNR permitting. So in the meantime, we are able to get temporary holding tanks installed so we've got that process moving forward and they will be used for the future septic. However, the downside is, and I've been talking to Haley about this too, for budget amendment, you know, in October, whenever it works, would be utilizing funds that we did not spend from last year towards this unforeseen project that is happening. The DNR and the design company and the engineers estimate around, I think it's, I'm gonna speak here, $40,000 for the design and the permitting and the construction inspections, and then $350,000 for the implementation. They did say that that is them planning for the highest amount, so ideally we want to spend that much, but permitting won't be done until spring of 27. That's that $40,000 bill, and then the implementation would be after. So this is a very large, unforeseen cost that has suddenly happened. pumping regularly and utilizing old holding tanks that are undersized. So it's a big expenditure that we're going to have to get creative and figure out how to take care of, because that's not something that we can just, you know, not do. And then another larger project that we do coming up, but I'm working with Haley on that. The Grant one.

Yeah.

Yeah, well, we have to pay for so much, and then the NRV inverses us. So there's going to be some in and out flow there for design of the lake watershed. But yeah, this septic thing completely took us to that. In the middle of camping season, no less. But the crew's staying on it. They're checking tanks regularly just so we, you know, environmental health is involved. We've got local contractors already involved. We're trying to stay ahead of it and keep the campgrounds open. But Ron, there's no water. It's working great.

The watcher has water.

Yes, yes. It's working wonderfully. Just throw a positive note in there.

And there's no problem with the dump stations at Rogers, right?

Correct. Yep, Rogers is fully punching. Yeah, just a hand in first for the loop.

But the tanks that you're going to get installed right now, the holding tanks, that's not in these figures you give, right? That's extra.

Yeah, I'm hoping that their overall plan does, it is including those two holding tanks for installation, so that $24,000 that we're spending on holding tanks right now can be eliminated from the $350,000. That's my hope. They said that they were just going to throw in ballpark numbers at me because they obviously don't have the DNR permit, and they don't have the design work yet. They are confident that they can install these and still utilize them where they installed them, though, because we walked the entire property. Environmental help was out there discussing where the could be the whole nine yards. So we've got an overall plan. We just need to now get it all approved by the state. And they say it takes a minimum of six to eight months.

What did it do with the old system?

The old system?

Just leave it? Abandoned?

Yeah, and then the tanks have to be filled in.

With concrete or lime?

Yeah, that can just be pumped and filled in. And then in the process, we found the old tanks that were never filled in. So that will also be done. Well before my time. Oh, yeah. Unfortunately, all of this is, so we don't know where a lot of things are.

You might find another set.

Yeah, I don't want to hear that. No more surprises, please.

I don't know if we could utilize some more loss, too, since it says in the ballot for conservation, too. Right, yeah. I don't know. Like, you'd get an advance moving for out of next year's or something. But you need to realize it. And does that help offset the percentage? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I would have to look at that spreadsheet we do. Because I mean, then that would help.

Yeah.

And I have auditors next week again. OK. Sorry. That's OK. I get along with my auditors.

We got the new, I see they sent out on the speaking of taxes. Oh, the webinar. The webinar.

Did you guys watch that by the way? No. It's recorded so you can go back and watch it. That's just basically explains to you all the different funds and what they're utilizing. It was a really good first part of watching because there's going to be more.

I will watch that. I printed off the stuff that they sent us or you sent us. Yeah.

Yeah.

So as far as the process with this septic system. Yes. Do we have to commit at a certain point? How is this going to lay out?

Yeah. So the first commitment is design. And then once you have a design, then that's when you go to bid for the actual system. So that wouldn't be until next year, hopefully in the spring. And we'd be just relying on the two larger install tanks for this fall or this August for the install. So then once you get the design, it'll come with a cost estimate. So that will be more specific. It won't just be that ballpark number. And then they'd also be able to utilize, hopefully, those two tanks that are installed. Then that is when you would need that large number in there.

OK. I've never been part of putting a septic in anywhere, so I know nothing about it. Imagine that. How long does it take to do that?

Putting it in isn't that long, but the design

We put a small one in in Guttenberg, so I've got, yeah.

You don't take the whole time at all. As long as they're putting a leech bin in, not a sand filler.

I don't remember. Matt and Andrea and I were all out there, and I don't remember how that conversation went. We found the location. We did the soil samples. I am not remembering on it.

So say there's an existing one

into where you're looking at you just go over top of that you tear it out long side of it long side of it yeah we didn't have an existing leach field or was it old enough it wouldn't have it had one it has one our current one does but we can't use it yeah the the box itself where all the lines are hooked onto is broken fudged understand that concept okay and then I think didn't the line coming out of the tank going to the box itself is yeah there's there's not right points of failure happening because the ground shifts and stuff yes yeah and just how it was installed and where the existing water lines online and stuff there's a there's a lot of just see that's another thing is that according to DNR not these guys the leach field was done power sheet water comes along and they direct bore no the other way around well they still they direct board put the water line in right so the water line is already there okay and then somebody came in and installed they put the leach field over top of the water line the main It's a no-no, you know what I mean? But still, it ain't like a well, my personal opinion. There's no way it can get contaminated into that line, but I mean, it's still a no-no. Kind of like running a power cord in water, you know what I mean? You don't do it. It's got a bad look to it.

And these are just things that we're finding, and one of the big things is, you know, fix the problems, right? So that's what we're trying to do here.

Because the biggest thing is that you don't have no records, which it just blows my mind that the way Mark Greenlee was on being everything exact and done right, how this got by,

I am unaware.

There's no paperwork or nothing, you know, on this.

We don't even have anybody on staff that was here when that was installed.

And that could be another problem. You know, that's, yeah. But where was it? I don't remember. Yeah, dig and find, you know what I mean? When was it done? Do they know that? Yeah.

Yeah, so the water line was installed in 96, and then the septic and leach field was installed in 98.

98?

So we know that much.

It doesn't seem like that long ago that we're really having this problem.

Correct, yeah. I was working here. Wow.

I was going to probably have done it in the 60s. Yeah, with a lot of different rules back then. Yeah, but 98?

Yeah, it should not have been that.

No records?

Wow, that is odd. There's one hand-drawn note, and that's all we got. And then from what we can tell, the hand-drawn note versus what we're seeing on the ground, it isn't quite... matching either, so I'm not sure.

And you don't even know who the contractor was?

I wonder if the part-time girls come across any of that stuff she's been skiing. Oh, yeah. Additional.

Because the contractor may have an original design or something, I think. I don't know. Some of them do.

98 that there's no records of it. That's the max.

we've got a couple months to try to scrounge up the money yeah and unfortunately um just in our experience so far like our some of our other projects you know we're pretty good about bringing in grant monday money or matching funds septics are not one that you see a lot of funding for so that's why and i don't know andre i could even yeah but yeah that's kind of why i told her i always try to wait at least

through September, so we have a quarter of our new budget to see what, because there are a few things I know we could amend more, but for other reasons too. Right.

What kind of projects do you have in this fiscal year 26-27 that you're planning on doing?

We're, well, we'll start watershed design work for Hannon and then we will work towards you know fundraising for the inflow shelter we'll start that process finishing the group campsite at Rogers and we also want to put a pit toilet in at Rogers down in the cul-de-sac to replace the one that was taken out several years ago that's all these are all projects that have been in the works already we also have a bridge that needs to be replaced on the old community trail, and we're working with Secondary Roads on that. And then, I don't know, we have a slew of them, but all of those we're also looking to do a lot of grant funding, working within our budget on them, do matches, how we normally work. But this one's just quite out of 350,000.

something that you can't get grant funding on is quite a chunk I could insert a little humor it's probably not appropriate but that's my little we're kind of asked a lot Is there any way of deleting the tape?

It's out there, buddy.

Definitely not now.

I didn't say when that's the right time.

The government has a lot of acronyms. We don't know which one. Yes, exactly.

Even Iowa State had a lot of acronyms. Oh, boy. Okay. Well, you fellas know what's going on now.

Yeah. Any other?

We've got to sharpen the pencils.

I mean, we're going to try to explore that opportunity. I'm going to reach out to other departments, or conservation departments, and see if they've come up with creative ways to get funding for septic, but it's generally not.

So for the watershed project, just curious, since this kind of affects the water, you can't implement that together? No, unfortunately not. So I guess I didn't know, what is the project for that?

Yeah, so the watershed project, Hannon is listed as an impaired water. And so with the state. And this has been in the works since before I started as a contact in 18. And then, you know, COVID kind of slowed everything down. So it finally got picked up. And this is really exciting for us to be at the front of the DNR's list right now. And what we do is design the entire thing. It's kind of like what happened with like Otter Creek, Hickory Hills, they drain it. There's stabilization, there's projects put in, structures put in, working with neighboring landowners to slow down water coming in, stuff like that. But the design on that, obviously, is the first step. And then to see.

But we get 75% back, right?

Yeah. So the design, we have to pay up front and then get 75% back. And then I think for implementation, we just have to match 25%. And we get a count. This is really awesome. We've been keeping track of all of our timber stand improvement, prairie restoration, everything else within the watershed. And we get a count that is matched, like the FEMA rate. So our equipment use, our labor, everything. But again, we have to put that up front, though, right? yeah yeah everything so that'll be a next year conversation with how that looks in the budget but it's in kind so you yes yeah i don't think we'll make all of it up for a 25 match in that but we'll make a good chunk and then that would be paired with other grants and fundraising you know that one people do want to help with watershed projects because they see a long-term benefit so we want our watershed help with something like that too

It won't help.

That's probably in the Iowa watershed. It is in the Iowa.

And so I've been keeping track of some of the little Iowa stuff. Google has a huge watershed money opportunity because they're trying to offset irritation and mitigation and everything else happening. And I already requested through all the watersheds that WE GET SOME FORM OF DIV IF THEY WIN THE GRANT, BECAUSE WE COULDN'T APPLY FOR IT, BECAUSE IT WAS $6 MILLION IS THE MINIMUM AMOUNT YOU COULD REQUEST, I THINK, OBVIOUSLY. WE DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH WORK. BUT WE COULD APPLY WITHIN THAT GRANT FROM THE WATERSHEDS TOWARDS HAMMOND. IT'S JUST IF THEY GET IT IN TIME, IF IT LINES UP RIGHT, AND ALL OF THAT, SO...

SO IN ALL Just kind of listened to timelines and then I realized none of this is in stone. They've thrown some numbers at you. We're going to spend some money on some holding tanks. How big are they? How often will they be pumped?

Yeah, so right now we're at 1,500 gallons holding capacity, and we're pumping up to two times a week, which is costing us $700, $800. So how big are these tanks? Other tanks, two tanks of 2,500 each. So that will eliminate a lot of pumping, it'll be a lot safer, and it'll be part of the new system. So basically what it's doing is just creating less pumping and getting us going on the septic in the future. And getting us away from that system that needs to be built and eliminated.

So these will be...

They're going to be in a different spot. Completely different spot, yeah.

I'm just throwing a timeline out because you mentioned that If it gets started next spring, which would be your anticipation at this point. For the whole septic. For the whole septic. We're going to be into camping regardless. I know. Yep. I'm thinking we put it into the next budget year and put it in the budget. We're going to have to try to allow Peter to pay Paul because we're already going to be getting close there. Oh, to the end of the fiscal year? Yeah. It's going to be spring before we can, you know, if everything goes well, the permitting process is six to eight months?

Yep, that's about 40.

So we're getting close to the first of July at that point for the 28th budget.

Well, I think that we have to look at last, right?

And this is all just thinking. I'm against budgeting. I don't mind transferring money.

The land acquisition fund is for capital projects. We still have that, over $200,000 there.

Some of that's earmarked for an enclosed shelter. It's already been earmarked for things.

Well, we may have to slow down.

And we had to use it. Because that's one that we transfer out of General Basic for future years. I'm just saying that fund has the money to occur.

Sure. And that wouldn't be available?

As long as it was replenished. Yeah, we'd have to do an amendment.

It's a lot easier to transfer that way than to...

I'm just trying to think of... I mean, we have time.

Is it easier to transfer money within?

Well, the general fund is a levied fund.

Yeah. So it has to come out a levied fund. Right.

Because the conservation land acquisition, you can't levy for it. It's a capital project. Perhaps it has to be donated or transferred.

Would it work if? light our stuff in and we chat and come up with like a couple of options.

Why don't we schedule a call next week with the auditors?

Okay, that works.

We can just brainstorm it. That would be awesome.

I would appreciate it. And then we can present something to them later.

She'll kind of give us what she recommends and what we want.

Sure. And we can talk about the design line. I wouldn't get to see it. Yeah, that works. Cool. What would we do?

Yeah, that's the one I'm worried about. I'm just thinking with all our other bigger ticket companies we've got going on. I'm just scared for next year. I mean, I haven't even done the math. I'm looking at all the homestead exemptions versus the taxable dollars, what we will not get money for. It's going to hurt out of the counties, it's going to hurt schools, the city, all the people that get a portion.

Well, like the guy said at that Zoom, we're going to cut service. We've got no choice. And that was one of the final things he wrapped up with. He said, I hate to say this, but we've got to cut service.

You can't go above the levy because that's still the max of 3.5. That levy's gone and spent.

I couldn't believe you said it out loud.

If we don't have any reserves, we can't spend.

If we're slowing down new projects over that, over cutting services.

He said we're going to lose employees, we're going to lose services, we're going to... They have to do all that.

That's why it's important that everybody understands that in the tax reform bill.

Yeah. And they also said that they want to get rid of the unfunded mandates. Which we know that's not going to happen. That's an outstanding one from Central Iowa again.

Did you sit down on that Zoom?

Yep. I didn't get a lot of good news out of that. Nope. No good news.

There wasn't any good news in that.

I'll take a motion to adjourn. So moved.

Okay.

I'll second that. Okay, call for a vote.

Tippett, aye.

Stephen, aye.

Wolves, aye.