Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

All right. Good morning, everybody. 930. So we'll get rolling on this agenda. First thing is we have to amend the but or the agenda here. We need to take off 13 C as that person has chose not to take the job. So And then with that change, a motion for the agenda approval.

I'll make it.

And I'll second.

Those in favor?

Aye. Minutes of the July 14th board meeting. I'll move to approve minutes.

I'll second.

Those in favor? Aye. Wapala County meal hotel travel reimbursement policy. All the policies will be attached going out with the handbook. We dug up a lot of old policies too that we found.

I'll make the motion to approve.

I'll second. Those in favor? Aye. Employee handbook. It's updated in PDF form and Karen's going to be sending it out to all the department heads to disperse there out. I also need every department head to sign a sheet up here. If you're here today, the department head, we got a sheet to sign to put with the hard copy. Motion to approve it.

I'll make a motion to approve it.

And I'll second, but I want to make a comment if we could before I vote. Yeah. There are several things in the handbook that I still question just a little bit.

And so I'd like the employees and the staff to know that that is always a fluid document.

And so I feel like if there's concerns, we should be.

They should be brought to our attention and we will adjust as needed. With that, I'll go ahead and... Yeah, I put that out in the email too.

Any questions? I think Don caught a mistake in there. Yeah.

Those in favor?

Aye. Update on the bank building?

I have this put on here because I haven't heard anything on the bank building for quite some time. So can you give us an update?

The last I heard from Christianers, they were working on the Obsestus contracts to get the Obsestus removed. And I haven't heard anything back from them. It's been a few weeks. So other than that, that's all I know. I can call Brad later today and find out.

Okay, so you gave me a set of plans for that building. that didn't include public health with them on there. Need more space for veterans.

Well, there was plenty of room for veterans in the way he had, but that was just a preliminary too. There's nothing set. He's just trying to utilize the space, kind of like we're doing with DHS. We got to meet him Monday to go over and see what we can do with DHS space. See if we can decrease what they have.

Thanks.

No problem. Anything else, Brian? No. Teamsters union members, overpayment of insurance. Brittany's not here, but I'm sure that's done.

Willie, you got her the list of people, didn't you?

Okay. I know that's all she was waiting on, so. Yeah, she's gone. Yeah, she's gone all week on vacation. I went to check with her yesterday.

So then the checks will be issued as soon as she comes back?

I would assume so, yes. Okay. I can't guarantee it, but they should be. She had them all ready to go. She just needed names to go with them.

Okay.

Whether they had a single or family.

They were supposed to be issued in the pay period of July 1. So I'm not sure how that got missed.

I have a question on that. I've had a couple of staff members ask if they're getting that reimbursement that's at the sheriff's office that aren't union members.

The union has to protect everybody whether they're union members or not.

I guess we're particularly looking at office manager and jail administration. They wouldn't.

They're not part of that union contract.

All right. I'll let them know then. I guess you let a couple of them know already.

Yeah. Yep. They're sitting there. Resolution number 31-2026.

Disbursements outstanding.

These are checks that have been issued that have never been cashed. So they're just going to delete them and put them back in the account. Any questions on it? No. Any questions, Carrie?

The personal checks, like we'll just say the first one listed, do they not turn those into the reger ones a year? What do you mean?

So these are checks that were issued to the people and they have not cashed them. Correct. So they never went through the bank.

Correct. I'll talk to Danielle.

Let's see which one you're talking about. Here.

Yeah, because my guy was actually issued a couple checks, never cashed either one of them. And that was from March and April.

Of last year?

Yes. Yep, these are all 2025 checks. So they're really old.

Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve the resolution.

Second.

Those in favor? Aye. Resolution 33-2026, establishing speed limits. We table this until this next meeting so Brad can get more ducks in the row.

We were able to verify a few previously established speed limits that affected our list and came up with the document that you have in front of you. This will allow us to review all of the county pavements for reasonableness of the 60 mile per hour default speed limit. We had a number of roads that we thought should be evaluated prior to the change in legislation or the legislation that changed the code for the default speed limits of pavements. We're ready to take a look at those. Matter of fact, we've already started into a list of roads that we want to evaluate, so. I estimate that with our other workload and so forth, it would probably take us a majority of the six months to get through the entire list. We should be able to bring up three or four per month to you for consideration of the speed limits as we go. So we should be showing progress all along that timeframe.

Any questions, Brian? And just some feedback. I'm certainly interested in raising limits on some of these roads, but some roads I'd be a little concerned about. So that's just, I think you feel the same way, but that's just my reaction to this.

For example, if there's a number of curves, especially the tight curves where it's impractical to be going more than 35, 40, if there's a series of curves together, especially those areas close to the corporate limits of Ottumwa primarily, but of a city, then we should be looking at a transitionary speed zone out to where it's appropriate to have it 60 miles per hour. And we do have a number of those around town. So Bluegrass is an excellent example in close to town. It should not be 60 miles per hour in any stretch of imagination, but Once you get out of town a few miles, it's primarily straight and people can keep their traffic on the road top. We just find it 60 miles per hour. But we do have some concerns about our roadsides not being developed for higher speeds of today's traffic. But individual case by case, we're off to take a look at that too.

Like the three sets of 90 degree turns on bluegrass going to Blakesburg.

That's what we're thinking about. Yeah. But we do have recommended speeds on those curves or turns. Correct. But if there's a series, if it's close to town, if there's other safety issues involved, then we would recommend a lower speed limit. That's how we would like to approach the new legislation impact to our community.

I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 33.

I'll second that, but the date is going to have to be changed on this resolution. Mine says 14 today.

Oh, at the bottom of it?

Yeah.

Okay.

Oh, yeah, because for the adoption, yeah, because we postponed it. All right. So we can just send over an updated sheet with the signature page.

All those in favor? Aye.

Road maintenance agreement.

This is an agreement with ITC Midwest, who's building a large transmission line from Tomah easterly through several counties are starting here in Wapello County, moving that direction. The agreement is for them to use our local roads as haul routes for their large poles and other equipment. And then they will be responsible for any damage that they might cause to those roads. We've been working with them closely, trying to establish driveway locations for them to get their equipment in, larger equipment, so it takes larger driveways. Most of them will be temporary, be removed. Just as an example of what we've already been doing with them. But they will, with this agreement, promise to make sure if they do cause any running in our roads, they'll be responsible for repairing it or reimbursing us for those expenses. We did find a typo or I did find a typo in it this morning. Just consistency sake for the size of the rut. So their standard agreement says four inches. In our case, I asked to have that change three because we've got a lot of locations where if you go four inches of rutting, you're through the rock into the dirt and then it becomes much more than a repair. It's a reconstruction of the road. So we want to catch it before it gets to that point. And they did send over a corrected version shortly before the meeting that I got to Karen. Okay, so Karen's got the correction.

Okay, perfect.

So you're fine with this, and this is kind of the standard agreement with these kinds of situations?

It is. They use that not just in Iowa, but across the Midwest that they do work. So it's... It's been looked at dozens of times by attorneys and other professionals. So for the most part, it's good as a standard document.

Motion to approve.

Second. Aye. Aye.

Resolution 34-2026, set public hearing for vacation apportioned to 14th Street, sections 31-32 in Washington Township.

This is regarding a section of level C road that the adjacent property owner, the primary adjacent property owner has requested to be closed and we're working with them closely on some other road issues. It's taken some time to pull together documents for this because the original road establishment was back in the mid 1800s and it was very vague so to try and come up with something that would work with that particular road took took some time and some field work and through our busy time of year it's taking a while so anyway that's ready to go and um We've worked some with all the adjacent property owners, so they'll be expecting it to come and understand what it's dealing with. So we're trying to actually establish the public hearing, which is the first official step in the process.

Correct. And this is to also trade back for the cemetery? Yes.

I'll make a motion to approve.

Now, second.

Those in favor?

Nine. Thanks for getting that done, Brad.

Sure. We do need to set the time on that public meeting. Oh, yeah.

Time and date? Let's do it at the next meeting?

Yeah, well, the date is actually, yeah, August 25th. We have to have time to send out the official notices.

Okay, so the 25th?

Yeah. 10 o'clock, 9.45, whatever time you'd like. We do have to set the time.

Let's do it at 9.30. We'll start our other meeting at 9.45. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Next up is a boiler replacement for the law center.

There's two boilers down in the mechanical room there at the law center that assist with the heating and cooling of the building. This boiler that I have there before you has got some bolts that are broken. There's a couple other bolts that are still holding it together. But when we had it... serviced and looked at they advised us that it's just a matter of time that those could break and then come off so we're just trying to do some preventive replacement before it breaks you said the third company never got back to you correct AAA out of Des Moines never sent us anything back so because my recommendation is the Winger one.

I'm going to make a motion to approve the bid from Winger.

I'll second. Those in favor? Aye. Nihar Service Agreement. We weren't sure what this was, but after talking with Rick and stuff, we This is something we've been doing. It was just a name didn't ring a bell for me for anything. So and rick checking with you would just basic information. Oh yeah, that's for britain. Yeah. Yeah. My bad. Yeah.

I'm gonna make a motion to approve.

No second. That was in favor. All right. Next up is personnel. We have several salary changes on here. I think we're wanting to do a work session on those where we can talk with the department heads before we make a move on any of those because we just set salaries July 1st. Am I correct on that?

Yeah, so if we can set it for Monday.

10 o'clock?

10 o'clock works for me.

Fine.

I won't be here Monday. I won't be here Monday.

It's a different day that works.

If you want to set it for the following Monday, we can do it then. I'm actually going to be gone all week. All week, I guess.

That would be the 10th. August 10th. I have a meeting at 10 that morning.

What time would you be done? Noon. Or you just do it Tuesday after our regular meeting? That's what I'm thinking. That work? Nope. You're hard. You got a lot of schedules, so... Well, why don't we do this? Why don't you and Don coordinate and get a date for a couple dates and send us an email and we'll just go. We'll get set.

You know what? We set it for Monday. I'll come in.

I don't think she can anyway. Okay. All right.

I'll give it to the county attorney and we'll see what date works best and get a couple dates to you guys to try and make it work. Okay.

Well, you just come in, talk your part, and then you can skadoodle. 5, 10, 15 minutes. It won't be very long.

Monday at 10. Monday at 10.

So that's August 3rd. Yep. Okay.

And I'll try to get the one scheduled for 1030 for the HHS space.

Okay. Okay. Okay, then we have D then remaining, which would be a request for payroll approval of a new hire motor vehicle. I'm going to make a motion to approve. Second. Those in favor? Aye.

Any other business coming from the board?

We have auditor's cash draw report, fiscal year 25-26, fourth quarter.

I'll move to approve.

Those in favor?

Aye. Treasurer's Investment Report, June 2026. I'll make a motion to approve.

And I'll second. Those in favor? Aye. Treasurer's Semi-Annual Report, January 26th through June 26th.

Make a motion to approve. And I'll second.

Those in favor? Aye. Any other business before the board? So we're going to have a work session after this to hear from the jail expansion. And we also have some zoning stuff to talk about after that. So we'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

I'll make it.

I'll second.

Those in favor? Aye.