Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

Call for attendance, please.

Here. Here. Here.

Here. Here.

Here. We kindly rise for our 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, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

any agenda deletions or dish i don't believe so item number one is our consent agenda all items listed under the consent agenda will be enacted by one motion we have claims item a in the amount of $339,523.65. Item B, minutes to approve, April 16th, 2026 and April 21st, 2026. Item C, receive and file conservation seasonal employees approved by Warren County Conservation Board, Vicki Morton, Seasonal Aid, Matt sheets seasonal aid Monty Freeman seasonal naturalist and Sawyer Chapman seasonal naturalist item D approved payroll removal for Colton Fernal equipment operator one secondary roads item e approve agreement for the use of Justice Center grounds Item F, approve Class C retail alcohol license renewal for Bella's Farmhouse and Venue at 4135 30th Avenue, Norwalk. And G, set public hearing for road vacation for Tuesday, May 19th, 2026.

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

Second.

Roll call.

McIntyre?

Aye. Harrison?

Aye. Aye. Aye. Item two is a public hearing for William Bosch for a rezoning of land from AG Agricultural District to RR Rural Residential District.

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

Second.

Roll call. McIntyre.

Aye. Arrington. Aye.

Bishop. Aye. DeWitt. Aye. Arnold. Aye.

act back in my the uh... and owner is asking to resend the parcel she mentioned uh... located at seven three two three are fifty seven from a g or agricultural to are are were residential so we can ultimately subdivide the parcel into two There's an existing house right now on the north side of the parcel with an accessory building. His intention is to sell the remaining vacant parcel south of where his home is. Staff reached out to Warren Water and found that there is capacity for an additional home on the extra lot. Additionally, Environmental Health said there will be options available for a septic system south of the site on the new lot. Staff kind of looked around the site as well and saw within about half mile of the property there are numerous other parcels similar or smaller than this parcel would be. There's a small subdivision about a quarter mile south with two acre lots all with single family homes. Additionally the lot fronts on a paved road. Staff fields subdividing this lot into two will be suitable for rural residential zoning and be compatible and similar to development within surrounding properties. The Zoning Commission heard the application on April 13th and recommended approval on a vote of five to zero, so it is unanimous. So staff recommends approval based on the findings of fact submitted with the application packet and the recommendation from the Zoning Commission.

the applicant and owner is also here today if you wish to here from him question we've we've had this before is this now the second very narrow

No, this is the first time you've had it. First reading? Yes, first reading. So you may also, if you wish, to waive the second and third reading. Okay, great. That was my point. Thank you for, yeah.

And then also with the, I guess the layout of the parcel, we're just approving the rezoning, not necessarily a plat.

Exactly, yes, correct. You will hear again, if you approve the rezoning, he will come back with a preliminary plat and final plat to subdivide it into two lots. So that's the intention. But he needs to rezone it first. Yeah. Thank you.

Any more questions for zoning? Okay. Good. Anyone from the public wish to speak on the rezoning of the parcel? for organic, go ahead, come on up. And you're the property owner?

Yep, you just state your name and address for the record, please. Okay, it's William Bosch, 7323 R57 Highway.

That's all right, thank you, sir. You always come prepared.

Okay, go ahead. Page one, of course, it just shows the layout of the lot. The page two shows the R1 classification to the quarter section right to the south of me, and that's a subdivision. Second page shows lots and subdivisions that are all around me, and there's quite a few across the street. There's two smaller ones and then an acreage to the north. There's a smaller one. And then the next page is the wonderful Warren Comprehensive Plan, and it shows my area in a city growth map area. The second page is on the same thing, and it's showing a opportunity corridor that I'm in. Then the next page, This has been going on for over two years, one, 13, 24. I was in what's known as an urban service area. And if you look at the next page, it shows the future land map showing that I'm in that. And that was zoned basically a C1 district, which I could have done anything I wanted. So I think it looks... pretty fair and then also on a December 2nd meeting MSA I had given them you know a layout on November 10th and they actually got up and approved it more or less so anyway that that's it thank you thank you

Any more public comment? Okay.

I would make a motion to exit the public hearing. Second.

Roll call.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Item three is consider proposed municipal advisor services agreement with Dean. Whoa.

We need to approve it.

Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Back your butts up here. OK. We need to approve it. I jumped ahead, yes.

OK. OK. Is there any board discussion on it?

I'm in support of it. And I would be in support of waiving the second and third reading as well, too. Are you making a motion, then? I will, I will make a motion to approve. I don't have my agenda up, I apologize. To approve the rezoning of William Bosch's property from Ag District to Rural Residential District with waiving of the second and third reading. Second.

Motion, second. Can we roll call, please? McIntyre?

Aye. Erickson? Aye.

Aye, and I would state that I agree with the findings as laid out by the zoning department.

Aye, and I also agree with the findings that were laid out by the zoning department. Aye.

Motion carries.

Well, Mr. Bosch, that was better than moving on to number three.

Okay, great. My apologies, I skipped right over you, sorry. Item number three. Consider proposed municipal advisor services agreement with DA Davidson with possible action. This item revolves around the county debt and our ability to refinance that. Current bonds are, I guess, callable June 1st. We are not required to do anything with the debt or refinance by June 1st. This is simply an engagement letter so that when, if, When the time comes, our financing becomes favorable, something that we want to do. This is not refinancing, but rather an engagement letter to speed up the process. If we come across favorable financing terms, we're able to enact those in engagement with this firm.

I'll make a comment and then I'll make a motion. And that is this is helping us be nimble on our debt financing. So interest rates fluctuate daily. It's really tied to the short-term end of the curve. We don't have to refinance our debt as the chairman said, but at the time that we first started looking at it was maybe January, February. By doing so, it saved an approximate 326,000-ish dollars. in financing costs, and so it made sense. Since then, interest rates have ticked up some. It's a number less than that now, so we're not making a jump at this moment, but if interest rates come back down a little bit and we can get back to a pretty good savings number, it would be my intention to execute on that and try to lock in some lower interest rates on our debt. Our debt service levy has continued to drop, That's money that everyone in the county pays for to service the debt that we have. We don't have a great deal of debt here in Warren County, but we do have some. And so if we can save money for that, that makes sense. This just gets the agreement in place with DA Davidson. It's been a very good partner with the county so that it'll save about a month and it'll make us more nimble. So with that, I'll make a motion to approve the municipal advisory services agreement with DA Davidson. Second.

Roll call. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Item number four. Consider approval of fiscal year 27 Warren County five-year construction program as amended with possible action. It is my understanding our engineer is not with us this morning as they are actually pouring a bridge deck this morning, so he's busy with that, but it is my understanding the amended plan, as he puts it, simply changing the project numbers and project costs somewhat because of now federal funding that's been put in place. We've been awarded some federal funding, so some of the project costs has changed a little bit, and some of the project numbers have, The project itself, the five year plan was approved prior. This is just amendment changing some of the project numbers and costs.

So I chatted with Tim on Friday about this and I think he covered it pretty well, Brian, that it's just simply the project numbers and as Tim stated in his email, the project cost have changed just a touch. So I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the 27 Warren County five-year construction program as amended.

Second.

Roll call.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Item number five is to discuss additional hire for secondary roads and the engineering department with possible action. This would involve a entry-level position to backfill a position of an employee that resigned, so a budgeted position. Seasonal mower is a position that is hired every year and is also a budgeted position. And also an assistant engineer which has been budgeted in the current and the next fiscal year.

I'll make a motion to approve both of those positions. Second.

Roll call.

McIntyre? Aye. Harrison? Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Item number six, consider approval of legal counsel for the Board of Adjustment with possible action. Good morning, Kelly.

Good morning. This comes from an email I got from Roger Kuhl, who's a member of the Board of Adjustment. After we filed our writ of certiorari, that requires an answer and some legal documentation by the Board of Adjustment. Because I represent the county, I cannot now represent the Board of Adjustment as well. So they would need their own legal counsel to do that. Mr. Cools here, as well as Board of Adjustment member Jacob Gook. So if you have any questions, happy to answer.

Kelly, is it my understanding that there would be a hearing and briefing, and that would be about the extent of the legal representation needed?

The rules of civil procedure under our motion for certiorari, I cannot say that word, so please forgive me.

Cert.

We'll just call it cert. Is that, yes, a hearing is scheduled. And prior to the hearing, both sides present briefs about their position.

What do you see is the dollar amount that the county is going to spend fighting the county over this?

I could not give you a dollar amount. I mean, it's not a trial. It's a one-day hearing.

It's a judicial review in a sense. Yes. Not necessarily a trial.

Right. Okay.

Is this something that could be handled in some meetings between the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Adjustment? Just a difference in opinion of the code? Or...

no it can't be handled in meetings the official ruling of the board of adjustment stands right now which granted a variance and uh the decision of this board previous what a week or so ago no a month ago boy time flies was that we would file the writ of cert because we disagreed with the variance that was granted we we had a joint public meeting on this prior the joint public meeting to go over the new ordinances. Yes, we did discuss that.

Do you recall during that time, was that presented to the board that it would need to have legal counsel represent both sides in a writ? Or was that just the understanding of it was a simple overturn?

I don't think it was clear at the time. And Mr. Cool's email to me made it more clear that he was gonna have to go out and get their own, I mean, obviously I can't represent both sides. That's a conflict, that's unethical. But when I presented it to the board, that was not discussed, that is true.

Well, I don't think we necessarily knew what their final decision was at that point or there was reconsideration or they were gonna?

We knew what their decision was. Okay. Because you have to have their decision to file a writ of cert.

I did have an opportunity to listen to the Board of Adjustments meeting from January yesterday. And I would conclude that filing the writ was probably a good option here. I'm struggling to find what the hardship was on the property. So I would approve legal counsel for them. That would be my motion.

OK.

Well, I'll second it.

I have a question. We have a motion to second. I have a question. Is there a way to put an upper limit on, I don't know what an hourly attorney is going to cost to do briefing and attend a hearing. I mean, is there a way to put a ceiling on that? Approved up to some figure or no?

I don't know. To be completely honest, I suppose we could start and see where that goes from there.

I guess I've got one more comment before we vote on this. I think we need a bunch more meetings and sit down. When you have this many people and this many different varying opinions, I guess in my business I've gone to lots of Board of Adjustments meetings and pleaded my case. And that's kind of the glory of the Board of Adjustments is seeking variance from county code, city code, whatever it may be. I think we all need to get on the same page because if we sit here and do this vicious cycle of suing each other or costing each other legal counsel, That's not a good way to spend taxpayer money, the county fighting the county. We've got a new ordinance that was put into place January 1st and there's some things that have come up for the Board of Supervisors that we don't have a 100% full understanding of yet. So for the Board of Adjustments to not have a full understanding of it how they want to conduct their variances is completely understandable, because the Board of Adjustment, or the Board of Supervisors doesn't even understand everything. And there's been some law changes at the state for the definition of a hardship or a, what did you tell me?

Practical difficulty, yes.

Practical difficulty, yep. So moving forward, I would very much encourage more meetings, more sit-downs, and more cooperation with the Board of Supervisors and the Board of Adjustment and our Zoning Commission. Going back and forth at each other with legal fees is just, it's not the way to do it in my opinion. It's not a good way to spend taxpayer money, so.

I appreciate that. This isn't a change from the old ordinance, though. This is actually a holdover. The 20 acres that was required is from the old ordinances. That didn't change. And I think what you're proposing is sort of a more informal, loose process, more communication. And I typically agree with that more communication is better, but these are formal processes And so when you go in for to the in front of the Board of Adjustment It's quasi judicial and so they're to be acted like like they're judges We are not it's actually prohibited that we talk to them about the substance of it before Without the other party there. It's like going to court and so it's more of a formal nature and

My only other addition to this conversation is that if this board doesn't authorize legal fees, it would be my understanding that our petition for cert would be dismissed. They're entitled to representation on it. I think that they got this one wrong. And I do appreciate what the comments are about the changes in the ordinance, but this one, this is a holdover ordinance. I mean, the judge is going to do what the judge is going to do, but my guess is it was appealed because we felt like they got it wrong, and it was pretty clear. Not sure how it will shake out, but you can't send them without representation to a hearing, so you either fund it or you dismiss it. Those are your options.

And Kelly, I know you weren't here, but on August 28th, I'm sure Becky remembers this, we spent over an hour with MSA talking about the floodplain and that we wanted to keep it the same. Like ad nauseam, we talked about it, that I kind of got frustrated and was like, we need to move on. And we all agreed to keep that at 20 acres. So yeah, nothing changed. It was the same, so.

20 acres for a non-farm dwelling?

I don't think the non-farm was set during that time in the MSA. I mean, we could go back and listen. I'm sure they're recorded. But it was really frustrating. I know I was texting Aaron about it. We were still talking about the floodplain.

Well, there's a motion. There's a second.

Yeah.

Roll call.

Is this what you guys want? You need legal representation? I really need to hear your side of this.

Yes, we asked for a lawyer. Kelly's obviously got a conflict. This would not be a big deal for a lawyer to present this case on behalf of the board. The property owner is going to make its own case. Frankly, the board's counsel could piggyback on top of the property owner for defending the case. Yes, we should have counsel to state our position as to what we did, why we did it, and parenthetically, the building they wanted to build is not a structure in or on the floodplain.

Thank you. Thank you. Yay. Yes.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Item number seven, consider approval to backfill two positions in the attorney office with possible action. Yeah, come on up.

Thank you. Thank you.

Hello. Hi. We just have two positions open and would like to backfill those as soon as possible.

These are budgeted and they're vacancies. So one is not additional positions.

Correct. One's already vacant. The other one is retiring July 7th. And so for that position, we'll get them in and get them trained up and use our fine fund to cover their salary until the retirement takes place.

All right. It's nice of you to come out this morning. I'm going to make a motion to approve the backfill and the two attorney positions.

Second. Roll call. Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Item eight, consider updating the card access system in the administration building with possible action.

Good morning. Good morning. Yeah, we're looking at updating the software for the card access system at the administration building. The system we have now is eight to 10 years old. Hardware was discontinued in 2023. So just kind of looking at getting a new system in there which is gonna allow us to be able to add some more card readers to the system we already have. I recommend moving forward with Walsh Door at a cost of $7,207.00.

That's really reasonable compared to what we've seen in the past.

I didn't know if you had any questions on anything else or on what that looked like.

During the work session, we chatted a little bit about IT taking over the card access system as far as issuing cards and whatnot. Did we make any progress on that?

We haven't made any progress. This system or this software we have with Walsh Door, they're also at our secondary roads facility. So I would think that would make it easier on just if we want to utilize having one person for IT or whoever that is to be able to take care of all that.

Okay, I'll make a motion to update the card access system in the administration building.

Second.

Roll call.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries. Did you guys need to recommend or say what company we're gonna move forward with that? Yeah, we probably should. Okay, because you have more than one.

Yes. You've got more than one here in the packet.

Yep, I have three. I was eight. I got three bids from three different companies.

Yeah, sorry, I didn't really even scroll past the first one. Do you see the three in here now?

I'll redo my motion. There's three bids. Walsh Door for $7,207. There's Baker Group for looks like 81.99. And then there's Excel Mechanical. Where's my total on that? For 17,146. So I will make the motion to approve the Walsh Door bid of updating the access card system in the administration building.

Second.

Roll call.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Okay, moving on. Item number nine, consider adding two openers to the north entrance of the administration building with possible action.

Yeah, we're looking at some auto openers to the doors on the north side of the admin building. We have some handicapped parking spots over there. We have a ramp over there, and we're just looking to get auto openers added. We got three bids that all came in fairly close together. I recommend we move forward with Walsh and Miller Electric doing the electric work for a price of $16,810. I guess you guys got any questions on that? I know we've talked about it at the work session.

No, I mean, I'm in favor just that we do have a number, I think three of the handicap parking spots available to the building are on that side of the building. It was two to three years ago the county actually made a I guess I don't know what the cost of it was. I would consider a substantial investment in new doors and a ramp, so to me it only makes sense that we would follow through with the door opener so that the people who, using the handicap parking, don't have to go around to either the front or the south side of the building, and they can use the north side where we do have a number of the spots for them.

I would mention this is budgeted in the maintenance budget, so we would cover that.

I would make a motion to approve. And that would be Walsh and Miller, correct? Thank you. Yep. Walsh and Miller doing the electrical work. Second. Roll call.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. Item 10, receive and file reports from the Humane Society and Veterans Affairs.

I'll make a motion to receive and file the two reports. Second. Roll call. McIntyre. Aye. Arrington.

Aye. Fuqua.

Aye. DeWitt. Aye. Martin. Aye. Item 11, supervisor's report. Any supervisors giving reports today?

I have one. I sit as a board member on the Warren County Philanthropic Partnership. And sorry, I have to get to my notes. And last week we were able to give out $106,000 to 21 different organizations, nonprofit organizations in Warren County. And that included one high impact award to Maximilians Muddy Puddles. that they came and presented to us, and we graciously also donated to them. So the rest of those community grants were between 2,500 and 5,000. We had a number of police departments, fire departments. I was happy to see some new people apply. Milo got, I think, one for their fire department. We had others that applied. I think almost every fire department did. New Virginia got one. So very exciting. And next year, we hope to have about 110,000. And then lastly, I just want to thank Doug Shaw, a former supervisor up here for the partnership that he went into with the indianola athletics department to improve our baseball softball and tennis courts and on may 18th they will do a ceremony uh dedicating and naming it the shaw athletic complex at the indianola high school encourage everyone to be there if you can i'm sure doug would love to see you all and that's all i have

Thank you, Supervisor Erickson. Any other reports this morning? Seeing none, moving on. Item 12. Public input, comments will be limited, 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. Anyone from the public that wishes to speak this morning? The floor is yours. Okay, seeing none, going once, twice, three times.

Okay.

Item number 13 would be our next meeting date will be May 19th, 2026 at 4 p.m. right here in the Warren County Administration Boardroom.

I'll make a motion to adjourn. Second. Second. Roll call.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye. We are adjourned. Thank you.