Tama County Administration Building, 104 W State St., Toledo, Iowa. TELEGRAPH FILE PHOTO

TOLEDO – Dodging raindrops, the usual congregation of citizens and elected officials met for the weekly Supervisors meeting on Monday, May 19. The meeting began with a long discussion between the supervisors and Economic Development Director Katherine Ollendieck.

The discourse on the future of Ollendieck’s department covered continuing budget cuts and job expectations, among other issues. Both sides attempted to proselytize the other on several matters, ultimately searching for a middle ground. One of the topics the supervisors expressed interest in for the future is more of a public-private partnership with the business community. They agreed to have more meetings on the subject. Ollendieck expressed eagerness to move forward outside of the frustrating state of limbo.

The supervisors also spoke with and heard from Darcy Maiden-Parks about mental health and substance use disorder services from Prairie Ridge Integrated Behavioral Healthcare. Maiden-Parks explained the services provided by Prairie Ridge, including having a clinician come once a week at their Tama County office. The Substance Abuse Treatment Unit of Central Iowa (SATUCI) recently merged with Prairie Ridge; they now have approximately 135 employees. Due to Center Associates in Tama – which provided the services of three therapists – recent closure, the supervisors are looking for ways to fill the possible gap that will be left in the county and may request more services from Prairie Ridge.

During the public comment section, Board Chairman Mark Doland spoke about both topics, saying, “If we can’t keep just a main infrastructure item like mental health, that’s an economic development issue. ‘Cause if we don’t have resources for people to come to who are struggling with mental health, that’s thousands of people in our county that are struggling with mental health. If we don’t have services for them, you can’t live a productive life. There’s no production coming out of that. And so, a very basic infrastructure need is mental health services, substance abuse services. If we don’t have that, there is no economic development.”

Tama County Engineer Ben Daleske reported that they’ve been working on the dust control lists, along with blading and rocking. Shoulders are being retrieved and sprayed, and they will be replacing the cap on the 340th St. bridge this week. The tanker cars are in on the G Ave. wooden culvert replacement, and the project should be finished this week. A regrade was done on 180th St. Depending on the weather, they will start a grade on K Ave. north of the shop to 270th.

A moratorium on Community Solar was approved.

Next week’s meeting date was changed to Thursday, May 29 at 9 a.m.

Supervisor David Turner’s committees were reassigned to the other supervisors as Turner will be out of the country for the next three weeks.

The supervisors approved the hiring of the new Tama County IT Director, Michael Jackley.

The ongoing agenda item of the POE phone options was reassigned to the new IT Director.

Andrew Batcheller was appointed and sworn in as a new Tama County Sheriff’s Deputy.

A reassignment of a tax certificate was approved for Bill Davis.

Claims totaling $240,718.55 were approved.

May 12 meeting

Under bright blue skies and white cotton ball clouds, the county leaders met for their weekly meeting on Monday, May 12. All supervisors were present with Heather Knebel telecommuting via the Owl. She became a TV star as her image was on the television on the wall.

The meeting started with the Tama County Engineer’s report stating that they’ve been taking care of the dust control list. On the east side, they’ve been retrieving shoulders on paved roads, spraying shoulders, county sheds, and 911 towers. The part-time mowers will be starting. The cap on the 340th St. Bridge is being prepared to be replaced. The wooden box culvert on G Avenue is being replaced with tanker cars.

The supervisors decided a while back to wind down and eliminate the Safety Director position. The current Safety Director, Garrison Reekers, stopped by the supervisors for clarification on what to do with his equipment and vehicle. An itemized list will be made.

Laura Wilson was hired as the new Zoning Administrator and Weed Commissioner; Wilson had been working in the role on an interim basis.

The supervisors approved changing Board of Adjustment member Nancy Yuska’s term end date to June 30, 2027.

It was also approved to post for the two soon-to-be-open slots on the Board of Adjustment and for one on the Zoning Commission.

The supervisors approved increasing the amount of County funds deposited in the Iowa Public Agency Investment Trust from $5 million to $10 million to increase interest.

After an update from the Heartland Risk Pool at last week’s meeting, the supervisors approved renewing.

Claims totaling $1,045,323.65 were approved, the majority of which is a funds transfer.