2024 Iowa Pork Queen Lillian Bru, back left, pictured last summer at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines while assisting with the Bacon Buddies program. Bru, a native of Gladbrook, is bringing the Bacon Buddies Show to the Tama County Fair on Friday, July 18. PHOTO COURTESY OF LILLIAN BRU

TOLEDO – The storm was in the air, the forecast was set, and rain was on the tip of everyone’s tongues as they walked into the Tama County Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday, June 23. Between talks of upcoming inclement weather, the meeting began like usual with Ben Daleske, the Tama County Engineer.

He reported that last week, Calhoun Burns looked over the 340th Street Bridge repair; once it receives a load rating the bridge will be open to traffic. The regrade on K Avenue north of the shop is finished with its regrade up to 270th Street, and they’ve started on the intersection of F Avenue and 280th Street doing some culvert and ditch work.

The spray patcher was out last week taking care of some roads, and next week a pre-construction meeting will be held with PCI about the S Avenue North of Hwy 8 Bridge Project. A letting was held last week for the E66 paving project. The lowest bid came in at $3,492,971.81 from Manatt’s; the board approved a resolution to accept this bid and move forward with the project.

The most shocking agenda item was the abrupt resignation of IT Director Michael Jackley. Jackley was approved for the position on May 19. Jackley could not be reached for comment.

A Consumers Energy utility permit was also approved. A funds transfer to Secondary Roads and a resolution to appropriate FY26 funds to departments was approved.

There was a discussion about an old safety vehicle that is currently sitting at the west annex. It was decided that the vehicle would be moved into the sheriff’s lot for safer keeping.

There was discussion and worries about a generator for the courthouse. The current generator only supplies the jail and sheriff’s office, in the event of a power outage. It was decided that it would be looked into if the current generator has the capacity to run all three buildings or not, and how much another generator would cost.

The board also held an approximately two-hour closed session in the middle of their regular meeting. Upon returning to open session, public comments were allowed before adjourning.

Claims totaling $121,160.21 were approved.