Election Tuesday will decide jail, courthouse questions

Here’s where and when to vote

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Floyd County voters will be asked Tuesday to decide if the county should issue up to $13.5 million in bonds to finance a new law enforcement center and updates to the courthouse.

The referendum needs 60 percent approval to pass. Polls are open throughout the county from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The bonds would be repaid through county property taxes. Taxes would increase for a period of 19 years by about 60 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation for residential property, by about 97 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation for commercial property, and by about $1.07 per acre for agricultural property.

The county jail has been declared unsafe and inadequate since 2013 by the state jail inspector, who told the county to start making plans to address the situation.

A citizens committee spent months looking at options to replace the jail, including remodeling the existing jail, various design options for a new law enforcement center, or holding detainees for short terms and transporting them to other counties for housing.

The committee and the design firm hired by the county determined there is not enough room in the courthouse to remodel the jail there, and the hold and transport option would be the most expensive of those considered.

The design the committee recommended to the Board of Supervisors is for a single-story law enforcement center with a 32-bed jail, space for the Sheriff’s Office and county communications center and a meeting/training area that could be used as an emergency operations center in a natural disaster or other emergency.

The project also includes updates to the 1941 courthouse, including new windows, a new heating and air-conditioning system shared with the law enforcement center, some county office relocation, a new supervisors meeting room, and a central atrium joining the law enforcement center and the courthouse.

The atrium would be the public entrance to the courthouse and would include one elevator for the public and another elevator for detainee transport, as well as handicapped-accessible restrooms for each floor of the courthouse. Most of the west exterior wall of the courthouse would still be visible through the atrium.

About $10 million of the project is for the law enforcement center and about $3.5 million for courthouse updates, although county officials have said efforts would be made during the construction design phase to reduce costs and not spend the entire amount approved.

Voters will answer “yes” or “no” to this ballot question:

“Shall the County of Floyd, State of Iowa, enter into a loan agreement and issue its general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed the amount of $13,500,000, for the purposes of acquiring real estate and constructing, furnishing and equipping a County Law Enforcement Center and of undertaking renovations to the County Courthouse?”

These are the voting locations:

• Charles City Precinct 1— Floyd County Courthouse.
• Charles City Precinct 2 — Messiah Lutheran Church.
• Charles City Precinct 3 — Trinity United Methodist Church.
• Floyd/Cedar/Niles Precinct (includes Floyd, Cedar and Niles townships and the cities of Floyd and Colwell) — Floyd Community Center.
• Rockford/Ulster Precinct (includes the Rockford and Ulster townships and the city of Rockford) — Rockford City Hall.
• Rudd/Rock Grove Precinct (includes Rock Grove and Rudd townships and the cities of Nora Springs and Rudd) — Nora Springs City Hall.
• Scott/Union/Pleasant Grove Precinct (includes Scott, Union and Pleasant Grove townships and the city of Marble Rock) — Marble Rock Library.
• St. Charles/Riverton Precinct (includes St. Charles and Riverton townships) — Cedar Valley Transportation Center.

Voters will be required to provide an approved form of identification before they vote. Registered voters who are unable to show an approved ID may sign an oath of identification for an election held in 2018.

Voters who are not pre-registered or who have changed precincts also may be required to provide proof of residence. Any voter who cannot show ID may have their identity attested to by another registered voter in the precinct who has proper ID.

For additional information about where you should vote or voter identification, call the Floyd County Auditor’s Office at 641-257-6131.