Floyd County officials will help guide new COVID-19 relief fund for nonprofit groups

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Three Floyd County officials will steer grants from a new fund aimed at helping non-profit organizations deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Floyd County Community Foundation announced last week the creation of the Floyd County COVID-19 Disaster Response Fund, to quickly provide flexible help to groups that are providing basic needs during the pandemic, as well as those groups that have been impacted by the coronavirus.

On Tuesday morning, the Floyd County Board of Supervisors agreed that Supervisor Doug Kamm, Auditor Gloria Carr and Emergency Management Director Lezlie Weber would be the three-person team to decide on grants.

Charlie Newman, chairman of the Floyd County Community Foundation board, had told the supervisors Monday that the fund is designed to respond quickly to needs, rather than going through the usual awarding process the Foundation uses for its annual grants.

He said a three-person group rather than the entire Foundation board would let the fund act more quickly.

Groups that need help would apply through the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa (CFNEIA), the organization under which the Floyd County Community Foundation is affiliated, and the three-member team would quickly review the requests “and establish the fact that it’s a legitimate request or a legitimate need in our county,” Newman said.

He said grants could begin being dispersed as soon as a minimum of $1,000 had been donated to the fund, and it was likely that the Floyd County Foundation would redirect some of its own operations money, probably about $5,000, to the fund to start it off.

Donations to the fund can be made online at cfneia.org or by sending a check to Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa, 3117 Greenhill Circle, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Checks should be made out to Floyd County COVID-19 Disaster Response Fund.

More information is available by visiting www.cfneia.org or calling 319-287-9106.

Also at the meeting Tuesday morning, the supervisors:

• Accepted bids from two companies to install box culverts at three locations in the county. The winning bids were from Minnowa Construction Inc., of Harmony, Minnesota, for $95,700 to install a culvert near 215th Street and Zinnea Avenue, and for $55,500 for a culvert near 150th Street and River Road, and from Blazek Corp. of Lawler, for $70,400 for a culvert on Quarry Road.

“These are very good prices,” said Floyd County Engineer Dusten Rolando, adding that the three bids came in at a total of almost $75,000 below the estimated prices for the projects.

• Established a form for employees to carry with them while on county business to establish that they are performing an essential service, in case a stay-at-home order is issued in the state.

• Approved a policy regarding use of laptops and other technology by county employees telecommuting from home during the coronavirus pandemic, that will also be available to be used at other times when telecommuting is appropriate.

• Approved a request for proposals from firms to bid on conducting the annual county audit for the next three fiscal years. The county has for some time awarded the auditing job for three years at a time.

• Approved extending the Adopt-A-Highway designation to Boy Scout Troop 1034 for part of county road B47 west of Rockford.

• Discussed a request for a roadside memorial by the family of a 9-year-old boy killed in a two-vehicle traffic collision north of Rudd last October. Supervisors agreed with Rolando that there was a possible liability concern with placing a memorial in the county’s right-of-way on the farm-to-market road, and suggested the family talk with the owner of the adjacent private property.