Floyd County Supervisors work on communications project particulars, sell vehicles, make appointments

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors made a couple of more decisions regarding the county’s new public safety communications system, approved applying for funds to help send four of the county’s new medical examiner investigators to a state training session, and apparently sold three used county vehicles at the board’s regular weekly meeting Monday morning.

The board approved the layout for a new 300-foot-tall communications tower to be built on 1½ acres of farmland the county is purchasing just west of the Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve near Rockford.

The tower will be one of the key features – and the single most expensive part – of a new $5 million system of radios and pagers for county law enforcement, firefighters and other emergency service providers that will also make the county part of the Iowa State Interoperable Communications System (ISICS).

The tower enclosure will be 65 feet by 90 feet, surrounded by a fence, with room inside for the tower, a small equipment building, a generator and a tank for liquid propane to run the generator.

The tower compound is a little larger than originally planned, said Jason Webster, the county emergency management coordinator.

“We just thought it would be a good idea that now while we’re in the pre-phase of this that if we wanted to make it a little bit bigger to accommodate future tenants and their infrastructure now would be a good time to do it,” Webster said.

Renting antenna space on the tower to other businesses and organizations could bring revenue into the county to help pay for the system.

There would be a minor cost in a little more fencing and more gravel for the base of the compound, he said.

The supervisors also approved a preliminary plat survey of the purchased property, 150 feet wide by 436.6 feet deep, running north from 215th Street (County Road B47) along the property line in common with the Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the supervisors approved the county applying for $3,200 in state grants to help pay for four county medical examiner investigators (MEIs) to attend the Midwest Death Investigation Course from June 3 to 5 at the Des Moines Area Community College campus in Ankeny.

The MEI program is new to Floyd County, started last December after the physicians who had previously been appointed as the county medical examiner and assistant medical examiners said they were no longer interested in filling those positions.

One of the physicians, Dr. David Schrodt, said he would be willing to continue to be appointed as the county medical examiner if the county began an MEI program to do most of the field work required to investigate deaths that are violent, suspicious, sudden, unexpected or not attended by a physician, as required by Iowa Code.

The first five MEIs appointed were Dawn Staudt, William Duncan, Martin Parcher, Eric Whipple and Bryce Hamm. Although all five received training through the Iowa Medical Examiners Office when the program was started, they still are required to take the death investigation course.

Staudt previously took the course on her own, but the other four still need to take the course within their first 2 years of duty.

If the county qualifies for an $800 grant for each MEI, the county’s cost for the course will be $1,173. If the county has to pay the whole fee the cost will be $4,373.

Also Monday, the supervisors:

• Received 10 or more bids each for three vehicles that had been used by the county Sheriff’s Office, including one 2008 vehicle that had been used by the Sheriff’s Office then transferred to the county Conservation Department.

The apparent winning high bids went to Randy Evans for $4,500, for a 2016 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor, to Todd Schreiver for $3,201 for another 2016 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor and to Scott Schaefer for $2,850 for the 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer.

• Approved letting the County Attorney’s Office hire former Assistant Chickasaw County Attorney Mark Huegel to help with juvenile court cases, at a fee of $500 per day. County Attorney Todd Prichard estimated Huegel’s service would be needed 10-12 days a year.

• Appointed Keith Starr, a Charles City Council member, as a member of the Floyd County EMS Advisory Council, to replace City Council member Pat Lumley.

• Appointed Lanie Sanvig of rural Charles City to the Floyd County Conservation Commission, to fill the rest of the term of Pam Folz, who resigned this week. Sanvig’s term will run to June 30, 2025, but she could be reappointed at that time.

• Set Wednesday, May 29, at 9:15 a.m. in the supervisors boardroom in the courthouse, for a public hearing on an amendment to the county’s 2023-24 budget. Such amendments are fairly routine near the end of the year to account for unplanned changes in revenues or expenditures during the year.