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Floyd County supervisors start off year with long list of organizational actions

Floyd County supervisors start off year with long list of organizational actions
Floyd County Recorder Amy Assink (left) administers the oath of office to new County Auditor Morrigan Miller, new County Supervisor Gloria Carr and re-elected Sheriff Jeff Crooks at the beginning of the Board of Supervisors’ new year organizational meeting held Thursday morning. Press photo by Bob Steenson
By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors elected a new board chair, tentatively put off looking to share a county engineer and discussed representation on various others boards and commissions during its first meeting of the new year.

The meeting started with county Recorder Amy Assink swearing in newly elected or re-elected county officials. Taking the oath of office were newly elected District 1 Supervisor Gloria Carr, newly elected Auditor Morrigan Miller, and re-elected Sheriff Jeff Crooks.

County Attorney Todd Prichard had also been elected in November, but he had been appointed in 2023 to fill a vacancy, and so was able to take office as the elected winner of that race and be sworn in as soon as the election results were certified.

Carr is the newest member of the Board of Supervisors, but has by far the most experience with board matters. As county auditor for 20 years, it was her job to attend virtually every Board of Supervisors meeting, helping prepare the agenda and agenda packet in advance and then taking minutes at the meetings.

Carr suggested that she be named chair because a large part of that position is working with the county auditor to prepare the agenda, and with Miller being new to the Auditor’s Office Carr could work with her.

But District 3 Supervisor Boyd Campbell, who was elected and took office in November to fill a seat that had previously been appointed, nominated District 2 Supervisor Dennis Keifer as chair. Keifer, who is entering his third year on the board, seconded the motion, and was elected on a 3-0 vote.

Also at the board meeting Thursday morning, Carr reported on a meeting she had with Cerro Gordo County officials regarding the suggestion Floyd County had made to share Cerro Gordo County’s engineer, after the current Floyd County engineer, Jacob Page, announced his resignation.

Floyd County had a long history of sharing a county engineer with Chickasaw County before Page was hired to work exclusively in Floyd County in 2022.

Carr said that Cerro Gordo County Engineer Brandon Billings is currently paid $140,000 a year plus benefits, and Billings had suggested $180,000 as a salary for a shared position between the two counties.

With a $5,000 promised increase for the 2025-26 fiscal year beginning June 1, plus extra mileage for a vehicle, Billings’ total cost with taxes and benefits would be $230,762, or split 50/50 between the two counties, $115,381 each, Carr estimated.

Page, whose resignation is effective Jan. 10, is currently paid $111,395. With taxes and benefits the total cost to Floyd County is $152,075, Carr said.

“I honestly, looking at this, don’t really see as much of a benefit to share a county engineer,” Carr said.

Campbell said he has a concern that if there is a situation such as a weather event that takes out bridges and roads in both Cerro Gordo and Floyd counties, whether a single engineer could coordinate the needed response in two counties.

“Personally, I think you need to have a boss there,” Campbell said. “I don’t want to be penny-wise a pound-foolish on this. I lean toward us trying to find our own engineer if we can.”

Keifer said, “We’re not saving much money, plus getting a half-time engineer.”

The board agreed to advertise for a full-time engineer, but to also negotiate with Billings to provide engineering services as needed until a replacement for Page can be found.

Some activities such as signing off on bid lettings for projects have to be done by a county engineer, and there are Floyd County project lettings coming up that could be delayed without a county engineer available.

Carr said Page is among the lower paid engineers for counties about Floyd County’s size, and it will likely cost more if the county does hire another single-county engineer.

Four other Iowa counties are currently looking for an engineer, she said.

Also at the meeting, the supervisors:

• Discussed which boards, commissions and other groups each supervisor would act as a representative or liaison to. The list is lengthy, and the board decided that at least for county groups such as the Conservation Board, Board of Health and Veterans Affairs, a representative from those boards would be asked to attend supervisor meetings to update the supervisors rather than a supervisor attending their meetings.

• Discussed board meeting policy and agreed to “loosen” the rules to allow easier discussion among the supervisors and with audience members, rather than requiring raising a hand and being recognized by the chair before being allowed to speak. The chair retains authority to maintain decorum at meetings.

• Appointed Dean Tjaden as a member and reappointed Randy Heitz and Paul Rottinghaus as members of the Charles City Area Development Corp.

• Appointed Derek Straube to fill an open position on the Floyd County Planning and Zoning Commission, on a 2-1 vote. Carr voted against, saying Straube had been an outspoken opponent of commercial wind development in the county. Carr had moved to appoint Dennis Sande, a retired district conservationist, but that motion failed 1-2.

• Discussed a future agenda item on how to proceed with developing regulations for commercial solar power projects in the county, noting that two companies had expressed an interest. The county currently has no rules regarding commercial solar, so it is not now a permitted activity, Carr said.

• Designated the Charles City Press and the Nora Springs-Rockford Register as the official county newspapers for county legal publications.

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