Floyd County supervisors review road projects, safety efforts and equipment needs

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors discussed a security plan for the courthouse at the board’s regular meeting Tuesday morning, but took no action.

The board went into closed session for almost an hour, under the Iowa Open Meetings Law exception “to avoid disclosure of specific law enforcement matters, such as current or proposed investigations or inspection or auditing techniques or schedules, which if disclosed would enable law violators to avoid detection.”

When the three board members and county Auditor Morrigan Miller returned to the boardroom and open session, Supervisor Gloria Carr moved, “that we not take any action today on the courthouse security plan until we can get some further topics resolved.” The motion passed 3-0.

Also at the meeting, the supervisors reviewed Secondary Roads Department road and equipment concerns and public safety measures.

County Engineer Adam Miller said he would like to replace a 2012 Volvo wheeled excavator that has cost the county more than $180,000 in repairs – half of that in the last two years.

“In the foreman’s opinion, in my opinion, this thing needs to go down the road,” Miller said. He told the board he was pursuing replacement quotes from John Deere and Caterpillar, and could pay for the purchase within his budget by shifting line items.

Supervisors agreed he could make the purchase decision and report back when completed.

That led to a broader discussion about how much spending authority department heads should have without board approval.

Carr, who became a supervisor in January but who had attended almost every supervisors meeting for the previous 20 years as the county auditor, said many years ago the board had established a threshold for spending of $500 for new equipment that department heads needed to bring before the board.

She said that dollar amount was too low now, but said the board had just given Miller the authority to spend probably a couple hundred thousand dollars without checking back with them on the specific price and model choice.

Carar said she was concerned a level of transparency was going away.

Most of the county department heads – auditor, recorder, treasurer, sheriff and county attorney – are elected officials, but a few department heads, such as the county engineer, report directly to the supervisors.

Carr said she has been “trying to adapt” to what seemed a trend by the other board members for a less formal process, but remained uneasy about major expenses being handled without board review.

Supervisor Boyd Campbell said he wanted to give department heads some autonomy, but proposed a new threshold of $15,000, above which spending should go through the board first. The board agreed to that policy.

Also as part of his weekly report to the board, Engineer Miller said the county will test solar-powered flashing red lights atop stop signs at an intersection on Packard Avenue, after a reported close call.

Each unit costs about $200, and “if they work like we’re hoping … we might go ahead and order some more,” Miller said.

He also said rumble strips will be added at some rural county intersections that don’t have them. County code requires rumble strips be installed when a road is built or repaved, but Miller said for roads that are not planning to be repaved in the next several years he would contact residents who live close to those intersections before installing rumble strips because of the noise factor.

Miller also received permission to begin using a safety education program for his staff through the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities, which would cost about $11,000 per year.

Also Tuesday, the board approved publication of the notice for a county budget amendment to close out the 2024-25 fiscal year, which ends June 30. The budget amendment public hearing will be 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday, May 27, in the supervisor’s boardroom.

End-of-the year budget amendments are fairly routine, to account for changes that have taken place through the year.

Items listed for changes regarding budgeted expenses are:

• Public safety and legal services – wages, fuel, inmate medications, backpay of attorney collection fund and increase in juvenile probation services.
• Physical health and social services – opioid projects.
• County environment and education – conservation equipment repairs.
• Roads and transportation – reduced road clearing expense.

Changes in transfers will be made for correction to funds.

Changes in revenues will be made in use of money and property to account for an increase in interest revenue.