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County will back intersection safety improvements

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Floyd County supervisors agreed at their regular meeting Tuesday morning to send a letter to the Iowa Department of Transportation, supporting safety improvements at an Avenue of the Saints intersection.

They also went into closed session to discuss residential property purchases necessary to make room for a new county law enforcement center, and they handled a variety of routine end-of-the-year budgetary matters in their last regular meeting of the 2017-18 fiscal year.

Brian Wulff had urged the supervisors during a work session Monday to support recommendations that were made in a state DOT safety assessment of the intersection of U.S. Highway 18 and county road T38, also known as Lancer Avenue.

The intersection is the site of an accident in 2016 where Wulff’s son and mother were killed in a collision, as well as numerous other accidents.

Supervisors discussed the idea with County Engineer Dusten Rolando on Tuesday.

Supervisor Linda Tjaden said she wanted to be able to tell the state that the county is doing all it can to address the safety situation.

Rolando said he supports the recommendations, but about 90 percent of them are things that only the state can do.

A recommendation to remill worn-down warning rumble strips on T38 can be looked at, he said, but that road is scheduled to be resurfaced next year if funding is available.

Many of the recommendations are relatively low-cost, Wulff and the supervisors had said Monday, and many have to do with different signage, warning lights or pavement markings.

The supervisors agreed to send a letter to the Iowa Department of Transportation urging it to enact the recommendations in the report. Tjaden said she would like all three supervisors to sign it.

The ultimate solution is to create an overpass or underpass so that T38 traffic doesn’t have to intersect with Highway 18, or create an interchange so that vehicles will still be able to get off and on the freeway from county road T38 but would do so at highway speeds, the state safety assessment said.

Also Tuesday, the supervisors voted to close the meeting from the public and the press to discuss real estate purchase. Such a closed meeting is allowed in the Iowa Open Meetings Law.

County Auditor Gloria Carr, who is the record-keeper for the supervisors, said that after the board came out of closed session it voted to set the fair market value for the property at 111 S. Jackson St. at $74,000, which was the amount it had been appraised for. The property is owned and occupied by Paije Cerwinske.

The supervisors agreed to have Floyd County Assistant Attorney Randall Tilton make an offer for the property of 130 percent of the assessed value, or $96,200, to cover relocation and other expenses. That 130 percent figure is a common amount used in purchases of private property for public uses, Tilton had said previously.

The offer will expire on July 2, Carr said, and the sale would close by Sept. 1.

The house at 111 S. Jackson St. as well as the house at 101 S. Jackson St. will need to be purchased by the county and torn down to make room for the new law enforcement center that was approved by county voters May 1. The block of South Jackson Street west of the courthouse will also be closed for the project.

Carr said an offer on 101 S. Jackson St. has not been determined yet because an appraisal has not been finished. That house is unoccupied and the owners are out of the area.

Also Tuesday, the supervisors:

  • Approved salaries for all county employees for the new fiscal year which begins July 1. Most employees received a 2.615 percent pay increase, the amount that had been approved by the supervisors for most elected officials, although some employees received more or less. Supervisors received a 1.615 percent increase.
  • Transferred funds for various departments to be able to close the 2017-18 budget year or to begin the 2018-19 budget year.
  • Appointed Mary Jo Lacour to fill the remainder of the term for a vacancy on the Floyd County Memorial Hospital Commission.
  • Appointed Dirk Uetz to another term on the Conservation Board.
  • Appointed Chelsey Wood to a term on the Veterans Affairs Commission.

 

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