The Greene County Board of Supervisors met yesterday in regular session.
The Board heard an update from Deb McGinn with the Tower View Team (TVT) and Jefferson Matters: Main Street (JMMS). On June 6th from 2-4pm will be the reveal of the rooftop art on the north side of the downtown square. The public can go to the top of the Mahanay Bell Tower to see the art display for free on that day. She requested using a tent for the event and the Supervisors gave her permission to do so. Other plans for TVT are putting together a project for the Pedaler’s Jamboree over Labor Day weekend with yarn on bicycles. McGinn noted that they will have a silent auction for those items with the money to be used to create an alphabet-themed alleyway on the west side of the square.
McGinn gave an update on the market analysis study for JMMS. She said the first phase was gathering data about the downtown district with surveys. They received 87 businesses, 273 online surveys and 103 random surveys taken inside businesses were collected. McGinn said they are now in the second phase, which is to analyze their data and how to implement some of the suggested changes.
Next, Andrew Sorenson, a Greene County citizen, spoke to the Board about environmental issues. He suggested that the Board plant some new trees on the courthouse square, due to age of some of the trees and some are ash trees. He thought that the County could get a jump on planting new trees before the Emerald Ash Borer is found in the County and all ash trees would have to be cut down. He also talked about installing water pump windmills in the alleys of each city in the County. He said the reason is because if there is a power outage of more than a couple of hours, the water-powered electricity could be used on a short-term basis.
Chris Henning asked the Board if Greene County Farmer’s Market could use the eastside of the courthouse grounds from 3-7pm on Tuesdays for the weekly farmer’s market that starts the first Tuesday in June. The Supervisors gave her permission to do so and have access to the courthouse from the east side entrance.
The Board then set May 26th at 9am as a public hearing for an amendment to the 2015 fiscal year budget. The Board also approved the County Recorder’s report of fees for April of $13,393.68.