The Greene County Board of Supervisors met yesterday in regular session.
The Supervisors approved an amendment to the Iowa Department of Transportation and the secondary roads department 2015 and 2016 fiscal year budgets. County Engineer Wade Weiss said he added the purchase of a maintainer as an expense for the 2015 budget and added more money to the Road Use Tax Fund for the increase in gas tax money to the 2016 revenues.
The Supervisors also approved the five-year construction program for the secondary roads department. There are three projects slated for the 2016 fiscal year. The Raccoon River Bridge deck overlay project on N-65, Trinity Avenue paving project in Paton and overlay and pavement rehabilitation project from E-39 on N-65 to the Greene and Calhoun County line. There was one projected scheduled for the 2017 fiscal year, which is a bridge replacement project on E-39. For the 2018 fiscal year, there were two projects slated. One is the Parkland Avenue bridge replacement and doing pavement patching projects throughout the County. In 2019, there was one project to resurface and widen the road on E-57 from P-14 to Iowa Highway 4. The final two projects are in 2020 with bridge work on E-63 on Greenbriar Creek and county wide paving patching projects. All projects would cost more than $10.1 million and payment would come from various accounts.
The Board then approved the second reading to amend an ordinance that allows the County and the cities inside it to bid on, and purchase parcels at the annual tax sale, for properties that are delinquent on taxes. These abandoned parcels are assessed as residential or commercial multi-family housing, properties that can be rehabilitated or deemed as a vacant lot. The second reading for an ordinance to authorize the County Treasurer to separately offer and sell properties that are likely to become or are already deemed as public nuisances, was also approved. Jefferson City Attorney Bob Schwarzkopf said several other counties and cities are using this system to expedite the waiting period for government entities to purchase an abandoned property to clean it up and get it back on the tax rolls. A concern was again brought up that this same system doesn’t apply to private individuals, but Iowa Code will not allow an individual to have the same access.
The Board also approved the County Recorder’s report of fees for March of $6,511.46.
During committee reports, Supervisor Dawn Rudolph said the last donation check was given to the Greene County Conservation and Soil and Water Commission for their outdoor classroom by the Mississippi and Missouri Divide-Raccoon River Recreational Development Board.
The Supervisors also addressed a letter from Sac and Buena Vista counties about the nitrite lawsuit and asking for other counties financial support. The Board felt they needed more information since they’ve also been requested by the Iowa Drainage District Association to give financial support last week.