The Greene County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday in regular session.

During open forum, County Engineer Wade Weiss gave an update. He announced that the Secondary Roads Department is going to receive some COVID-19 relief funds from the federal government and allocated by the Iowa Department of Transportation. He said about $260,000 would be allocated, along with additional funding to farm-to-market. 

County Attorney Thomas Laehn said a proposed payment schedule would be presented at next Monday’s Supervisor meeting for the Midland Power Cooperative building to be made into a new law enforcement center. He mentioned the closing date was slated for July 15th.

The Board then discussed a music request for the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower. A request was made to perform four songs on February 22nd at 2:30pm, to celebrate someone’s birthday. The request was made before the Board decided to temporarily suspend music playing on the bell tower. Laehn voiced a concern with setting a precedent of allowing outside groups to make requests, and was unsure about the copyright and music licensing requirements. Following the discussion, the Board agreed to allow the request, due to the Board knowing about the request prior to music being suspended. 

The Board then approved a $1,000 Louis Dreyfus grant application for a garden by the Milwaukee Depot. Jefferson Kiwanis member Bill Raney said the project includes $3,000 for plants and $2,000 for other landscape items. The Kiwanis would donate $1,800 for labor, Greene County Conservation has pledged $1,000 toward the project, and the rest of the funds have been applied for through a Greene County Community Foundation grant. The Kiwanis Club would continue to maintain the garden.

The Board approved the execution of the contract to Dixon Construction to begin repairing the collapsed bridge on the Raccoon River Valley Trail, along with approving the second reading and waiving the third reading for a dust control ordinance, and final adoption the ordinance. 

Finally, the Board discussed the proposed property tax levy rates for the 2022 fiscal year. The combined general basic and supplemental tax levy is proposed to increase by 2.16-percent of total dollars raised to $6.08 per $1,000 of valuation. The proposed rural tax levy would increase by 5.25-percent of total dollars raised to $3.40 per $1,000 of valuation. The Board will set the public hearing for those proposed property tax levies at Thursday’s meeting.