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

During open forum, County Attorney Thomas Laehn said his office is busy due to the backlog of cases that were delayed because of the pandemic.  He mentioned that there is a jury trial that will begin Tuesday and another scheduled for November 2nd.

Also during open forum, the Board discussed installing lighted snowflake decorations in the trees around the county courthouse grounds. The Board agreed to have the topic go through their public art policy before the decorations could be hung. 

County Engineer Wade Weiss also gave an update. He said the Secondary Roads Department is prepping equipment for snow removal, while also finishing up construction and road maintenance projects. He also mentioned that the six damaged bells on the Mahanay Bell Tower from the derecho storm will be repaired with a crane on November 9th and 10th. 

County Information Technology Director Michelle Fields told the Board the courthouse is being re-cabled for the next six weeks, along with installing the security cameras and secured door entrances, as presented by the Courthouse Security Committee, and previously approved by the Board. 

The Board then approved hiring Beth DeMoss as a part-time custodian, effectively Tuesday, with an hourly wage of $16 per hour for 20-25 hours per week. The Board also approved a $51,000 quote from B&W Control Services to handle the brush and weed control for the County’s drainage districts, along with approving a change order of $11,684, a pay estimate of $48,099 and set a completion hearing for November 16th at 9am for a ditch clean-out project in drainage district 187. 

Finally, the Board approved all of its insurance plans for the next calendar year as presented by Group Benefit Partners. There are no plan changes for medical or dental insurance, the County will switch its vision insurance to the Iowa State Association of Counties insurance plan for a seven-percent cost savings, and will switch long-term disability coverage to Mutual of Omaha from Transamerica Corporation.