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

The Board heard an update of the County’s health insurance plan with Sandy Scheuermann.  She told the Board that through May comparing last year to this year, the County had a $71,000 decrease in claims.  She also said that she is currently talking with Wellmark BlueCross and BlueShield about covering over-the-counter medications that were covered by First Administrators.  Since First Administrators is no longer in business, the County officially switched to Wellmark starting in June.

The Board decided to not use Louis Dreyfus Funds to help pay for the Scranton Manufacturing expansion project.  Chair John Muir voiced concerns about allowing them to use those funds to help private businesses, what’s to stop other businesses from doing the same thing?  However, there is no stipulation in the guidelines of how to use the funds except for whatever the Supervisors deem is a worthy project.

Muir said they’ve always used the Dreyfus Funds for non-profit projects.  All other Supervisors agreed with concerns and vice-chair Guy Richardson pointed out that he thought that by using those funds, they would get a return on their investment with long-term effects, which Muir agreed, but stated that other businesses can do that too.

The Supervisors agreed to commit $10,000 to the expansion project, but will need to determine a source of funding at a later date.

The Board also approved the 2015 fiscal year insurance budget with MacDonald Insurance.  Joan St. Clair said that there were no changes made to their current plan going into the new fiscal year.

Due to the absence of Sheriff Steve Haupert, the Board tabled the discussion about wages and salaries with his office to next week.

County Engineer Wade Weiss updated the Board about a leakage problem in the Mahanay Bell Tower.  He said that when the tower was built, there was no sealant in any of the poured concrete panels and there has been significant breakdown of the material to the point where it needed to be fixed and he also recommended getting spike strips to put around the bell frame and top of the tower to deter recent large numbers of turkey vultures from being on the structure.  He also brought up a problem with the two stain glass domes.  Weiss recommended that the Board fix the stain glass domes before they cave in on anyone due to the age of the materials.  The estimated cost for that project would be about $200,000.  The Board didn’t officially act on any of the issues.

One final discussion took place about the Grand Junction Community Center.  Weiss said the committee are applying for a Vision Iowa Grant through Region XII.  He believed that the committee would be asking for help from the County with the project.  The Board felt that they could have the Secondary Roads Department go over and help remove any debris from demolition of the current building or bring in dirt, but didn’t commit to anything until an official proposal was done.

During the open forum, Jefferson Matters: Main Street Program Director Alan Robinson invited the Board to a regional Main Street workshop for business retention and business recruitment on Wednesday, July 23rd.