By Jim Magdefrau

VINTON – Budget work was included in a busy meeting for the Benton County Board of Supervisors, at their meeting Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at the service center in Vinton.

A land use hearing was set for Tuesday, Feb. 6, 9:15 a.m. for Michael and Kristine Rommel, in Section 17, Florence Township.

Gary Benson was appointed to the ECICOG (East Central Iowa Council of Governments) Region 10 Transportation Policy Board.

Robert Spangler and Jimmy Wheeler were appointed to the Benton County Historic Preservation Commission. 

Supervisor Gary Bierschenk was appointed to the North Benton Family Resource Center for HACAP and the Regional HACAP.

A Class B Liquor License was considered for Kimm’s Mini Mart in accordance with Iowa Code 123.30. The business needs health and fire inspections, as well as a DCI background check, according to the code. The county is working to have something in place for applications for liquor licenses. The store is outside of the city limits, so this is done through the county. There was discussion on how this affects Sauerkraut Days. It will be on the agenda for Jan. 16. They are also getting information from the county attorney.

Sue Wilber, Human Resources, reviewed the holiday plan for the county for Presidents Day and Martin Luther King Day, as well as Christmas Eve, and its impact on the sheriff’s office, secondary roads, comp days and half day vacations, plus the impact of the Christmas holiday falling on a weekday and a weekend. Action is planned later.

Budget work

The board reviewed the land use/health department budget with Barb Greenlee.

The board also reviewed budgets for transportation and county recorder. The recorder is budgeting for a 3-percent increase in salaries, following the compensation board’s recommendation.

The board reviewed the supervisors’ budget for the next fiscal year, focusing on insurance and salaries. 

Engineer

Maintainer operator Josh Svoboda was approved as a maintainer operator. 

Two weeks of vacation carryover was approved for Engineer Myron Parizek, to be used by the end of May.

The board signed an agreement for Bridge Replacement Project for L-CE-0028—73-06 on 16th Ave. in Cedar Township. This is on the Bruce/Cedar township line. It will be 30-feet wide. The current bridge is 20-feet wide. 

Public comments

In public comments, Doug Cook had questions for the sheriff and supervisors about the animal complaint filed last month. Supervisor Chairman Richard Primmer advised there is other information coming.

Cook also asked who is on the board of health. Primmer said they could not comment at this time.

Meeting Link