Jefferson bike trail bridge finally reopen

By RICK MORAIN For The Jefferson Herald

Greene County Conservation Director Dan Towers told the Greene County board of supervisors Monday that the county conservation board has appointed Tanner Scheuermann as his replacement.

Scheuermann has served as Boone County conservation director for the past four years. Towers will stay on the job until the end of August to help with the transition. Towers has served as Greene County conservation director for the past 37 years.

Towers also said the repaired Raccoon River Valley Trail bridge south of Jefferson officially opened last Friday after repairs were completed for damages that occurred more than two years ago.

The Jefferson Area Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the bridge site at 4 p.m. Aug. 25.

In other matters, the board approved a request from Region XII Council of Governments for match funding of $25,000 a year in each of fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24 to leverage $1.5 million federal funds for Region XII’s revolving loan fund.

The approval is dependent on similar approval from each of the other five counties served by Region XII. The board’s approval was unanimous.

The board then, in accord with another request from Region XII, agreed to increase the county regional housing trust match to $10,000 a year from the current $5,000 beginning in fiscal year 2022-23, pending approval of the $10,000 match by each of the other five counties served by Region XII.

Vote on that measure was 4-1, with supervisors Dawn Rudolph, John Muir, Mick Burkett and Pete Bardole voting yes and Supervisor Tom Contner voting no. Contner told the Herald he didn’t like Region XII “asking for more money all the time.”

“We got by for years at $5,000. We spend too much money,” Contner said.

The board approved a Mahanay Maestro application from Abigail (Abby) La Pole, age 9. The vote on that measure was 4-1, with Bardole, Burkett, Muir and Rudolph voting yes and Muir voting no. Muir questioned whether young children should be approved to play the bells. The board agreed to consider the current Maestro application form at a future board meeting.

County Attorney Thomas Laehn reported the design work for the third floor magistrate courtroom was discussed last week, with plans to start remodeling work in a few months.

Bardole reported that All American Turf plans to upgrade the courthouse up-lighting at no additional cost.

The board meets regularly every Monday at 8:30 a.m. in the boardroom on the second floor of the courthouse.