Supervisors honor outgoing Contner, initiate new officials

By Rick Morain
Jefferson Herald

The Greene County Board of Supervisors Dec. 27 by resolution commended retiring supervisor Tom Contner for his years of service to Greene County. The resolution stated the following:

“Be it resolved that the Greene County Board of Supervisors commends Tom Contner for his 12 years of service as a Greene County Supervisor. Tom’s dedication and commitment to Greene County and its citizens is hereby noted and will long be remembered.”
The resolution was adopted unanimously, with Contner abstaining.

Prior to the resolution, deputy auditor and notary public Billie Jo Hoskins administered the oath of office to county officials elected in November: supervisors Dan Benitz and Dawn Rudolph, county recorder Deborah McDonald, county treasurer Katlynn Mechaelsen, and county attorney Thomas Laehn. Their new terms begin January 1. Benitz succeeds Contner in that supervisor district, while the other elected officials are all incumbents.

OTHER NOTABLE ACTION

• County real estate and tax coordinator Pam Olerich presented the county’s taxable valuations for the year starting Jan. 1, 2022. Rural valuations in the county increased by 3.58 percent, while urban valuations declined 1.92 percent.
Also present was county assessor Adam Smith, who explained changes made for the next fiscal year to commercial and industrial properties and railroad properties. Business property tax credits are eliminated next fiscal year, with the first $150,000 of value on those properties to have the residential rollback percentage applied, and those amounts higher than the $150,000 then to have the 90 percent rollback applied.

• The board adopted the construction evaluation resolution required annually by the state should a county choose to participate in the master matrix process for certain confinement feeding operations. Adoption of the resolution allows the county to make recommendations to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) regarding construction permit applications for proposed confinement feeding operation structures in Greene County. The resolution was provided to the board by Chuck Wenthold, county zoning officer and sanitarian.

• County attorney Laehn provided the board with a form to be filled out by organizations applying for funding from the county. The information will be used to help write a joint 28E agreement for any funding provided to organizations that are not part of government, such as 503C groups.
County engineer Wade Weiss reported on the days that secondary road crews worked to clear snow since the previous Wednesday.
Four groups presented grant requests for funding from the Louis Dreyfus fund.
They were as follows:

• New Opportunities and the Greene County Family Development Center, represented by Chad Jensen and Teresa Lansman respectively, requested $5,304 for the family development center, $6,679 for the substance abuse treatment program, and $7,608 for the substance abuse prevention program. Those levels are the same as in the current year. No action was taken, pending consideration of the 2023-24 budget after the first of the year.

• Habitat for Humanity, represented by Ron Christensen, requested $5,000, the same level as in the current year. No action was taken.

• Jefferson Matters: A Main Street & Chamber Community, represented by Jamie Daubendiek and Matt Wetrich, requested $7,000 for the Main Street organization and $5,000 for the Bell Tower Festival. Current funding from the county is $5,000 for Main Street and $3,000 for the festival. No action was taken.

• The request from the Grand Junction Library was for funding to update the facility’s lighting to an LED system. The original lighting goes back to 1990. Cost of the total project is estimated at $7,564. The library is seeking 75 percent of that total ($5,673) from the Greene County Community Foundation and the remaining 25 percent from Greene County. No funding is anticipated from any other source, including the city of Grand Junction.
The supervisors indicated they would like to see some of the funds raised by the library or the city. The board adopted a motion to provide $1,200 in Dreyfus funding to the library, contingent on the library’s receiving a community foundation grant.
Supervisor Peter Bardole was absent from the Tuesday meeting.

The board meets regularly every Monday (unless that day is a county holiday) at 8:30 a.m. in the board room on second floor of the courthouse.