T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY
During Tuesday morning’s regular meeting, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors approved a certificate of substantial completion on the annex building renovation project at 101 E. Main St. The total cost of the improvements was just shy of $2.4 million.
The Marshall County Board of Supervisors gave the all clear on a two-year annex renovation project that cost nearly $2.4 million during Tuesday morning’s regular meeting on the four-year anniversary of the 2018 EF-3 tornado.
“It was four years ago today that our lives were torn apart with the tornado, but everybody came together marvelously after that. And we’ve had a lot of good things come out of it,” Board Chairman Dave Thompson said at the beginning of the meeting. “Hopefully today will end better than it did four years ago.”
According to County Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson, about $290,000 of the funding for the interior improvements came from insurance, and the rest was paid by the county. Henkel Construction Company, which has offices in Mason City and Ames, served as the general contractor.
“With us signing this certificate, it starts the warranty period on the items that have been installed, and it’s just a way to move forward and kind of wrap up the project,” County Buildings and Grounds Director Lucas Baedke said.
Thompson called it “fitting” that the board approved the substantial completion certificate for the $2,393,883.33 contract by a unanimous vote on the anniversary of the tornado. The much larger courthouse reconstruction project, which is still in progress, is expected to be finished by late fall.
During the public comment period near the end of the meeting, a lively discussion arose about the 911 public safety radio replacement project and the user fees associated with the equipment. Cynthia “Boo” Mansager, the mayor of Melbourne, worried that the estimated access fees of $25 per radio per month — Sheriff Joel Phillips said the average figure across the country is actually closer to $33 per month currently — for eight to 10 years could place a massive financial burden on smaller volunteer fire departments like hers.
“Even for Melbourne, that probably has one of the more rich volunteer fire departments, $25 per radio per month is a large part of their budget,” Mansager said. “Should those access fees go to the departments as opposed to going to the county overall — which all benefits from these radios — there would have to be some consolidation with those departments. Some of those departments simply won’t be able to exist… and that certainly would impact the services and safety of people in the county.”
Supervisor Bill Patten, who spoke first on the issue, said he would like to see more numbers and hard data before sitting down to discuss it and make a decision.
“Otherwise, it’s just one person’s opinion versus someone else’s opinion,” Patten said. “I don’t think we can take a look at it until we have all the figures… Give us another meeting or two.”
State Center Fire Chief Brad Pfantz echoed Mansager’s sentiments and called the characterization that the 911 communication commission was not ready for the supervisors to take action “not completely accurate.”
“We definitely had approval that there would not be access fees, so we can put closure to that part of the equation,” Pfantz said.
Because the topic was covered during the public comment portion of the meeting, no action could be taken.
After a bit of confusion about the order of the motions, the board voted unanimously to approve an Iowa DOT agreement for federal aid swap funding on Bridge F4 on Jessup Avenue over Minerva Cree and a separate motion approving an agreement with Calhoun and Burns for 2023 and 2024 bridge inspections.
Supervisor Steve Salasek attempted to bring three long-tabled items regarding potential American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) expenditures back onto the agenda — one that would create a mental health court in Marshall County at a cost of $229,000, one that would provide $16,099.26 to assist Le Grand with radio equipment acquisition and a third that would provide $17,154.76 to Timber Creek Township for the acquisition of the same equipment. Supervisors Patten and Thompson voted against removing them from the table.
After the meeting, Salasek explained that he felt the items had been on the table long enough, and it was time to make a decision on them.
In other business, the board:
Approved a change of status for Donnie Box from TD2 to TD3 with a new pay rate of $27.75 per hour and a status change for Katie Sharer from full-time to part-time in the treasurer’s office with the hourly pay rate of $17 remaining the same.
Adopted a resolution appointing Maria Vargas-Gonzalez as the assistant auditor and recorder.
Adopted a resolution approving assigning purchase certificates to the city of Marshalltown for three properties within city limits.
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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or
rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.
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