Government

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MEETING March 3, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. Benton County Board of Supervisors Room ** Agenda is not printed in any particular order, only time specific items will be addressed at certain times 1. 9:00 A.M. Call to Order 2. 9:05 a.m. Barb Greenlee Re: Set land use hearing date for Jeffrey & Amy Herbert a part of SW ¼ NW ¼ Sec 28-T82N-R11W 3.

This last week was a good week at the Capitol and a good one for Iowans! As a member of the Agriculture Committee, we passed a bill that will create promote E-15 gasoline usage with an infrastructure program that provides incentives for E-15 storage and dispensing but doesn’t include pumps.The Iowa House passed House File 2383, which requires the University of Iowa Colleges of Medicine and Dentistry to admit at least 75% of the students who are residents of Iowa or have completed their undergrad here in the state.

February 28, 2020After the flurry of committee work last week, the main focus this week was floor debate. Now in the seventh week, the halfway point of the legislative session is rapidly approaching. While many bills passed the whole Senate this week, a significant amount of work remains for the rest of this session. This week Governor Kim Reynolds signed Senate File 2164, the transportation equity bill.

This week, Rep. Tom Gerhold (R-Atkins) welcomed Ray Richardson with the Iowa Firearms Coalition (IFC) to the Iowa House of Representatives. Richardson was visiting the Capitol to advocate for Iowans’ 2nd Amendment rights. Pictured here is Rep. Tom Gerhold (Atkins) and Ray Richardson (Atkins). 

This is my 40th year holding a Q&A in each of Iowa’s 99 counties. My regional staff is also committed to holding meetings across Iowa. My Iowa staff serve as my eyes and ears when I’m working in Washington, D.C.  That’s why they host mobile office hours in every county and attended roughly 1,400 meetings across the state last year. My regional directors tour hospitals, businesses and child care centers.

This last week was the first “funnel week”, which was the last chance to get individual bills out of committee in either the Iowa House or Senate that are not in the Appropriations or Ways & Means committees.Some very important bills that made it are for rural Emergency Medical Services: HF 2224, 2280, and 2434. These will assist local governments in offering these services to their residents, helping counties have the ability to make long-term investments in EMS programs and infrastructure and proposes additional funding to local EMS.

February 18, 2020The Benton County Board of Supervisors met in regular session with Supervisors Primmer, Bierschenk and Seeman were all present. The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. Unless otherwise noted, all actions were approved unanimously.Summarized Resolutions will be available in the Auditor’s office and at: www.bentoncountyiowa.orgSeeman moved/Bierschenk seconded: To approve the minutes of February 11, 2020 and February 13, 2020.

The VMCU and VMEU boards met (Vinton Municipal Communications Utilities and Vinton Municipal Electric Utilities) in their regular meeting last week.Chairman Rich Hainstock opened the meeting with three members Kim Meyer, Rich Hainstock and Mike Barron present and Alan Woodhouse absent.They approved the agenda and approved the minutes, invoices, January Financial Report.

Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship awards Farm to School grants to English Valley, Vinton-Shellsburg, Waukee and Wayne FFA Chaptersowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced today that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship will award Farm to School grants to four of the state’s FFA chapters. The English Valley, Vinton-Shellsburg, Waukee and Wayne FFA chapters will each receive $2,000 grants to grow specialty crops, like fruits and vegetables, which will be served to their classmates through the school’s food service program.