Government : Minutes of Supervisor August 4th Meeting

August 4, 2010

The Benton County Board of Supervisors met in regular adjourned session with Supervisors Buch, Vermedahl, and Sanders present.

Chairman Sanders called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Moved by Buch, seconded by Vermedahl, to approve the minutes of July 20, 2010. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

(The minutes had been tentatively approved earlier with some corrections to be made)

Moved by Vermedahl, seconded by Buch, to enter into a lease agreement between Benton County and Garling Construction, for a garage to house transportation buses. The agreement is a one-year lease at $210.00 per month. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

Mary Halstead, Transportation Director, spoke to the board regarding Medicaid eligible services and the amount of documentation that will be required to be filed.

Halstead advised that with school starting that scheduling of transportation services is becoming more problematic. Halstead indicated that an additional part-time driver might help to resolve some of the scheduling issues. Halstead requested a change in employment status of Rhonda Westergard from part-time to full-time.

Sanders questioned what impact it would have on transportation’s budget. Halstead replied that she did not have figures prepared but that it may reduce the hours needed for part-time drivers. Halstead advised that there would be no change in the hourly rate and that Westergaard is currently working approximately 3 days a week.

Halstead also stated that it is difficult to budget bus repair expenses as there are always unknowns.

Vermedahl stated that he has no doubt that Westergaard would be very good at office work, but would rather see the financial impact on the transportation budget prior to taking any action.

The auditor stated that Halstead should check with the county attorney to determine if the position would have to be advertised in order to comply with legal requirements for veteran’s preference, etc. No action was taken.

Moved by Vermedahl, seconded by Buch, to acknowledge the receipt and filing of the annual manure management plan filed by J & R Pigs, LLC for the facility located 1840 69th Street, Keystone, Iowa. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

Moved by Vermedahl, seconded by Buch, to acknowledge the receipt of the annual manure management plan filed by Jeff and Darla Kromminga for the facility located at 1652 72nd Street, Keystone, Iowa. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

Representatives of the City of Norway met with the board and the county engineer regarding the repairs and maintenance of Florence Street. Florence Street is currently owned in various parts by both the county and the city.

The engineer agreed that the county was responsible for participating in the costs and maintenance of the road.

Norway requested that the county participate on a 50/50 basis for the repairs and to increase the county’s maintenance efforts in cooperation with the city.

The county and the city were in agreement that the county should participate as requested.

Moved by Buch, seconded by Vermedahl, to approve the utility permit requested by Van Horne Coop Telephone Co. to place cable in the county’s right-of-way in Union and Eldorado Townships. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

Trent and Kurt Packingham of Cloud Peak LLC met with the board regarding the assessment classification of their property. The property is located in the BECCA Park in the City of Urbana and was classified as agricultural property but is now classified as commercial property resulting in an increase in property taxes.

Trent Packingham explained that Cloud Peak LLC was a family-owned business and that his family currently owned and operated Acro Manufacturing in Cedar Rapids. Packingham stated that the company was looking to expand and had purchased the property in Urbana in 2008 with those intentions.

The company had planned to build a plant and hire approximately 55 employees; however with the downturn in the economy those plans had been placed on hold. Packingham stated that his company ships worldwide and had been in business for 50 years. Packingham went on to explain that the property was purchased with the understanding from the seller’s representative that the classification would not change until actual development was started.

County Assessor Larry Andreesen stated that no one from the County had told Packingham that the property would not change classification and that he, the assessor, was required to look at the intended use of the property when determining the assessment class. The assessor stated that the sale of the property triggered review of the value and classification and that he considers the zoning in the area, other sales as well as the amount of sales when making his determinations. The assessor went on to explain that he has tried to use discretion as to the timing of the classification but that he is required to follow the current regulations.

The board of supervisors expressed concern regarding the matter; however they had no statutory authority to change the classification or abate any of the tax bill.

Packingham stated that he is getting rent for the property for agricultural use and that it was unreasonable to be charged the commercial tax on land that is being farmed.

The assessor reminded Packingham that a change in assessment notice had been sent to him regarding the change in classification and value change earlier and that proper procedure would have been to appeal the change to the Board of Adjustment. The assessor stated that Packingham could meet with the Board of Adjustment in the spring of 2011, when they convene again, to try and get the assessment changed.

The assessor questioned the ability of industrial tax abatement or tax increment financing to assist Packingham. The auditor explained that Benton County has no programs available as the property lies within the city limits and that she had invited Chris Justice, Urbana City Administrator, to the meeting. Packingham stated that the seller had told him that there were no economic incentives available from the City of Urbana relative to their development.

Justice stated that the information provided to Packingham was erroneous as Urbana does offer quite aggressive incentives; however those incentives provide the best value if implemented at the time development starts.

The assessor stated that after speaking with Packingham, it was his opinion that the property could be changed to an industrial classification instead of the commercial, which would result in a lower tax bill in the future. However, the assessor could not change the classification or taxes currently being assessed or for the following year as though files had been certified to the auditor.

County Auditor Jill Marlow stated that if it was the opinion of the assessor that the property would be more accurately classified as industrial that she would accept and process a request from him to adjust the taxes and the classification for the 2009 and 2010 tax years.

Moved by Buch, seconded by Vermedahl, to authorize the chair to sign an easement between Benton County and the Iowa Department of Transportation to place cable under Highway 150, and an easement between Benton County and Joseph and Peggy Schott to place cables under a part of their property described as a strip of land 16 and one-half feet wide located in the South part of Lot 1 and Lot 2 of Block 5 in Fremont, Now Vinton. Both easements will allow cables to be installed from the Kirkwood building to the new law enforcement center. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

Jerry Petermeier provided a brief update on the construction progress of the new law enforcement center and the geothermal well fields.

The board continued discussions on the possibility of offering an early retirement incentive to county employees. Nyhart provided an actuarial study on three different proposals:

Proposal #1 provided that non-elected, non-bargaining employee with 10 years of service between the ages of 58 and 63 could retire and receive $425 per month towards their health insurance premium;

Proposal #2 provided that non-bargaining county employees with 25 years of service between the ages of 58 and 63 could retire and receive $425 per month towards their health insurance premium;

Proposal #3 provided that non-bargaining county employees with 20 years of service between the ages of 58 and 63 could retire and receive $425 per month towards their health insurance premium.

The purpose of the incentive, if offered, is to provide savings to the county. The actuarial study was performed over a period of 10 years for each plan and was based on current employees and their salaries with certain assumptions. The study did not include savings, if any, relative to vacation, sick leave, and other benefits that an employee with more years of service may have earned. The proposals as submitted reflected the greatest savings to the county would be under Proposal #2, with Proposal #1 saving money but not as much as Proposal #2, and Proposal #3 costing the county money.

County Attorney David Thompson requested that Proposal #1 be recalculated using a limited time for employees to enroll, i.e. 45 days, and that the program then be terminated. Supervisor Sanders requested that Proposal #2 be recalculated and limit the positions eligible to participate. Supervisor Vermedahl asked that Proposal #1 also be calculated using the same eligible employees as Proposal #2 and #3.

The actuary did state that he is seeing more companies reducing retirement benefits; however those are companies that offered retirement benefits whereas Benton County currently does not. The actuary also stated that he would recommend that a limit be put on the plan, if adopted, i.e. 5 years or 10 years, to simply allow the county an opportunity to review how the plan is performing and decide whether to terminate or continue it. The actuary stated that he would provide the additional information within the next week or so. No action was taken. Moved by Buch, seconded by Vermedahl, to adjourn. All members voting aye thereon. Motion carried.

_______________________________ Jason Sanders, Chairman ATTEST: _________________________________ Jill Marlow, Auditor