Government : Benton County Supervisors Meeting notes 6/28/24

Last Friday the Benton County Supervisors met in a special meeting to approve a quote from Tyler Technologies for computer equipment for the Auditor's Office. All three supervisors were present Rick Primmer, Tracy Seeman and Gary Bierschenk.

Seeman made a motion to approve the minutes, Primmer disagreed as there were too many details given in the minutes. Only resolution and action items are to be included. The motion was amended to include only the above. Motion carried.

Discussion began concerning the software for the Auditor. Seeman only had one issue and that was taken care of. The quote was approved until July 12, 2024. There was some discussion among the supervisors and IT Ben Turnis concerning internet reception at the various locations. Seeman made a motion to go with the program. HR Director Sue Wilber arrived at the meeting and interrupted asking if they got the email about all the questions that she had. The supervisors acknowledged that they had. Bierschenk seconded the motion and the vote carried.

There was discussion and approval of a FY 25 transfer of funds and FY 25 Interfund transfers concerning local sales tax (L.O.S.T. funds) transfers to Secondary Roads, and General Basic and Interfund from General Basic to Secondary Roads and Rural Services to Secondary Roads and General Basic to Conservation.

Bierschenck made a motion to approve Resolution 24-65 for Operating Transfers General Basic, Secondary Roads, of $295,264 and Rural Services Basic Secondary Roads $3,360,768 General Basic to Conservation Land Acquisition $200,000. Seconded by Seeman. Motion carried.

Bierschenck made a motion to approve Resolution 24-66 Interfund, for a transfer of funds from the Local Option Sales Tax (L.O.S.T.) to Secondary Roads, $267,500 L.O.S.T to General Basic $65,000 seconded by Seeman, motion carried.

A resolution approving Handbook Revisions was approved. Changes were proposed that were discussed at the last meeting concerning mileage reimbursement mentioned in 2.7 of the Handbook. The last meeting article notes can be seen HERE.

Historic Preservation Office Space and storage area was discussed. Robert Spangler requested that a new location be found for the department. Citing 100 year old paperwork and the fear of damaging the papers. Seeman suggested using moveable walls to section part of the Supervisor's room off for them to use.

A Fireworks Permit for Watkins Community Athletic Association for July 6, 2024 was approved.

Approval was given for a check for Medical Examiner registration fees for $875.

A lengthy discussion was held concerning the computer software for the HR Department. Wilber did say that she got a discounted final cost of $31,000 as the yearly subscription.She had budgeted $45,000. Seeman had issues with the proposed HRIS (Human Resources Information System) System.Wilber rehashed that the system will be separate from the payroll system of the Auditor's Office and how the job applications are not going through for those applying.

Bierschenk asked how many counties around us had something similar and she said that no counties around us have it. He asked what Linn County used, but Wilber wasn't sure. He also asked if the amount will be the same for next year, and she said it would. Wilber will be in charge of granting permissions to each department as needed.

Tippett asked if it was on a server but it will be stored on the Cloud. Turnis, asked if it was stored in the United States and Seeman said from what he read that it was.

There is a monthly payment plan that will begin September 1, 2024.

Seeman said that he'd like to see more information about the contract agreement, he believes that it is not in the documents that were shared with the Supervisors. The program operates out of San Francisco.

When Primmer suggested tabling it to find the answers, Wilber reminded them that she got a 40% discount that expired on June 30. She said that she can use it for 60 days to see if it works as promised. If not she said they can get out of it and get their money back. Seeman then asked, if she got a 40% discount does it jump up to $52,000 next year. Wilber assured them that it only goes up 3% each year and no more than 5%.

Bierschenk said that he thought that there's a little "smoke," explaining if they started with a 40% "discount" yet they are only going to increase each year at 3%, "something's goofy." Primmer jumped in and clarified that they are only providing a service and not hardware.

Seeman was still stuck on the terms and agreement.

Doug Cook interjected that changes in the next year will be fees for any changes. Primmer said that is commonplace. Cook asked if she'd know it up front.

After nearly a 40 minute explanation of why the board should approve the purchase, Seeman continued to read the fine print and Bierschenk made a motion to accept the purchase with Primmer seconding the motion after Seeman declined to give a second. The motion passed with only Primmer and Bierschen voting in favor of the program and Seeman voting no.

Reports:

Seeman reported that he had two meetings, one with East Central Iowa Housing Trust Fund and ECICOG meetings.

He also had a meeting with RACOM concerning the towers and said that they were finishing up. Sheriff Ron Tippett, said that they are coming upon the going live date quickly. Seeman reported that the final cost will be $200,000 more than anticipated bringing the total to $7,250,000 or $7,260,000. He said there were three issues. They had to put extra guide wires on the top of three towers. Tippett reported that Secondary roads has tested the towers with their handhelds and they are very impressed and Seeman said they should get their radios this week.

Bierschenck reported that he had a meeting with Mental Health and that they were within 3.89% of their total budget at $27,900,674.00. He said that the state is changing things up reducing the size of the board. Next year the board will go away with a reset, but they are unsure how it will be reset. He expects that it will go back to how it was previously set up. Tippett said that he believes that they want to equalize services across the state. Tippett said that because of where we are geographically, we have better services.

Primmer would have had a Juvenile Detention meeting at the same time. Bierschenk asked how many we had in the Juvenile system. The Auditor's office reported that there have been bills for one person, but Primmer said that they had been transferred out.

Wilber reported that the Safety Committee met and had a report from Holmes Murphy did a walk-through of all the departments and found a few issues that can easily be corrected.

The meeting was adjourned.