Government : Benton County Board of Supervisor Notes for 1/14/25

The Benton County Board of Supervisors met in their weekly meeting on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. Ron Tippett and Tracy Seeman were present in person with Bruce Volz attending remotely via phone.

The meeting can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/bentoncountyiowa

The meeting was called to order with the agenda being approved followed by the minutes.

The Board moved to appoint Supervisor's members to the Benton County Compensation Board. The Board moved to appoint Mike Barron, and Steve Williams.

The Supervisors recognized members to the Compensation Board on the behalf of the other elected officials:

Lexa Spiedel, County Recorder - John Yundt

Hayley Rippel, County Auditor - Michelle Schoonover

Melinda Schottmer, County Treasurer - Tressa Walton

Ray Lough, County Attorney - John Ketchen

David Upah, County Sheriff - Charles Garwood

The County Treasurer's Semi-Annual Report was presented to the Board for approval.

-Tippett made a motion to approve the Recorder's Quarterly Report with a second by Volz.

-Volz moved to approve the Veteran Affairs Quarterly Report with a second by Tippett.

-The General Assistance Quarterly Report was also approved with a motion by Volz, and a second by Tippett.
(The reports can be seen below this story.)
Ben Turnis, of the IT Department, discussed an agreement with the county ICIT Tech Team Assessment to assess the technology at the Sheriff's Office. They will look through the equipment, interview staff, see if there are updates that need to be made, and look at the equipment to see if updates need to be made or if there are issues. They will create a report for the county with any issues that they find. The Board agreed and signed the agreement.
The FY25 Budget Amendment Hearing Date was set for February 4th at 9:30 a.m.

FY26 Budget Work

A discussion was held about the upcoming budget. Tippett asked of the board if they'd like to issue a letter to the department heads concerning ideas of what they'd like to see from the departments.

He said he also had calls from employees with ideas on how to do the banking of the sick days. There was a lengthy discussion about how this would work with withholding, taxes and etc.

Under Reports, Seeman reported that he'd attended a meeting with Conservation and roadside management and the plan to seek input from the township trustees.

Hayley Rippel, County Auditor Union Twp trustee, clerk and member of the VanHorne Benefitted Fire stopped in and resigned. There is also a need for a clerk in Monroe township. Seeman said that he would see if he could find someone.

Rippel said that there would be several coming in for a budget request next week including ECICOG, Watershed a representative from ECICOG wanted to discuss the benefits of partnering together.

There was no unfinished Business.

In Public Comments, there was a question about the Urbana Police Department and when it will be up and running again. They will be paying for 12 hours of work.

There was some discussion about how the townships will be submitting a levy. Rippel said that many think that since the EMT levy was passed that the city and township levy would go away, but it needs to remain as part of their budgets. The EMT is an ADDITIONAL levy.

Rippel updated the board on who will be addressing the board next week.

The meeting was adjourned.