Government : Benton County Board of Supervisor Minutes 11/16/21

November 16, 2021

The Benton County Board of Supervisors met in special session with Supervisors Seeman, Bierschenk and Primmer were present. The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. at the conference room at the Benton County Service Center. Members of the public were provided the zoom access capability to join in during open session and livestream at https://www.youtube.com/bentoncountyiowa. Unless otherwise noted, all actions were approved unanimously. Summarized Resolutions will be available in the Auditor's office and at: www.bentoncountyia.gov ( https://www.youtube.com/bentoncountyiowa)

Diana Richardson and Teri Brennan of Racom, met with the board along with the sheriff and EMA Director Scott Hansen. The purpose of this meeting was to go over the E-911 Radio project and proposed contract with RACOM. The project is broken into 2 parts, one being the Civil which covers the towers, sites, upgrades, generators and supporting equipment. The project will need 5 tower sites for county wide coverage. The county currently has 3 in existence. One of those being outside of Garrison that Benton County is in the process of purchasing from Racom. The others are in Van Horne and Belle Plaine. They have to consider the best locations with the coverage it can handle. They will design equipment based on the engineering. There will need to be 2 new ones, one near Norway and 1 East of Vinton. The current Norway tower site, is near a cemetery, and would need to be granted an exception to house a taller tower than what is there. There are currently regulations for tower placements, and Scott Hanssen was going to inquire on getting an exemption for the Norway tower site located near a cemetery. Officials also discussed the maintenance agreement and other materials relating to this project, and paying for it with Debt Service and utilizing some of the ARP funds.

Primmer moved/Bierschenk seconded: To approve contract with Racom with the term amended as discussed with the first 10% down payment portion to go towards the civil portion using the ARP funds and also allow the Auditor to reach out to an outside firm for further advice using the ARP funds. Motion carried.

Primmer moved/Bierschenk seconded: To adjourn. Motion carried.

_______________________________

Tracy Seeman, Chairman

ATTEST: _________________________________

Hayley Rippel, Benton County Auditor