Board of Supervisors handles organizational business in first two meetings of 2013

by Bob Beach

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors' first meeting of 2013 was held Wednesday, January 2 due to the New Year's holiday. The Board resumed its regular Monday meeting time Monday, January 7.

Wednesday, January 2
The Board's first order of business for the new year was to re-appoint Larry Schellhammer to serve as Chairperson. Sherry Strub was appointed as Chair Pro-tem.
The Board will continue to meet Monday mornings at 9 a.m. with 15 minutes reserved beginning at 9 a.m. for public comments. The Board will revue the County's bills for payment on the second and fourth Mondays of each month and bills must be presented to the Auditor by 12 noon the prior Thursday to be considered.
The Board named The Standard and Postville Herald as the official county newspapers and kept the mileage reimbursement at 40 cents per mile for County employees and the meal reimbursement rate at $8.00 per meal with a maximum of $25.00 per day. The Board also voted to continue offering $5.00 bounties for coyotes and 50 cents for gophers.
Turning to appointments to boards, committees and commissions, Chairman Schellhammer said that he would like to continue to serve on the same boards that he had in 2012, with the exception of the County Farm. New member Dennis Keonig will take former Supervisor Lennie Burke's place on the boards he had served on, with the exception of the E-911 and Revolving Loan Fund boards, on which Sherry Strub will serve. Koening will also serve on the County Conservation Board in the place of Strub and will handle County Farm business in place of Schellhammer. (The full listing of the Board's appointments is included in the meeting minutes, published on page 5B).
The Board also signed a resolution authorizing County Engineer Brian Ridenour to execute the final completion of work on Farm-to-Market, state and federal construction projects.
County Sheriff Clark asked for and received the Board's approval of his deputies, which include Robert Thorsten (Chief Deputy), John Grampovnik, Kevin Bublitz, Barry Olson, Steven Wilkes, Timothy Smedsrud and Reed Kious.
The Board also met with Al Lyon and Laura Olson, who updated the Board on the Thunder in the Park Civil War reenactment planned for June 8 and 9 in Waukon. Lyon said that he hopes the reenactment will become an annual event. Olson said that the total budget for this year is $14,000 and that fundraising is about half way to that goal. She asked the Board to consider a $1,000 donation, which the Board agreed to consider when budget discussions begin.
In other business, Zoning Administrator Tom Blake reported that County Attorney Jill Kistler and Karl Knudson, the attorney for the Allamakee County Protectors citizen group, are still working on a draft of an ordinance to impose a moratorium on frac sand mining operation in the county. Blake said that the ordinance should be ready by January 14, at which time the Board could set a date and time for a public hearing on the ordinance.

Monday, January 7
During its regular meeting Monday, January 7, the Board met with Postville Public Library Director Cindy Berns, who thanked the Board on behalf of all the public libraries in the county for the Board's continued support.
The Board also signed a resolution to use the "master matrix" to evaluate applications for construction permits for large animal confinement operations. Adopting the resolution allows the Board to submit formal recommendations to the DNR regarding such operations in the county; to send county employees along on DNR site inspections; and to appeal DNR decisions regarding construction permit applications. The county's participation in the program also requires applicants for construction permits to meet stricter environmental standards.