Allamakee County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday, March 21

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in a brief regular meeting Monday, March 21 to discuss the items on a very short agenda. Before diving into the agenda items, the board heard concerns from Allamakee County Treasurer Lori Hesse regarding a possible air quality issue in the Treasurer's Office. Employees and customers to the office have complained of a strange, unidentifiable odor in the office. Hesse noted that she could not smell anything, and Supervisor Bill Clark also noted that he went up to check things out, and also could not detect any odor.

Hesse told the board that her main concern is that what ever is causing the strange smell could “come back to haunt us in the future”. She noted that she had spoken with zoning administrator Laurie Moody, who has provided Hesse with a list of organizations to contact for air quality testing. Hesse will contact some of these agencies and find out if they have or know of someone who is qualified to check air quality, and she will let the board know her findings.

Deb Winke, Allamakee County Recorder, was present to address the issue of signatures on plats that was brought up by Jack Sweeney at last week's meeting. Winke noted that she had spoken with Allamakee County Attorney William Shafer about the matter, and he was still researching it. Shafer was unable to attend Monday's meeting, but will get back to the supervisors at a later date.

Winke stated that the resolution was passed in 1997, when the Allamakee County Recorder's Office had an instance of a seller who was against a plat on a contract deal. At the time, Winke noted, not all interested parties were required to sign on a plat. She felt that this particular resolution was signed in to allow for all parties of interest in the property to be aware of what is going on. She also stated that she felt the seller should not be able stop a sale, but should be able to be aware of a sub-division.

Under the current system, a buyer who purchases land on a contract can still sell plats, but they can't hand over an actual deed to the property, and they can't have a legal description (for example, Lot 1 of Lot 2, etc.) unless the plat is recorded. There was some discussion as to whether or not there was a way to state that an attempt was made to notify all parties with interest in the property and why the transaction did not go through. The board did not make any decisions, and will wait to hear what the county attorney has to say.

In other matters, the board approved and signed on a $10,000 grant received by Allamakee County Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) from the state of Iowa. Jeremy Strub, ASAP Director, explained that his program receives this grant annually.

Also, a date for a public hearing on the vacation of abandoned roads #63 and #100, located in Section 17 in Union Prairie Township was set for Monday, April 11 at 10 a.m. Allamakee County Engineer Brian Ridenour addressed road embargoes, which the county will be putting in place Thursday of this week. The weight limits will be five-ton/single axle and seven-ton/tandem. Ridenour also addressed the board on hiring back Bruce Colsch as survey party chief. The board approved the hiring.