Board of Supervisors sets January 31 as public hearing for approval of frac sand mining moratorium, considers new mental health region

by Bob Beach

During its regular meeting Monday, January 14, the Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met with County Zoning Administrator Tom Blake, who presented the Board with an ordinance to impose a moratorium on frac sand mining. Blake said that the proposed ordinance was drafted by Karl Knudson, the attorney for the Allamakee County Protectors citizens group, and had been reviewed and revised by Allamakee County Attorney Jill Kistler.
The proposed moratorium would go into effect after its passage, approval and publication and would remain in effect until July 1, 2014. The Board set Thursday, January 31 at 6:30 p.m. in the large courtroom at the Allamakee County Courthouse as the date, time and place for a public hearing on the proposed ordinance.
The Board also met with Bob Lincoln, the administrator for County Social Services (CSS), a region under the ongoing regionalization of state mental health and developmental disabilities services. Lincoln said that CSS, currently comprised of 18 counties, operates under a 28E agreement with a board comprised of one Supervisor from each of the member counties. Lincoln said that CSS currently has 400,000 “covered lives,” but that there is no legislative limit on the size of a region. How much larger the region could become, Lincoln said, is “a question of logistics and local control.”
Lincoln went on to explain that CSS functions as a “network” that reassembles the resources of member counties, with operating costs not covered by Medicaid essentially shared by member counties. Decisions about what services are needed by individuals will continue to be determined at the county level, Lincoln said.
Asked by Supervisor Sherry Strub how Allamakee County would go about joining CSS, Lincoln said that while the current board had determined that the region is large enough, it had adopted a policy statement to include counties that “make sense.” He added that Clayton County has made a formal request to join CSS, and if that request is approved, it would make sense to add Allamakee and Winneshiek Counties as well. The Board will hold a special meeting Thursday, January 18 at 9:30 a.m. to consider making a formal request to join CSS.
The Board also heard funding requests from Northeast Iowa Community Action Corporation (NEICAC) and the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative. Representing NEICAC, David Boss said that NEICAC served over 2,000 individuals in Allamakee County in 2012 by administering numerous programs, such as Head Start, weatherization, public transit, family planning, low-income heating assistance and others. Boss added that NEICAC programs had brought over $1.3 million into the county in 2012 and over $18.8 million over the past sixteen years. Boss requested a $51,637 contribution from the County for 2013. Last year, the County contributed $4,000 to NEICAC.
Teresa Wiemerslage, representing the Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative, said that the program has been working over the past five years to improve the health and well being of children in six northeast Iowa counties. Wiemerslage said that the group’s core partners - Luther College, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Northeast Iowa Community College and Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission - have been working together to promote school wellness, active living and streamlining food systems to meet the growing demand for locally grown foods. She said that the Food and Fitness Initiative is now hoping to add county governments as partners, requesting a 65 cent per capita contribution, which for Allamakee County comes to $9,400.
The Board will consider both funding requests during budget planning over the next several weeks.
In other business, the Board appointed Jane Regan to serve on the Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission and approved Emergency Management Director Chris Dahlstrom as its proxy on the Northeast Iowa Response Group. The Board also signed a proclamation declaring January to be National Mentoring Month in Allamakee County, set February 4 at 9:30 a.m. for bid letting for a bridge replacement project at Ash Acres and accepted and placed on file the Recorder’s and Auditor’s quarterly reports.