Supervisors discuss County Farm lease, mental health, adjusted electricity bills
The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Tuesday, November 25, continuing to deal with the crop land lease for the County Farm. Lynn Stock, one of the bidders on the crop land, spoke to the Board during the Public Comment portion of the meeting, stating that he hoped the Board would "determine a fair price to rent that farm" and be fair in communicating with everyone in the county interested in that farm land.
Board Chairman Larry Schellhammer said that Stock's initial proposal of adding a conservation plan to the farm lease when the bids were first submitted "certainly made us look more closely at the contract," and all agreed that the new contract was certainly a "step in the right direction" in regard to the sustainability of the land.
Later in the meeting, the Board further discussed the crop land bid issue, hearing from Allamakee County Attorney Jill Kistler that she had heard back from only two of the six bidders on the land when she contacted them with the option of withdrawing their original bid under the new lease contract that now included a conservation plan. It was agreed that the lease contract could not be awarded when the bid intentions of the remaining four bidders were not known. The Board agreed to contact each of the remaining bidders within the next week's time, and tabled a decision to award the lease until that contact could be made.
Kim Waters, Allamakee County Coordinator of Disabilities and Mental Health Services, discussed with the Board the agenda for the County Social Services Board meeting hosted by Allamakee County Wednesday, November 26. In going over the agenda, discussion turned to local challenges with finding enough beds for treating or housing individuals with mental health issues, such as suicidal individuals.
The example was brought up of the Mental Health Institute at Independence currently having approximately just 200 beds available when it once had well over 1,000 beds available but has been forced to cut back such services due to federal and state funding limitations. "The circumstances haven't gotten better that you can take those things away," remarked Supervisor Dennis Koenig in regard to the level of treatment needs remaining high but treatment availability having to be scaled back due to lack of funding.
Further discussion also centered around the ability to follow through on treatment and further prevention plans. Chairman Schellhammer questioned whether the Board should pass a resolution requesting an increase in funding, and then urge other area counties facing similar issues to join in making "a little noise" in an effort to address the current challenges faced. Koenig agreed, adding, "Money spent on prevention is better than money spent on a crisis." It was agreed that such a resolution should be placed on a future meeting agenda for consideration.
Allamakee County Auditor Denise Beyer advised the Board of a change in billing status received from Alliant Energy for the Allamakee County Courthouse that could cost the County up to an additional $550 per month. The change in status from "large general service" to "on-demand" billing is the result of concentrated energy conservation efforts throughout the courthouse that occasionally drop the facility's energy usage below the 20,000 kilowatt hours threshold used to determine such a status.
"We went through at least a couple energy audits to find ways to lower our usage and conserve energy, and now it's going to end up costing us more because we don't use enough energy," Chairman Schellhammer said of the seemingly ironic billing change. Beyer said there are only two or three months throughout the entire year when the courthouse energy usage falls below that 20,000 kilowatt hours usage threshold.
Under Department Head updates, Supervisor Sherry Strub advised Allamakee County Emergency Management Coordinator Chris Dahlstrom that discussion at a recent Allamakee County Economic Development meeting centered around a county-wide plan of action in regard to train derailments. Dahlstrom said that area fire departments have received certain hazardous materials training and that overall protocol would be an "evacuation and containment" situation in most cases, with a more specialized hazardous materials team available from Waterloo.
Dahlstrom also said that more specific plans have been left up to the various communities that have railroads running through them, and that he would also put the matter on the agenda for further discussion and consideration at upcoming training meetings he has scheduled.
The final agenda item involved Board discussion with Jean Bossom, Director of Allamakee Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP), in regard to the substance abuse grant she is writing to fund various prevention programs within her department. Discussion included various budget items and the possibility of a cooperative agreement with Helping Services for Northeast Iowa in regard to funding and prevention measures. "By writing this grant ourselves, the Allamakee County taxpayers will see a lot more funding staying in the county to help provide services than what they have the past three years," Bossom noted.
In other business, the Board approved a resolution to remove the agriculture exempt legend from the plat on property owned by Randy and Patricia Troendle of Lansing. The Board also agreed to sign a letter of cancellation for the Gundersen Health Plan for employee health insurance following the recent changes made in that plan and the resulting switch of the employee health coverage to Coventry Health of Iowa.
