Supervisors review County's ATV Ordinance, approve replacement vehicle purchase for Sheriff's Department; Approval also given, although not unanimously, to use contingency funds for finishing work on mezzanine area of Public Safety Center
by Joe Moses
The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, January 16 to address a variety of topics including the review of the County's ATV ordinance, consideration of purchasing a motor vehicle for patrol use by the Sheriff's office and the consideration of Public Safety Center items. There were no public comments.
Due to icy road conditions and a winter travel advisory, three agenda items were not addressed due to several individuals not being in attendance. The Helping Services Fiscal Year 2018 funding request, Library updates and discussion of County library funding, and the Northeast Iowa Community Action update and Fiscal Year 2018 funding request were acknowledged but not addressed at the meeting.
The review of the County's ATV ordinance was discussed, with Allamakee County Engineer Brian Ridenour providing feedback on the first year of the ordinance being in effect by commenting that few complaints were received and that he does not have any suggestions for changes. Allamakee County Recorder Deb Winke advised that ATV/UTV renewals are up and that many copies of the ordinance have been provided to the public by her office.
Allamakee ATV Club President Chip Lamb discussed some changes to the ordinance that the ATV Club has discussed and would like to propose. Lamb indicated that ATV usage on hard surface roads would be beneficial in accessing some communities and in accessing the nearest approved gravel road. Lamb discussed that the February 1 to December 1, sunrise to sunset time of operation should be changed to year-round to accommodate ATV usage in December and January, with deer hunting season being a time when ATVs are needed in going to and transporting game, and with sunrise to 10:30 p.m. providing additional hours of operation with sunset being earlier due to daylight savings time. Lamb discussed that ordinances on the State level were written prior to ATVs and UTVs, with State ordinances addressing snowmobiles and golf carts, but not ATVs.
Bob Hager and Iowa House District 56 Representative Kristi Hager were present and provided suggestions and feedback on the ATV ordinance. Board Chairman Schellhammer, Supervisor Dan Byrnes and Supervisor Dennis Koenig were in agreement that changing the ordinance to year-round would likely not be a problem, with hours of operation being negotiable. Schellhammer indicated that approval is not likely for traveling through State Forest roads.
Secondary Roads transfers were approved with $8,487.12 from the General Fund and $104,548.79 from the Rural Fund. Quarterly reports from the Relief Office, Auditor, Recorder, Planning and Zoning and Sheriff's Offices were accepted and placed on file.
Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick was present for the discussion and consideration of purchasing a motor vehicle for patrol use for the Sheriff's office. Mellick advised that bid requests were sent to area dealerships for a half-ton, four-wheel drive crew-cab pick-up. Mellick discussed that Torkelson Motors was low bidder at approximately $28,900, which was his recommendation. Mellick advised that this vehicle will be replacing a 2010 Dodge Charger which will be placed up for sale when the new vehicle has arrived. The Supervisors approved the purchase through Torkelson Motors as low bidder.
John Hansen and Jeremy Oden with Midwest Construction Consultants provided an update on the Allamakee County Public Safety Center construction project. Hansen indicated that there have been some minor weather-related delays but his goal is to have contractors finished with work in March, with electricians working on the facility up to the May 1 E911 transfer date and open house shortly before. Hansen discussed two change orders, and provided a cost recap and contractor pay requests that were approved by the Supervisors.
Mellick, Hansen and the Supervisors discussed future expansion plans for the Public Safety Center. Hansen proposed finishing the mezzanine area with total bids of $206,711, which would finish an existing section of the building using contingency funds, eliminating the need for a future expansion. This would leave $102,000 of contingency funding for the remainder of the project. The remaining contingency fund was discussed with Hansen indicating that additional contingency funds are not likely to be needed at this point with the project on track for completion and within budget. Byrnes and Koenig voted to approve the expansion of the upper mezzanine area with costs not to exceed $207,000, with Schellhammer voting nay to indicate the Board's concern about the cost moving forward. The measure was approved.
