January 6, 2022

Presiding Commissioner Bill Walker called the meeting of the Nodaway County Commission to order at the commissioner’s office. In attendance: Walker, Chris Burns and Scott Walk, associate commissioners and Melinda Patton, county clerk.

Walk made a motion to approve the agenda as presented. The motion passed. Walk made a motion to approve prior commission minutes dated 1/4/2021. The motion passed.

Public comment: none.

Approved: recorder fee report for December 2021.

Requisitions: sheriff to Haug Communications for equipment repair; county commission to MTE for emergency purchase of a server for the sheriff’s department.

The commission hosted the quarterly meeting for officeholders with the following in attendance: Burns, Walker, Walk, Elaine Wilson, Lisa Nickerson, Dee O’Riley, Marilyn Jenkins, Rex Wallace, Randy Strong and Patton. Officeholders gave updates to activities and issues within their respective offices. The next quarterly meeting will be April 7. Also in attendance: Kay Wilson, Nodaway News Leader and Tammy Carter, human resources director.

–Elaine Wilson gave updates on the circuit clerk’s office. She stated her office has hired two new people: Heather Wallace and Ravyn Davis. Wilson discussed a training with OSCA and the City of Maryville that will occur 1-6-22 regarding taking on municipal court.

— O’Riley updated the group on her numbers. She currently has 67 individuals she is working on. She has had one individual pass away and got one new full. O’Riley has two temporary people that will likely go full soon. O’Riley visited each of her wards in 2021.

–According to Nickerson, the recorder’s office recorded 3,925 real estate transactions of which 67 were surveys and three plats; 129 marriage license recordings and gave out 181 certified copies of marriage certificates. The recorder’s office continues to work on back scanning, filing.

–Jenkins stated her office has collected approximately 90 percent of 2021 taxes which is down from 2019 and 2020, although they are still opening mail postmarked by December 31, 2021. On the treasurer’s side, they are wrapping up 2021.

–Strong provided the group with a summary of 2021 statistics. Strong discussed trainings he and his deputies have taken and will be taking to be compliant. The sheriff’s department was awarded the Rickard Trust and will be using it to purchase a side-by-side ATV to meet search and rescue needs. The department is currently fully staffed. Strong also discussed the transition of taking over municipal court and the added duties for his staff.

–According to Rex Wallace, the 2021 assessment is complete and the 2022 assessment sheets were mailed out on December 30, 2021. Wallace discussed phone issues within his office that he would like to seek solutions.

–Patton discussed year end reports and documentation her office is working on. Filing for the April 2022 Municipal Election has closed with the final certification date being January 25. Filing dates for the August Primary will be February 22 through March 29 in the office of the county clerk.

–Commission discussed the road and bridge plans for 2022. Six bridges have been proposed. The county will build one BRO bridge in Jackson Township, which will allow the county to utilize CDBG grant dollars for that bridge. The consolidated 911 has completed one full year in October. The Oversight Board created a sub-committee to look into funding mechanisms to fund the 911 program in the future. The county plans to work on the ramp into the Courthouse in 2022. The commission discussed that they had officially adopted the updated salary schedule and approved a five percent cost-of-living adjustment. Updated handbooks will be ready next week.

Deputy appointments for Christie Swinford, Christy Matthews-Allen, Jessica Whaley, Leona Remus, Sadie Poe, Lorraine O’Donnell and Angie Cordell were approved by the Commission.

Strong discussed the upgrading the server for the sheriff’s office which is under alarm due to failure. The commission advised Strong to speak with the IT tech to get the process started.

The commission spoke with Dan Bozarth, City of Maryville street supervisor, regarding the use of equipment for trail clearing. The commission granted permission.

The budget hearing date for FY2022 has been set at 8:30 am, Thursday, January 27 in the office of the county commission.

Robert Schieber, Washington Township, turned in a request for the county aid program for Road #999.

Josh McKim, Nodaway County Economic Development, stopped in to discuss the PACE – Property Assessed Clean Energy program. Jenkins was invited to sit in on the discussion. The commission is open to learning more about the commercial side of the program, but would not be interested in any residential portion of the program.

Walk made a motion to adjourn for lunch. All in favor.

The commission spoke with Elaine Wilson regarding taking over municipal court. Wilson stated the state will receive $15 per ticket with 30 percent, that is $3, coming to the county. Wilson hopes to find out more information on the process and average numbers at the training.

Andy Abbott, MTE, stopped in to discuss the server within the sheriff’s department. Due to failures on the server, Abbott recommends replacing the server as soon as possible. Walk made a motion for emergency purchase of a Dell server from MTE with software due to multiple failures. The motion passed. The server will be paid with ARPA funds if deemed an allowable expense.

Abbott discussed decisions that would need to be made in order to move forward with connecting the server to necessary offices at the Courthouse. Abbott discussed fiber, strand and switch options that would need to be made as well as talked about the proprietary info, required MULES certification and data security that need to be taken into consideration on this project. Abbott is going to pull together information and present it to the commission at a later date.

The Commission also asked Abbott to proceed in ordering a laptop, software and a printer for the coroner to be paid through ARPA funds if allowed.

Linda Mattson, Northstar Advocacy Center executive director and Meghann Kosman, court/victim advocate and volunteer coordinator, met with the commission to present numbers to make a request for consideration for the FY2022 budget. Mattson also discussed needs the shelter has that might qualify for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

Walk made a motion to adjourn until 1/6/2022.