Residents push for gravel road during hearing

A handful of people showed up Monday and changed the outcome at a public hearing held during the regular meeting of Jefferson County Board of Supervisors on a proposed reclassification of sections of Kava Avenue and 115th Street.

The supervisors and County Engineer Scott Cline had visited these roads in Section 11 of Blackhawk Township previously and decided with little residential traffic there, it would save the county money to reclassify sections of each road from class A gravel to class B dirt.

Charles McCracken, a resident in the area of the roads in question told supervisors he has ground bordering Kava Avenue and 115th Street.

?It?s valuable to me and other residents there to have the road graveled and maintained because nurse trucks, sprayers and other big equipment can turn around at the corner [the T intersection of Kava Avenue and 115th Street],? said McCracken.

?We always send semis to the corner to turn around, it?s the only place big enough. And that keeps big farm equipment off Highway 1.

?If it?s a dirt road and gets rutted, it?s hard to use,? he said. ?I pay $30,000 in taxes per year to the county.?

Bruce Hollander, manager at Golden Furrow Fertilizer Inc. on 115th Street just west off Highway 1, said the section of 115th Street under discussion is used every day.

?We pay $17,300 in county taxes annually,? said Hollander. ?That section of road gets used several times each day.

?There?s not a lot of residential traffic there, but fertilizer trucks and more use it frequently and it keeps big-wheeled traffic off Highway 1.

?We?d like to see the road maintained,? he said.

Supervisor Dick Reed said he was glad the people came to the public hearing.

?We need input like this,? said Reed. ?I see the reason now why we do have to maintain the gravel [on 115th Street] down to the T.

?It?s a great deal, keeping that equipment off Highway 1.?

Supervisor chairman Lee Dimmitt amended the resolution to reclassify a portion of Kava Avenue only from class A gravel to class B dirt.

?We?ll not change anything on 115th Street,? said Dimmitt. ?It will remain class A gravel.?

The three supervisors approved the amended resolution.

In other business Monday:

? Cline reported road maintenance throughout the county is ongoing, with crews filling cracks and mud jacking.

Dimmitt told Cline he?d received a constituent call about Marigold Avenue not being bladed in more than a month.

?I also heard from people about Osage Avenue and Glasgow Road and the 214 exchange,? said Dimmitt.

? County treasurer Terri Kness brought a list of 12 mobile homes that no longer exist and to clean up the tax rolls she requested the supervisors approve abating taxes on the mobile homes.

?When a mobile home is removed, the county is supposed to be notified each June,? said Kness.

?These are mobile homes that slipped through the cracks,? she said.

The mobile homes have been gone for several years but not removed from the tax rolls.

?If there was a way to collect on any of these, they are not on this list,? she said.

Supervisors approved abating the taxes as requested.

? The Early Childhood Board of Jefferson and Keokuk counties is transitioning to include Iowa County.

?We?ve had good luck with Pathfinders [Resource Conservation and Development Area Inc.] and they were the low bidder [to provide services] and it looks like funds will be cut significantly,? said supervisor Becky Schmitz, representing Jefferson County on the Early Childhood Board.

?We?re making progress and the transition should be complete sometime in the fall,? she said.

? Reed reported the county law enforcement center, now 10 years old, has been spruced up with staff donating time to paint walls.

?The air handlers on the roof need work and some concrete needs replacing,? he said.

? Reed said he?s met with the manager at Southeast Iowa Multi-County Solid Waste Agency landfill, who is researching how far in the future to plan.

?Someone wants to sell property up there [in Richland],? said Reed. ?We have capacity for another 40 years. How far ahead do we need to look? We can afford to buy the land, but do we need it? I think we?ll always have garbage.?

? Central Point of Coordination, Jefferson County Mental Health Administrator Sandy Stever, brought a contract for fiscal year 2013 with St. Luke?s Hospital in Cedar Rapids for approval.

?The hospital had a change in personnel and this contract didn?t get signed,? said Stever. ?The state requires a contract with a hospital with psychiatric services within 100 miles.?

In practice, the county sends clients to whichever psychiatric services hospital has an opening.

Supervisors approved the ongoing contract with St. Luke?s Hospital.