Supervisors discuss Tracht Farm, re-designate portion of Highway 78

The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors followed through Monday on last week?s intention and approved supporting the re-designation of a portion of Highway 78 as the Jay N. ?Ding? Darling Memorial Highway.

The county is one of several governmental bodies asked to approve re-designating a portion of Highway 78 as the Jay N. ?Ding? Darling Highway, with the Brighton Chamber of Commerce leading the project.

In other business, supervisor chairman Dick Reed, who serves on the board of Pathfinders Research Conservation and Development, reported the Pathfinders board last week discussed its Tracht Farm.

Clarence and Ruth Tracht of Fairfield donated the 130-acre farm northeast of Fairfield in 1991. According to information on Pathfinders? website, www.pathfindersrcd.org, the farm serves as a demonstration area for habitat development, woodland management and wildlife enhancement. It has wildlife food plots, four ponds and a cabin ? which can seat 20 people for gatherings, has a kitchen and indoor bathroom and has two full-size futons for sleep-overs as well as heat and air conditioning.

?Is it really the charge of Pathfinders to operate the farm?? Reed said was the point of discussion among board members.

?Pathfinders serves six counties, and two representatives from each county are on the board. We spend a lot of time managing the Tracht Farm. It gets rented out for deer hunting during the season. During the next year, we?ll continue discussions about keeping the farm or deciding if it could be better served by another organization, such as Jefferson County Conservation.?

Reed also serves on the Maasdam Barns Preservation Committee and said he?s met with Ron Blair to discuss organizing more events at the barns.

?We want to promote use of the site for activities, groups and events,? he said.

Jefferson County Engineer Scott Cline said Secondary Road crews were able to fill some potholes last week, even though cold weather is not the ideal time, and add rock to some areas. More road salt was moved into the storage facility, and he sees no danger of running low this season.

?The trucks and graders are out working today,? he said Monday.

A road tour for the supervisors after Monday?s meeting was postponed to next week because of the snow cover.

Supervisor Becky Schmitz, who serves on the Early Childhood Board of Jefferson, Keokuk, Washington and Iowa counties, said that board is working to have childcare training more accessible.

Supervisor Lee Dimmitt reported the Southern Iowa Economic Development Association executive director would like to reduce that board?s membership from 24 to 13 people.

?It would still retain its proportion of one-third elected officials, one-third consumers and one-third business people,? said Dimmitt. ?It?s just hard to manage a board with 24 people. The elected official wouldn?t have to be a county supervisor, it can be a school board member, a city council member ? any elected official. So the board of supervisors will probably pull out of the SIEDA board and not fund it.?

Reporting on other committee meetings in the past week, Dimmitt said the Regional Planning Affiliates Area 15, approved $320,000 enhancement funds to the Jefferson County Trails Council, and $204,000 Surface Transportation Program funds to resurface a few blocks of Kirkwood Avenue.

Dimmitt also serves as treasurer for Heartland Group ? Hillcrest for Wapello and Jefferson counties, which provides mental health services. He said the board is weighing options about how services will be delivered with the new state regionalization of mental health care districts.

And, Heartland Group had enough surplus funds available to disburse $25,000 each to Jefferson County and Wapello County.

?This $25,000 goes back into our general fund,? said Dimmitt.