Supervisors hear updates on fair, ambulance service and road project

The Washington County Board of Supervisors heard a lot of news about the Washington County Fair when it met in regular session Tuesday, Jan. 21 at the courthouse in Washington. Supervisor Richard Young was absent.

Several members of the Washington Fair Board were on hand to make a budget request from the supervisors asking for $40,550, the same as last year's allocation. They reported that in 2019 the fair had fair income of $155,930 and non-fair income of $194,092, primarily from the rental of buildings on the fairgrounds. Expenses were $132,632 related to the fair and $93,614 unrelated to the fair. Fair attendance was down this year due to hot and stormy weather. This year's attendance total was 10,648, down from the 2018 total of 13,196.

Even though Washington County is the 27th largest county in the state, its 4-H program is the seventh largest in Iowa with 366 young people participating in 17 clubs and 61 volunteers helping to administer the program.

In 2019, 1,819 young people participated in Washington County Extension programs. The state average is less than 1,000. The total student population in the county is 3,687 equating to 49 percent of all students participating in Extension programs.

There were 2,307 4-H projects entered in the 2019 county fair, many of them unrelated to livestock as more and more 4-H members come from off the farm.

Looking ahead to the 2020 fair, the 911 memorial display, which was popular at the 2018 fair, will return for three days and several new entertainment acts have signed contracts already.

Among the capital improvement projects completed in 2019 or underway now, $80,000 was spent upgrading the campgrounds, $24,000 was spent on phase one of building a Memorial Garden and work on a $500,000 cattle barn is expected to be completed by the time of this year's fair.

Ambulance Service

Supervisor Jack Seward Jr. reported that the Ambulance Committee continues to meet and that a separate committee is interviewing candidates for director of the new county ambulance service. The Ambulance Committee is discussing budgets, obtaining a National Provider Identifier (NPI) number and other issues, he said.

Premier I Supplies Road Project

The Supervisors approved several documents finalizing an economic development pavement project to extend a paved road to Premier 1 Supplies. The $2,250,480 project was initially approved by the supervisors last summer. The Iowa Department of Transportation will provide a $250,000 grant to help fund the project leaving a $2,000,480 balance. Premier 1 Supplies has agreed to pay up to $1,000,000 of the remaining cost with the county paying the rest.