Benton County Supervisors weigh what should be in meeting minutes

VINTON — The Benton County Board of Supervisors debated during its June 4 meeting how minutes of meetings should be taken during meetings.

Supervisor Chairman Richard Primmer said Auditor Hayley Rippel did a great job of knocking down the comments and discussion held at the meeting, but he said, “In order to be in complete compliance with our training last week from IPIB (Iowa Public Information Board), they recommended no discussion — no comments, and I would state that needs to be for this current set of minutes and going forward.”

The minutes should have action items with no discussion. Primmer said that Benton County is not the only county that does this.

Rippel added that resolutions are summarized to help with publication costs.

Primmer wondered if any public comments should be added to the minutes if they aren’t public action. He felt they should be omitted.

Minutes were approved with Primmer’s recommendation on deleting comments not related to action items.

Historic Preservation

Robert Spangler of Benton County Historic Preservation met with the board about office needs.

“We got word that we’re being moved out of our office,” Spangler said. “I’m kind of disappointed at the lack of communications. We were never contacted and discussed with anything prior to this.”

Their commission is their historical arm, said Spangler. It does things for them that affect the county and public.

The office is now at the service center in Vinton.

“We do a lot of stuff, and we need our information in one location,” said Spangler.

“ I think we’re an important part, just like any other board commission, and I just want you to really think about that. Think about how the citizens of the county are affected by the work that we do.”

Historic Preservation is working on the courthouse clock, a Sheriff Fry memorial and activities throughout the county. The commission needs a place to do its work and a place to store records, Spangler said.

Primmer said they will try to find a spot for them.

Human resources

An ongoing debate about the human resources department continued June 4 during public comments.

Cara Martin, former Benton County VA Director, read a list of concerns she has about the human resources office.

Christine Herbert talked about the professionalism of the board’s June 28 meeting, HR software, files and records.

Rippel presented information from other county auditors that have human resources and auditors doing the same things.

Wilber talked about the directive to transfer files from the auditor’s office to her office, stating this was decided at the previous week’s meeting.

Rippel asked the supervisors to be respectful, saying, “I had a funeral last Thursday and an election. You’re beating a dead horse. You got legal advice from our county attorney, not the old county attorney who was voted out. So what do you want to do?”

Rippel listed items that her office should be able to keep and what she has requested to keep. She said her office does payroll and asked how was she going to do payroll without the proper documents.

Personnel files are separate from payroll.

Supervisor Tracy Seeman urged supervisors to set a date so they can look at the files.

Rippel suggested after July 1.

This led to a discussion on what is the best practice and what is the law. Rippel said she had advice from the county attorney. Wilber said she was going by advice from legal counsel at the Iowa State Association of Counties.

“All right, let’s stop this,” Primmer said. He told Wilber to get Rippel a copy of the ISAC letter. He added this was not on the agenda so a motion can’t be made.

Wilber went on to say there is a posting for a sheriff’s deputy. She said she has been asked by the sheriff not to be a involved in that process. She said applicants have had problems applying for the position.

Wilber also wanted an update on the transportation fleet with the possible addition of a vehicle for county use. Primmer said he will meet with Sheriff Ron Tippett about it.

Land use

A land use change was approved for Paul and Simon Phillips for land in Section 4, Canton Township, northwest of Shellsburg. They plan a single-family dwelling on two acres.

The land has a Corn Suitability Rating of 66. It is now in hay production. The driveway conforms to county policy.

Other business

The board authorized the chairman to sign a 30-day burn acceptance letter for the e911 Radio Project as explained by Scott Hansen, Benton County Emergency Management Service.

The equipment has been working flawlessly for 30 days with no major issues. The test dates were May 7 to May 26.