Iowa County supervisors hear FY22 ambulance report

Work on V66 continues, and Iowa County Engineer Nick Amelon told the Iowa County Board of Supervisors he'd had a lot of positive comments about it.

At the July 21 meeting, Amelon said the company would be painting stripes on Thursday of this week, however they wouldn't be working on July 28 because of RAGBRAI traffic. The Iowa County Courthouse will be closed that day as well.

Road crews regraded the first mile of 190th Street, however Amelon explained it still needed rock. Crews also stockpiled rock at the Parnell shed. Dust control has all been released.

On the agenda for the week was a new subdivision that requested approval. Amelon kicked the discussion off by telling the board he believed they were 40-acre divisions and would all be owned by family. While no one attended the meeting to explain, he was able to call someone who could explain the subdivision more fully. The land will still be farmed, it will just have different owners. A representative for the family will attend the next meeting.

Adam Rabe, ambulance director, gave his monthly update. Iowa County Ambulance service had 1,769 dispatched calls in Fiscal Year 22. The average by month was 141.25 calls. June of 2023 had 138 calls and May of 2023 had 169 calls. The department ended the year $92,774 under budget for expenses, and over budget on revenue by $145,246.

July has been busy for the department with coverage at Independence Day events and the Iowa County Fair and will continue with coverage for RAGBRAI in both Marengo and Amana. The Supervisors approved the changes to the blood-borne pathogens policy, which eliminates the county's Public Health Department as a location to perform the Hep B vaccine. Rabe explained to the board that those vaccines are usually done after an incident and usually at the hospital. The approval also asked that the cost for these tests come out of the county's Safety Department budget.

There was a brief discussion about having a random drug screen testing policy for all drivers in the county. Rabe asked the board if they did make the change, should they include all county employees. Some departments already have random drug testing, such as Transportation. He told the board he would bring something back to them in August after he gets it written up.

In other business, the board approved a Bible study group to use the county courthouse lawn to read the Bible out loud from beginning to end. This group has done this several years in the past. The board decided to wait until the next meeting to discuss the Pioneer Cemetery building sale.