[0:01] for two days.

[0:06] » Good morning. I'd like to call this meeting to order for the Blackhawk

[0:09] County Board of Supervisors for September 8th, 2026. Roll call, please.

[0:13] Miss Schwhalder. >> Schwarz

[0:15] » here. >> Paul

[0:16] » here. >> Bryant

[0:17] » here. >> Curtainbach

[0:19] » here. >> Layen

[0:20] » here. Would everyone please join us for a moment of silence as we reflect on

[0:24] today's actions.

[0:38] Thank you. Would you please join us for the pledge of allegiance?

[0:43] » I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

[0:50] for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:56] justice for all.

[1:01] Item one is the agenda received as proposed or as amended.

[1:04] » So moved. >> Second.

[1:06] » All in favor say I. >> I.

[1:08] » I. >> I. Same sign. The agenda is received.

[1:11] Item two is public comments. Is there anyone here today that would like to

[1:14] speak on something that is not on today's agenda?

[1:20] Anyone online?

[1:24] We'll move right on to the proclamations. A is September is hunger

[1:28] action month. Barb Prather Northeast Iowa food bank and perhaps others are

[1:32] here today. >> I was not feeling well today. So I'm

[1:35] Abby Turman. I'm the director of development communications.

[1:38] » Would you were you planning to say speak and say a few words or just the

[1:42] proclamation? >> Did you want to say a few words first

[1:44] and then I'll read it? >> Go to the podium and give

[1:48] » I've never done this one before. >> Well, we're sorry, but yes, you're give

[1:52] your name and your >> You're good. All right. Hi everybody.

[1:55] I'm Abby Turpin. I'm director of development, marketing, and

[1:57] communications at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank. Um, every September is hunger

[2:02] action month. It's a time for us to bring awareness to the community about

[2:05] what a serious problem food insecurity is. I can tell you that currently right

[2:10] now we serve 16 counties and there's over 45,000 people who don't know where

[2:14] their next meal is coming from. And in Blackhawk County, that's actually one in

[2:18] five children. So over 20% of kids don't know where their next meal is going to

[2:23] come from. So this month is important. We have many events. We ask for

[2:28] everybody to wear orange on Hunger Action Day, which is September 29th,

[2:32] just to really highlight what an issue hunger is in our community. So, thank

[2:36] you very much for having us today. >> Thank you.

[2:41] » Karen, thank you very much for reading it.

[2:45] » This is a proclamation for Hunger Action Month. Whereas hunger is a vital concern

[2:50] in northeast Iowa where 12% of people including one in every six children

[2:54] experience food insecurity and whereas every person deserves access

[2:58] to the food and resources they need to live a full and healthy life yet

[3:03] millions of people in the US experience food insecurity and when people don't

[3:07] have enough to eat it impacts their health, education and future

[3:11] opportunities. Whereas the Blackhawk County of Iowa is committed to taking

[3:15] steps to combat hunger in every part of our community and to provide additional

[3:19] resources that are needed. And whereas the Blackhawk County of Iowa is

[3:23] committed to working with the Northeast Iowa Food Bank to educate people about

[3:27] the role and importance of the Feeding America network and how it stands

[3:31] alongside community members facing hunger to ensure everyone has access to

[3:35] the food and resources they need to thrive. And whereas more than 17,000

[3:40] individuals in Blackhawk County experience food insecurity annually. And

[3:44] whereas Northeast Iowa Food Bank distributed more than 4.2 million meals

[3:49] throughout Blackhawk County and their most recent fiscal year through a

[3:53] network of agency partners, food pantries, meal programs, and other

[3:57] community organizations. Whereas the month of September has been

[4:02] designated hunger action month to bring communities together to elevate the

[4:05] voices of people who experience food insecurity and inspire everyone to take

[4:10] action in the moment to end hunger. And whereas food banks across the country,

[4:14] including the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, will host numerous events throughout the

[4:18] month of September to bring awareness and help end hunger in their local

[4:22] community. Now therefore, we, the Blackhawk County Board of Supervisors,

[4:25] do hereby recognize September 2026 as Hunger Action Month in the Blackhawk

[4:30] County of Iowa and call this observance to the attention of our citizens.

[4:36] » Thank you very much. >> This is a resolution, I guess. Do we

[4:41] need a vote? I was going to say, would you like a vote on it?

[4:45] » Let's do it. >> Yeah. All right. Motion.

[4:47] » I'll make a motion. >> Second.

[4:49] » Okay. Um, all call vote. Please answer your name is called

[4:54] » Brandt. >> Yes.

[4:55] » Hall, >> yes.

[4:56] » Schwarz, >> yes.

[4:57] » Curtainbuck, >> yes.

[4:59] » Leilen, >> did you guys want a picture now or

[5:02] » I don't know if we do without Barb or with Aby's willing or whatever we kiss

[5:06] her. Okay. >> Yeah.

[5:08] » All logoed up.

[5:12] » Yeah. just

[5:20] » Oh, great. Thank you. >> I know, right?

[5:26] » Awesome.

[5:30] » Perfect. All right.

[5:43] » Very good. Thank you. Thank you so much. >> You're good.

[5:47] » Yep. You can legislate. Yeah. Thank you. >> She's going to sign it and then we'll

[5:51] send you a copy. You guys are awesome. >> Okay.

[5:58] Item P is a proclamation on Labor Day holiday. And Rich, I believe you

[6:03] submitted this. >> Yes, this is uh again it's the day after

[6:07] Labor Day, but it's again just formally acknowledging uh the Labor Day holiday.

[6:13] Proclamation reads recognition of Labor Day holiday. Whereas working men and

[6:19] women built this country and our county to keep our economy running and there is

[6:24] a foundation of prosperity and vibrance in Blockhaw County. Whereas the first

[6:28] Labor Day was observed on September 5th, 1882 when thousands of workers marched

[6:34] in New York City and working people have gathered on the first Monday in

[6:38] September every year since to demand working wages, decent hours, safe

[6:43] working conditions and dignity on the job. Whereas the working people block

[6:47] our county in manufacturing and in food processing, in construction and building

[6:52] trades, in transportation, utilities, healthc care, education, public service,

[6:58] and agriculture and small businesses across our communities have built the

[7:03] county we live in today. Whereas protections that every Ians now

[7:09] take for granted, including the weekend, the 8-hour day, workplace safety h

[7:13] standards and an end to child labor and the employer provided benefits were

[7:18] secured through the perseverance and sacrifice of organized workers. Whereas

[7:23] residents of Blackhawk County saw plainly during the floods of 2008 and

[7:28] the CO 19 pandemic, the essential workers and frontline workers carried

[7:32] this community through its hardest days. Whereas Labor Day as is an opportunity

[7:38] both to honor the progress that has been made for the workers across Iowa and

[7:43] across the United States and recommmit ourselves to the work that remains. Now

[7:48] therefore be resolved that the Black uh Board of Supervisors formally designate

[7:54] September 7th, 2026, this Labor Day in Blackhawk County, Iowa, publicly honor

[7:59] the working people, this community in the labor that sustains our county every

[8:04] day and calls upon all residents to observe the day with appropriate

[8:08] ceremonies and activities.

[8:13] I'll >> stand there. So moved.

[8:16] » Second. It's roll call vote. Please answer your

[8:19] name is called. >> Curtainbach.

[8:21] » Yes. >> Paul,

[8:22] » yes. >> Schwarz,

[8:24] » yes. >> Bant,

[8:25] » yes. >> Leilen,

[8:26] » yes. >> Item number four, presentation on the

[8:30] TechWorks proposed partnership. >> Mr. Dver,

[8:35] » I believe you have a presentation. Thank you.

[8:38] » I have a presentation. >> You are. And you're a PowerPoint, too.

[8:41] You said >> yes.

[8:44] » Uh just here today uh to chat with you a little bit about Tech Works. Uh I chair

[8:50] the board of Tech Works. Uh give you a little background to me. I retired in

[8:56] banking. Uh helped found First National Bank of Cedar Falls, now called First

[9:02] Bank as a dropped out national and went to a state charter. uh also uh chair

[9:09] Mercy 1 northeast Iowa and I'm on a few foundation boards too. Uh but this rolls

[9:16] back to Tech Works. Uh I don't know 15 20 years ago. Uh John Deere wanted to uh

[9:25] give the their old foundry activity downtown to someone and obviously get a

[9:32] tax credit for that. uh individuals uh a lot of people didn't want to take the

[9:38] liability that might uh be created with that. Uh so uh we developed a

[9:45] corporation a 501c3 corporation and we called it Tech Works

[9:50] and the mission of Tech Works was to develop and see what we could do with

[9:55] that manufacturing facilities. Obviously, we took a lot of buildings

[10:00] down. Uh and today through all the years of

[10:06] work uh we now have Tech 1 which uh houses the uh University of Northern

[10:15] Iowa metal casting which there was a nice article in the paper the other day

[10:21] about them receiving about a million dollars to further their efforts uh in

[10:27] developing metal casting and manufacturing.

[10:30] 4.0 5.0 uh type of thing. We recently sold the second and third we we own

[10:39] first floor. We lease that to to you and I. We recently sold the second and third

[10:44] floors of the facil tech 1 to Hawkeye Community College for for them to set up

[10:52] their robotics training and workforce training facilities.

[10:57] The upper three floors uh are owned by Lincoln Savings Bank.

[11:03] With the rest of the 42 acres, uh John Deere uh put in their uh museum, tractor

[11:10] museum. Uh the city worked in putting them the basis for a marina at some

[11:17] point in time. Maybe that will come together. Uh the Marriott Hotel took one

[11:22] of the facilities and uh now under construction is the entity called Court

[11:28] Works which will be uh built for regional basketball volleyball

[11:34] tournaments. Eight basketball courts and 12 volleyball courts. With that,

[11:42] pretty much all of the uh development uh of the real estate is

[11:48] completed. And we ended up with about four mill

[11:54] with $4 million uh that we have now invested or in the

[12:00] process of investing. And then so we're transitioning really from working with

[12:06] the the real estate piece of all of this now to what we think our mission is to

[12:11] develop manufacturing 4.0 uh and advanced manufacturing within the

[12:17] Cedar Valley. As part of this, as we uh

[12:24] decided to work with this, we've identified as a 501c3

[12:30] uh we have to uh make grants because what we're planning on doing is taking

[12:36] those funds having invested the funds, the investment returns that we get off

[12:41] of that we want to invest back into the Cedar Valley and create as much as we

[12:48] can manufacturing advanced manufacturing and manufacturing

[12:53] 4.0 5.0 uh as and since we're a 501c3

[13:01] we need to make these grants out uh to charitable

[13:07] uh organizations or charitable purposes. uh what's the situation that we have? Uh

[13:15] many of these are going to be manufacturing types of companies. Their

[13:20] interest isn't necessarily charity. They're they're for-profit

[13:26] organizations. However, as we've reviewed this uh with

[13:32] individuals, they say if we make these grants to a governmental agency like

[13:39] Blackhawk County, then as that can be a charitable purpose

[13:45] as they then transfer these funds to the companies

[13:50] that we're looking at. Uh Tavis is on the board uh of the uh Tech Works. Nolan

[13:58] Anderson's on the board. Uh Randy Pilington from you and I. Drew Conrad

[14:04] from you and I. Uh Jim Miller from First Interstate. Uh and several others. But

[14:11] and I say that just to give you an idea that the board is, you know, very

[14:16] knowledgeable in identifying this activity. We're not asking you for any

[14:23] work or anything that you you would have to do. The board is uh interested in

[14:29] going out and searching and and trying to find these opportunities

[14:35] uh for the Cedar Valley. Obviously, Blackhawk is part of that. And uh once

[14:42] we find appropriate opportunities, we intend to provide funding to uh develop

[14:49] it. So, we're going to provide the expertise and

[14:56] labor actions and we're going to f provide the funding. We just want to be

[15:00] in a partnership with Blackhawk County uh to then make this all come together.

[15:08] Questions? >> Well, I'll just I'll just start. Thanks

[15:12] for for coming and speaking to the board. I've talked with Dave a few times

[15:17] on this. Um, I'll admit I was a little befuddled that

[15:24] he first met with Nol Anderson. Uh, that's crazy to me. Why would you ever

[15:28] meet with N? Oh, just kidding. Um, but the practicality of what they're looking

[15:34] at doing in each municipality seems overly cumbersome. Uh, so for instance,

[15:44] uh, to speak a little bit more on on on the ask, right? of establishing a fund

[15:50] that we'd be able to support advanced manufacturing efforts throughout the

[15:54] Cedar Valley throughout Black County. If that were reserves for just Waterlue,

[16:01] if it went to Waterl with that agreement, they'd have to go to Cedar

[16:03] Falls with that agreement. They'd have to go to Hudson to Evansdale to so on

[16:07] and so forth. um versus board of supervisors who has

[16:12] jurisdiction and and and a a natural um connection uh to these businesses um

[16:20] success. So the the practicality of this seemed

[16:26] to make sense to me. Uh I encouraged Dave to meet with

[16:32] um with staff. So he's met with Kathy. Initially I envisioned it going through

[16:37] the seed out the the economic development

[16:41] action planning team. We went through a pretty extenuous uh or

[16:46] an extensive effort with our strategic planning.

[16:51] Economic development was one of those areas that we prioritized in that

[16:55] strategic plan. Uh and this presents an opportunity for us to no cash out. We

[17:01] don't have to expend dollars. Uh but we are partners in this effort of economic

[17:07] development specifically in that area of advanced manufacturing. After meeting

[17:11] with Kathy um Dave met with Michelle and Mike uh just to make sure that

[17:17] everything was sort of up on the up and up and and we were able to able to do

[17:22] something along these lines, you know, in uh in conjunction with with state

[17:26] law. And I know Mike reviewed it. Um Michelle heard out the proposal and I'll

[17:31] let them each speak to to how that uh moved forward. But ultimately I I got

[17:37] the sense from them that we could bring this seems like a thing to bring to the

[17:41] board um for us to to talk about and uh and weigh if it's a a place that we want

[17:48] to uh want to engage. But it seems to me as if uh this is a pretty lowrisk uh

[17:54] opportunity for us to engage in meaningful economic development. Um it

[17:59] doesn't cost us dollars. Uh we're we're working with a nonprofit uh to be able

[18:06] to to generate uh some economic activity uh

[18:10] here within the county. So the grant applications that are to be

[18:16] awarded to the charitable organization that would become us

[18:21] » or not. >> Yeah. Tech works. And I sent some

[18:26] materials out to you just to give you some guidelines.

[18:29] » You did of of how we're Yep. >> how we're working through who we're

[18:34] going to look at, what types of uh entities and opportunities that we're

[18:38] looking at in that advanced manufacturing piece. And then also we

[18:42] will work through all the you know try to develop the grants. We'll review the

[18:48] grants. We'll then make decisions on what we see as priorities and and

[18:54] positive things that we would try to fund. Uh at that point once we've

[19:01] identified that grant piece, we would then come to Blackhawk County and

[19:07] identify it and have you guys hopefully determine that yeah, good idea. Let's

[19:14] move forward. Uh, and if you approve it, then we would, if we're going to fund

[19:20] it, let's say we give them $100,000, we're going to then send those funds to

[19:25] Blackhawk County, and you'll make uh funding to the entity that we've

[19:31] identified. >> But if if you approve,

[19:35] » yeah, I mean, you'll have all all the faces. I was just thinking it says

[19:39] eligibility when I looked in there and it said grant applications must be

[19:42] submitted by organizations recognized as 501c3s

[19:47] charitable organizations which typically wouldn't be your advanced manufacturing

[19:51] projects >> but but this is the piece of if they

[19:54] aren't a 501c3 this is an opportunity to work through that

[19:58] » so it's actually us receiving it >> so Mike I'm I'm guessing how this would

[20:04] work and we can provide clarity because I I this Sounds exciting. I'm glad that

[20:08] you came to the county for this. I want to see how we can make this work. Um I'm

[20:14] guessing that we would be entering like into a development agreement with these

[20:20] places and then passing the money through cuz I know that we certainly

[20:23] can't just donate. We're forbidden from that. Um is is that what you envision?

[20:30] Um, so essentially what would happen here is the tech works would

[20:38] come to the county and say we have a uh we have an organization or we have

[20:44] business that we want to provide uh some f some economic development funding to.

[20:50] uh they would uh provide those funds to the county if the county approved the

[20:56] economic funding to the business. Uh economic development funding is

[21:01] permitted as a public purpose under chapter 15A. Uh the question in my mind

[21:07] as I researched this was whether the county could serve as a pass through of

[21:13] sorts for these funds. And we we can't serve as a straight up pass through, but

[21:18] as long as the board retains its discretion whether or not to approve the

[21:24] funding to the recipient business, um it is uh permissible for us to serve

[21:32] in the capacity that uh Mr. Dver's uh promoting here or suggesting here. And I

[21:38] I actually ran this by a representative with the state auditor's office who did

[21:44] not have any concerns about it. I did my own research on it as well. And and

[21:50] that's the key distinction. If it was if we were required or our hands were bound

[21:55] to give it to that business, then that would create a red flag, create a

[22:00] problem for us. But as long as the board retains discretion as to whether to send

[22:05] that funding on, then uh then that's permissible. In addition, I ran by uh

[22:12] both I I worked through in my own research and I also ran this by the

[22:16] state auditor's representative and I don't remember that person's name off

[22:19] the top of my head. Um but it uh it is permissible for us to do this knowing

[22:26] that uh the tech works will not be providing the funding to the county

[22:32] absent the approval of the business recipient and that is also permissible.

[22:37] So then to your question about a a funding agreement, we would we would

[22:42] have to create a county funding agreement similar to what we do for for

[22:47] uh you know for public purpose funding uh with the recipient business. Uh that

[22:55] would just be necessary because the county would effectively at that point

[22:59] be providing the funding. Um do we need to have an agreement with the uh with

[23:05] the tech works? uh technically we we don't need to but I think it would make

[23:09] sense to have one so that you know or at least a memorandum of understanding so

[23:14] that it's clear uh how this is going to work structurally uh once we we begin to

[23:21] engage in this. So yeah I think we need to have some kind of an agreement with

[23:24] the tech works from a um a practical perspective. Uh, finally, as far as the

[23:30] as the tax avoidance for the tech works, I did not focus my research on that. My

[23:36] understanding is Tech Works has had that legal research done for them already.

[23:42] » Yes, correct. >> I And so I think that's pretty much

[23:45] Dave, did I get that about right? >> Yeah, absolutely. and any other issue as

[23:49] far as this working agreement or however you want to identify it is certainly at

[23:56] any time that Blackhawk County feels like this doesn't work for you or or

[24:01] whatever then fine you know and probably hopefully it'll be a good positive thing

[24:09] and even every year we can review it and say yeah we want to keep on going but

[24:14] you know our intent is just to kind of keep on working at it. My intent is uh

[24:19] not to work on it too much longer. I'm getting too old. But uh at least try to

[24:24] get this up and running for a couple of years and we'll let the rest of the kids

[24:29] play with the the deal >> questions.

[24:34] I've got one. Uh so where's the money come from then?

[24:39] Is that you guys already have that liquid? when when we sold uh the the

[24:43] second and third floors, >> okay,

[24:46] » uh to Hawkeye, uh we received basically $4 million. Obviously,

[24:52] we we went through a whole lot of money from deer as we went through the process

[24:57] of tearing down buildings and and rebuilding the campus. Uh but, uh we're

[25:04] at the kind of the end of the road of all of that and we've got $4 million and

[25:08] now what's the next step? And for us the board we've identified the next step uh

[25:15] as uh moving forward with that mission mission on advanced manufacturing type

[25:20] of thing which is of course what the first floor is all about with you and I

[25:26] and the second third floors with robotics and and that and at the very

[25:30] beginning we thought it might be more biio manufacturing

[25:35] uh as we started just setting up thinking about Iowa and all the crops

[25:39] and stuff and then John Deere but that type of piece didn't necessarily pan

[25:44] out. So we and of course now the the issue is you know the advanced

[25:49] manufacturing piece the AI all the all the stuff that uh can create you know if

[25:54] you read the article you identify how uh you and I can bring in this sand printer

[26:01] you know and then use that technology to help other industries that you know

[26:07] small shops that don't don't have million2 million three million dollars

[26:11] or so to to purchase some of the advanced things. So hopefully we can

[26:17] promote and help help people develop that develop jobs uh make this a better

[26:23] place to live. >> That was my next question was what

[26:26] exactly is this going to fund? Education for for would be employees or a

[26:32] combination of things that equipment >> could be all sorts of things. Yeah,

[26:36] could be equipment, could be education, uh, bringing people in to to help

[26:40] identify pieces. Uh, you know, a little deal that happened, a nephew that

[26:47] decided to go to Stanford when he was 15 years old, and he came out, and when he

[26:52] got done, he and a friend started a little AI business uh, where it hooks in

[26:58] for small and medium manufacturers and processes their orders. This AI does it

[27:05] 10 times faster than the individuals. It's 99% accurate. Uh when that they do

[27:13] the training is an individual sits with the entity, the AI component and uh

[27:20] identifies where it's made a mistake. It never makes the same mistake twice. So

[27:27] now he's just start he was just starting his company. he actually sold the

[27:31] product uh to a local manufacturer and then of course he's then he's thinking

[27:37] well shoot now I'm selling stuff I need employees to do the input and things and

[27:43] so had we been kind of up and running we might have been able to provide some

[27:48] startup dollars for that to develop here in the area so that's

[27:55] » how are the uh the grant

[28:00] candidates at like how's the grants advertised? I'm just thinking, you know,

[28:03] I'm vaguely familiar with the Cedar Valley Manufacturers Association,

[28:07] » right? >> Is this like a

[28:11] a membership that you have to kind of buy into to be to qualify?

[28:16] » No. >> Okay. I mean, obviously that would be a

[28:20] source, you know, a group type of thing, but no, we're we're looking and we're

[28:27] obviously we'd like to find items in Blackhawk County. The reality is we're

[28:33] Cedar Valley, uh, type of thing. So, uh, we'll also look at other counties in our

[28:38] Cedar Valley area. Uh but uh and if you read through some of the stuff, it

[28:45] identifies that even even if you're not located in the Cedar Valley or Blackhawk

[28:52] County, if what you're going to do is going to

[28:57] support and develop the county, then you would you could qualify. But all of

[29:02] these things are going to, you know, have different levels of priority. Sure.

[29:06] as we walk through it. How are we going to identify the the opportunity of these

[29:12] grants? Well, this is the reason I'm here is this is a

[29:19] work in process and so we'll we have a website. So, we'll do some things on the

[29:24] website. we'll learn, you know, uh some of our people are already uh well

[29:31] identified within the Iowa economic development uh community. So, uh we'll

[29:38] kind of figure it out. You know, our funds are now just in the process of

[29:43] being invested through the dollar cost averaging types of things. That'll be

[29:48] completed at the end of the year and then at that point we'll start to work

[29:53] through the process of granting any funds.

[29:58] I sent uh a little bit of the uh financial piece to you that identifies

[30:04] the 4 million. Right now we've got about $50,000 in there. reality would say

[30:10] typically uh in a foundational type of uh investment process four 5% after fees

[30:18] uh would what we'd be looking at you know so couple hundred,000 250,000

[30:24] each year might be available and we could look at it from pledge parts you

[30:31] know of identifying maybe two 200,000 for five years so it's a million dollar

[30:37] type of pledge which they could then leverage for other

[30:40] funding uh as they develop their entity. So

[30:47] » So Dave, this could be a long-term process is what you're trying to allude

[30:52] to. >> Yep. Absolutely. or

[30:56] if the right opportunity came up to us and was going to put a 100 jobs in

[31:02] Blackhawk County and they needed $4 million. It might be a short process.

[31:09] It's you know >> and the decision is made by the board. I

[31:13] mean the I guess the evaluations and the looking at each project and

[31:17] » yeah, we're going to we'll do all that provide you all of that materials and

[31:22] and then you can then make a final of whether we're just a bunch of

[31:28] knuckleheads or we got really something that would work for Blackhawk.

[31:34] » Well, I assume your the Tech Works attorneys looked at this and knew this

[31:37] was an option considered. Well, this yeah, this is just a piece. Yeah, a

[31:42] piece that is in process, >> you know. I mean, first thing is, are

[31:47] you guys interested? And if you're not interested, I guess I've enjoyed a half

[31:53] hour, I think, with other

[31:57] » and we're on we're on to something else. >> Would they what other options would

[32:01] there be? I mean, if the county was not able to do this process, this pro go

[32:05] through this, what other options do you have in trying to

[32:09] » Well, again, if Black doesn't want to do it, maybe Chickasaw wants to do it for

[32:15] their area uh cities. I I did talk with null uh from the city of Wateroo because

[32:23] he's on the board and I just trying to develop how this inner play would work.

[32:30] Uh, and I of course know uh the guys over in Cedar Falls, so I talked with

[32:37] them a little bit. Uh, but yeah, it's just we'll put it out there. Now, let's

[32:42] say no governmental agency wants to deal with this. Then the next piece uh is

[32:50] there are entities that we could for fee work uh for this or uh you start then

[33:00] bringing in these expensive attorneys. Oh. Oh, sorry Mike. I'm not worth the

[33:06] expenses. >> You're not one of those. But you know,

[33:09] but you can bring in attorneys that would then work through a process to

[33:14] identify that this particular case would be charitable. So it there's other

[33:19] options. this just seemed like a >> a good one to me

[33:24] » uh to work with you guys for and I started with no but then as as we were

[33:29] talking it became the issue of well if it's outside the city boundary or then

[33:37] we'd have to go to Blackhawk County and then thinking of it as a Cedar Valley

[33:42] thing there's a lot of cities and communities

[33:48] you know dyke and whatever you know, so you just it just it made it more sense

[33:53] to deal with it on a county bycounty basis.

[33:57] » Well, it looked like from the materials you provided just you were looking at

[34:00] all six counties. >> Yes.

[34:02] » Not just Blackhawk County, >> right? Yeah. Well, and I I started here

[34:06] cuz I thought since we live here and Tech Works is here and I know a few of

[34:14] you guys through the 60 years I've been around that maybe

[34:20] if I couldn't talk with you guys then Yikes.

[34:25] » Is there a preference for Blackhawk County in any way?

[34:29] » No. >> Like an advantage?

[34:31] » No. I I I would I would say not reality. We're looking for the best projects

[34:36] » for the region. >> For the region.

[34:40] » And Dave, you sort of already touched on my next question. Um on the $4 million

[34:46] endowment, you're estimating about $200,000 in revenue from that annually.

[34:52] Um well, but you said that there would be some flexibility of, you know, really

[34:56] great opportunity that you would cut into the endowment.

[35:00] Correct. Y >> um what would you um ever have years

[35:05] where you were um carrying over what was um gained in income to potentially build

[35:12] up? Okay. >> Yes, absolutely. That's you you have all

[35:16] of that types of possibility. uh maybe because you know we don't have

[35:22] anything that really raises to the level that we want to give in any particular

[35:26] year but we also may know there's something out there that is developing

[35:32] and so we may pull these resources uh and in a couple years we would spend

[35:39] them on out uh you know

[35:45] in part of my life I I I was a chair for the Cedar Falls public library and

[35:51] redevelop some funds and I mean and that's exactly the type of things that

[35:55] we did uh and I mean the other possibility there can be some other

[36:00] foundations sometimes places what matching funds we can be the provider of

[36:07] of the matching funds and so double money uh for entities that are working

[36:12] on it or like you say you see something that's a little bit in the future that

[36:17] you might need 500,000 or so, then then maybe the board will hold it on back. Uh

[36:23] type of thing. It's it's whatever comes

[36:29] before us and try to do the best that we can. I kind of think they should send me

[36:37] to Hawaii every year, you know, with the funds and and do something like that,

[36:42] but the board seems to think that's not what they want to do.

[36:45] » Not the type of chair they want. and and we're just volunteers, you know, we're

[36:51] we're not asking for any money. We're just uh local citizens

[36:58] trying to do the right thing. Dave, I've got just two things to think about. I

[37:02] love the idea of it um going forward. But things I guess that I think about is

[37:08] uh how the expenses with the county being involved potentially in any way,

[37:13] how the expenses will be accounted for and what guard rails are in place to

[37:16] ensure don't take this the wrong way >> that we're not giving money using the

[37:21] government as a passer to our friends organizations.

[37:24] » Sure. >> That's my concern. I don't have any

[37:26] reason to think that you guys would do that,

[37:28] » but we know it happens in this world that we live in. And so I mean, those

[37:32] are some things that we can work through. Uh, you know, I

[37:36] » I didn't necessarily come here with all the answers, right?

[37:40] » We don't even have all the answers of how we're going to put this thing

[37:45] together, but we've got a few months here that we're going to work through

[37:48] it. So uh but yeah obviously there'd be we're looking also you know my years of

[37:56] United Way activity there comes that process of you're giving out funds now

[38:02] you want to look back and see what were the outcomes

[38:06] » how how did those funds how how did that organization use the dollars so we'll

[38:12] develop some stuff like that >> yeah because that was going to be my

[38:14] followup really to the compliance and the liability

[38:18] » in this partnership wouldn't be on the county taxpayers

[38:22] » and and of course >> agreement type of things to

[38:25] » Yeah. And and and any of the expenses that we're going to develop and trying

[38:30] to identify uh recipients and that obviously that's all on us too

[38:37] » because I think we did start the conversations talking as a pass through

[38:41] the county be the pass through and Mike really kind of clarified that we can't

[38:44] be the pass through. that comes >> not not just a straight up pass through.

[38:49] We have to have discretion >> sounds easy but there's a little more to

[38:52] it. We need to just make sure protection >> and I think that the way it we set up

[38:58] you know in many ways the board of supervisors becomes one of those guard

[39:01] rails because it's has to be approved by your board first and then by us and so

[39:07] um in many ways I think this can lead to um much stronger development um um

[39:14] proposals being pushed forward because it's going to be vetted by two different

[39:18] bodies. Um, so I think it's we've got the framework for a pretty good system

[39:24] uh here that I feel pretty comfortable and I I definitely offer my support

[39:29] today. >> Yeah, if it works for the both the

[39:31] guardrails, I think I like it with the two entities, but I wasn't sure that

[39:35] that was, you know, you weren't finding the projects, working through the

[39:38] projects and the applications and then saying, "Here's the funding. You know,

[39:42] we'd like to see this pass on." >> No, you you're going to then then review

[39:45] it. And of course, every time you do that, then you're going to have to

[39:50] listen to me tell you, "No, well, you send me the information. You

[39:55] guys decide if it works or not." And >> from administratively, you don't see

[39:59] that being a large staff related issue with us other than like I said the board

[40:04] involvement. That would be >> Yeah. I mean obviously there's a

[40:09] always an element of trust you know uh and so hopefully you will understand as

[40:16] we get this thing going as you see the one or two of these things start to to

[40:21] move through you'll read through it you'll say hey uh you know these guys

[40:27] know what they're doing uh these companies look good so uh you know and

[40:35] and The hope is that we create something that's a little bit seamless that we

[40:40] don't talk with a entity and then it's a year down the road before we can provide

[40:45] any funding because these things like my nephew he was here today as he did that

[40:53] he was on his way to Ames in De Moine uh for venture capital funds uh to fund it.

[40:59] So, we need to be able to

[41:03] feel comfortable of moving things through expeditiously as possible.

[41:08] » What are you estimating for a timeline? Would you like to have this up and

[41:11] running or have you given that thought? >> When would you like to do it?

[41:17] » It's possible if there's businesses out there that take advantage. No, I mean

[41:21] our our thought process is again the funds are now in the pro investment

[41:27] process at the end of the year basically because I mean we we work off of a

[41:34] fiscal year but investments work off of a calendar year typically. So, at the

[41:41] end of this year, if we've got all the if we're comfortable enough with all of

[41:45] our processes, then we would start looking for opportunities. This first

[41:51] year is going to be pretty minimal because we've just getting the funds in.

[41:56] We just received them this spring. So the the real piece would be probably in

[42:05] 28 because then you'd have a full year of investment activity to work with it.

[42:10] But yeah, if we saw something that $50,000 would make a difference in

[42:16] Blackhawk County, why not? >> Well, you said if you saw something four

[42:21] million would make a big difference. >> Sure. and and well and

[42:26] » I I will I will tell you because of my position with Mercy 1, I

[42:32] was up in line to see our visit our new administrator and a new board member and

[42:39] the board member took me over to their economic development individual and I

[42:44] kind of walked through this a little bit with them and she got fairly excited

[42:51] because she was in the process of looking for $3 million for an IT company

[42:56] that wanted to buy a couple of buildings downtown and bring a hundred to 150

[43:01] jobs. Now, when I said we weren't really looking to advance all the funds out

[43:08] right away, different story, but yeah, but this stuff is and of course, you

[43:14] know, the other piece of this that spins off of it, if

[43:19] we can get a few of these things happening,

[43:22] you know, then other entities say, "Wait a second, Blackhawk County is really

[43:30] working to develop advanced manufacturing

[43:34] opportunities. Maybe we should talk with them.

[43:38] Otherwise, it may it's when I was working through college, I went worked

[43:46] at HY, we put the milk way in the back

[43:51] so that as you walk through the aisles, you found other opportunities of thing

[43:56] that you could buy even though you're just coming for a gallon of milk.

[43:59] » Opportunities.

[44:03] Anyway, that's the thought process. >> Well, I was excited to to ask Dave to

[44:08] come and and talk. I I really wanted to sort of check the temp of the board. If

[44:12] it's a no-go, then >> Dave, go find somebody else so you can

[44:17] get this thing moving along. if there's an interest in working through a plan.

[44:22] You know, I'm hoping that we can at least provide some level of direction

[44:27] or, you know, insight that I'm certainly in favor of of this, but wanted to talk

[44:32] with the rest of the board, too, to see where you all were at.

[44:35] » Guess my biggest concern is ongoing liability for the county and additional

[44:39] costs on taxpayers. I like know more of the framework and

[44:44] then hear more from Mike as far as our ongoing liability for future situation

[44:50] with >> the devil's in the details part.

[44:52] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[44:52] » Yeah. And >> but if we're saying let's

[44:55] » let's crack the crab so we can get to the details. That's one thing. Or if

[44:57] we're

[45:00] » Yeah. I'd say let's let's begin exploring how to make it happen and what

[45:05] roadblocks there might be. I like it.

[45:11] And perhaps we we reach a point where it doesn't make sense to I mean at this

[45:15] point I'm supportive of it >> for what that's worth.

[45:20] » Mike, you had a comment? >> No, I all I was um commenting on was uh

[45:26] I think we probably need to have a uh work session of some sort where the

[45:30] board discusses this. Um I don't uh based on my research so far, I don't see

[45:36] a lot of potential for liability u per se. I mean there will be some

[45:41] administrative costs in uh in carrying out this role and the board will have to

[45:46] decide you know what what it wants to do relative to that and and that can be

[45:52] anything from having a fee structure to to just deciding that that's that's the

[45:57] part the county is going to take on and and the um there is a certain kind of

[46:04] regional aspect to this so it isn't entirely for blackhawk county entities

[46:08] necessarily ly, but still, um, I can see what what Dave's saying

[46:14] about the the benefits that it's going to provide the area, the county

[46:17] regardless. So, it is it isn't a big com I I actually had some concerns early on

[46:24] about the, you know, sound like a pass through and all that, but as long as the

[46:28] board retains its discretion and can say no, um, that is where, uh, that is where

[46:35] things should clear up for us. It'll be interesting if the board ever says no

[46:39] how we resolve some of that though that that's

[46:42] » well then the money doesn't come right but I mean it's unfortunate

[46:46] we find a different direction >> supportive of it and then we have to

[46:49] argue with you >> which is always fun so

[46:54] » I I think I >> convince us to why we were wrong I may

[46:57] have gone beyond my five to 10 minutes >> hopefully that doesn't happen. So Dave,

[47:02] is the money currently in an interest bearing account where it's acrewing more

[47:05] and more more? >> Yeah. Yeah, it's

[47:07] US bank. We sent it out for RFP and 23 different entities uh responded to to do

[47:17] the MA funds management part. US Bank ended up being the one that we selected

[47:23] uh and they're in that process right now. So, no, it's a and it's invested

[47:26] obviously in the markets and bonds and all the things that money managers

[47:31] invest stuff in. >> So, we could be talking closer to 5

[47:35] million if it's building up over series of years.

[47:38] » Well, yeah. Well, I mean it could, but that's not our intent,

[47:41] » right? >> Because our intent is to spend it as it

[47:44] becomes available, >> right?

[47:46] » But yeah, I mean it >> Okay,

[47:49] » this was the initial phase, so there could be more funding available later.

[47:52] » No, probably not. Okay. >> Uh, you know, the the 42 acres is

[47:58] developed. There's not much left to do, which is good for the county and for the

[48:04] city and everybody involved. And all of that has finally through all the years

[48:10] uh found a home for multiple entities that uh she was the museum, the Marriott

[48:18] had a one of the new heads for Mercy. One was in town the other day to chat

[48:23] and use the Marriott and uh the city still has a the basic foundation pieces

[48:30] for the marina. That may happen. There's a couple of small lots that you could

[48:35] squeeze something in, but uh you know, >> yeah,

[48:39] » maybe the supervisor would like to build a facility for them to

[48:46] » we don't know.

[48:50] So maybe in the next few weeks, >> just the idea of of drafting a

[48:54] memorandum of understanding probably seems like a natural thing for us to

[48:59] work through at a work session and just to keep the ball rolling.

[49:03] Yeah. I mean, I'm here now

[49:08] because, you know, let's get the pieces of the

[49:13] puzzle put together so we're ready >> to move when we have an opportunity to.

[49:20] » Dave, you'll notice that expeditious is not one of our core values. A wall. So,

[49:25] nothing moves fast in this building. >> Government that's intentional.

[49:29] expeditious, but you know, ease like efficiency.

[49:34] Create expeditious activity. >> Yeah. No, that's great. You'll be

[49:39] surprised how fast you'll go through $4 million, though.

[49:42] » Well, well, I >> think they

[49:45] does. >> When I started the bank, they gave me $2

[49:48] million. I lost $1 million the first two years,

[49:53] » but uh it's now 150 million, so it worked out.

[49:56] » It worked out. Thanks so much. Yes, sir.

[49:59] » No, thank you. >> And I think provided your information,

[50:02] my contact if anybody wanted to reach out. So, thank you.

[50:08] » Yes, we don't mind. >> Take care.

[50:14] » Item number five, claims and payments resolution that the board of supervisors

[50:17] approved expenditures and that the county auditor be authorized and

[50:20] directed to issue payments against the various settlement of such claims as

[50:24] allowed. >> So moved. Second,

[50:26] » Miss Weedner. Good morning, board. Our total bill payment today is $44,7726.

[50:35] The 6040 fund portion of that is $2,95760.

[50:41] There's really only one uh significant payment today. We are purchasing the

[50:46] boom lift for the road department from Alterper for $18,750.

[50:53] Everything appears to be in order. Any questions for me today?

[50:57] No questions. I just wanted to point out another $26,000 in out of county uh

[51:02] expenses. >> Yes.

[51:04] » For from the sheriff's office. >> Housing inmates. Yes.

[51:08] » And I'm sorry, I almost forgot. I was also supposed to say payroll was

[51:12] 1,694,000 roughly two weeks.

[51:18] This is a resolution. Please answer your names. Call

[51:21] » Schwarz. >> Yes.

[51:23] » Briant. >> Yes.

[51:24] » Paul, >> yes. Bach,

[51:26] » yes. >> Leilen,

[51:27] » yes. >> Item number six, receive project updates

[51:31] from department heads and elected officials.

[51:34] » Good morning, board. Kathy Nicholas, engineer.

[51:38] I'm pleased to give you an update this morning about our proposed new shop

[51:42] facility. I just got a real short presentation

[51:46] here.

[51:51] So, I'm going to talk to you about these few things. the the site um the cost of

[51:55] the facility and how we are proposing to pay for the new facility.

[52:00] So just to focus on the site for a few minutes I know I believe you've all

[52:03] you're all familiar that we have been talking with the city of water you've

[52:07] signed an agreement with the city of water that we would like to move out to

[52:11] their air and rail uh facility their industrial park which is uh northwest or

[52:18] west of the airport in in water. Uh we have been looking at a few different

[52:23] parcels with them, but uh last week we we kind of collectively agreed that we

[52:29] the roads department would go on the north side of Hyper Drive.

[52:34] Uh it's technically two parcels 300 by about 900 ft each,

[52:41] but collectively they add to about 14 acres. Uh the current Longfellow

[52:46] facility is is about 15.9 or about 16 acres.

[52:50] Uh we also asked for an easement out like a backdoor easement or driveway out

[52:56] to what's called Warp Drive and then this goes curves right around and ties

[53:01] into Lone Tree Road. So either way, we're getting really good access to uh

[53:06] Lone Tree Road, US Highway 218, and then Dunkerton Road, which is of course a a

[53:12] county road.

[53:16] Uh all the utilities are in at these parcels and it is pretty much ready for

[53:21] construction this site.

[53:25] Uh the cost of the new facility we are we are relying on that study that

[53:30] Envision completed for us. They completed it last fall about this time

[53:34] last fall and at that time their study did show that or the concept was that

[53:40] the engineers office would move out of the courthouse. We would be colllocated

[53:44] with our roads department. We would become we would integrate into one big

[53:49] department. Uh this would include office space, warm

[53:54] storage like for example this is where we park our trucks and to get them out

[53:59] of the elements and that is it's not a cold storage facility. It is slightly

[54:04] it's warm. It's not heated to the way we would heat a home of course but it is

[54:09] warm storage so that the snow is melting off of our vehicles in the winter for

[54:13] example. it wouldn't include new mechanics bays, uh, wash bays, a sign

[54:19] shop, chemical storage. So, they kind of looked at everything we need, envisioned

[54:23] it, and they came up with an estimate of 20 to $30 million about a year ago. And

[54:28] this, of course, was just a rough number.

[54:31] In further refining that, we've uh visited a lot of facilities. This is

[54:36] this is a photo of actually the new Faget County shop and and their new shop

[54:40] is strictly office space and mechanic space.

[54:44] Uh we you know we've been thinking about this for almost three years now working

[54:49] on this for almost three years. Uh we've been saving money for a number of years

[54:54] to purchase to to pay back to pay bonds for a new facility. So of course that is

[55:01] the way we would finance a new facility would have it be an initial down payment

[55:05] out of our secondary road fund. We are calculating we have approximately

[55:10] 4 to 4.5 million in our secondary road fund right now that we could use as a

[55:14] down payment. Uh we are calculating that the initial

[55:19] cost the most we can afford based on things being as they are right

[55:24] now and I'll get get to that caveat in a minute is that we can afford

[55:29] approximately 15 to 18 million in initial capital costs. We of course

[55:35] would repay this with local option sales tax funds which we are now cleared to

[55:41] do. We are now eligible to use those funds for uh repayment of a building

[55:45] facility. We anticipate we could repay

[55:49] approximately $1.5 million a year for about 10 years. And these are of course

[55:54] just rough numbers. We we have an we've been working with an initial interest

[55:59] rate of 4%. Uh that could change of course especially when we're talking

[56:05] this amount of money. So that's just these are all rough estimates based on

[56:09] that. Uh but we feel like 15 to $18 million is is pretty doable right now

[56:16] and that we are working on an RFP and those are the numbers we've used. Uh

[56:22] currently our biggest unknown of course is our secondary road transfer amount

[56:26] and that's the amount that you transfer to us out of the general fund and the

[56:30] rural fund into the roads department fund. So we'll

[56:35] we'll see how that goes as we go through the budget next next spring. That could

[56:40] if that changes that's could affect whether we can build a new facility or

[56:44] not. And so we we are ready to go out for

[56:49] architectural services. We've been working pretty hard the last all summer

[56:52] long on an RFP to send out to approximately 6 to8 architects. Um, a

[56:59] lot of those are who we sent our last uh the the need study to.

[57:06] Uh, they will help us determine what we can build and determine if that 15 to$18

[57:11] million is feasible. And we are hoping that if all things go as planned, we'd

[57:17] like to have an architect under contract sometime in November.

[57:22] We would allow about a year for plans and then possibly be under construction

[57:27] by late late 2027, but probably most likely early 2028.

[57:34] Uh we are ready to send out the RFPs today. Ryan will probably send them out

[57:39] today. So, can I answer any questions at this point?

[57:45] Just glad to hear the news. It's moving forward.

[57:47] » Thanks. I appreciate Yeah. Provided a good update. Thank you, Debbie.

[57:53] » This Chris, just a quick question maybe for Michelle. Um just as we think of the

[57:57] the budget in the coming years and the um constrictions we'll be facing facing

[58:04] because of the actions of the state legislature this past year and past

[58:08] couple of years. Um can you remind us what approximately the annual transfer

[58:14] has been on average from the general fund to the secondary roads fund?

[58:20] » The general fund it's around a million but we also provide about 3 million from

[58:25] the rural fund and then they also are receiving about um 2 million annually

[58:34] from the local option funds. 6 million tax support

[58:39] » annually. >> I'm more concerned about the constraints

[58:42] we'll be facing on the general fund. I I'm still concerned about well we'll be

[58:47] facing on the royal fund, but the general fund especially is is just going

[58:51] to be tighter and tighter >> most likely. But that will also that

[58:56] could also impact rural fund. So it's all a intricate puzzle there. But um I

[59:05] would not anticipate the board needing I guess or choosing to

[59:11] dramatically reduce the transfer. So I'm not sure that that's a

[59:18] huge concern. I think there could be some reductions just because I don't

[59:22] think it's makes sense to expect other departments to have reductions you know

[59:29] com and nothing in this department but yeah the um didn't have a chance to

[59:39] get back to Kathy but I I think that it's possible with that if we're

[59:44] planning to use 1.5 million in local option tax to repay a bond

[59:49] that could be closer to 14 million. And there is also a balance in the in the

[59:55] load road local option tax fund. I can't say that this morning. That could also

[1:00:01] help fund it. So I think >> And that was in what fund? You said 1.5

[1:00:06] and what? They're planning to use local option funds to repay the bonds and they

[1:00:12] were estimating at 1.5 million which I think like with a 12 million or 12-year

[1:00:18] repayment you can get about 14 million principal paid for with 1.5

[1:00:25] » and we reduced that transfer this year this past year.

[1:00:29] » Actually we didn't we didn't reduce it. We did we did not

[1:00:34] » we we did not increase it from the general fund but we did not reduce it

[1:00:39] and the rural fund increased. So the totals going to roads increased and also

[1:00:46] the local option tax revenue has been increasing. So there's there was

[1:00:52] increased revenue to roads. >> Well increased revenue but I just meant

[1:00:57] that transfer amount that we typically do. But the so the transfer amount was

[1:01:02] exactly the same. The percentage >> percentage is what I'm after. I'm

[1:01:05] » Yes. The percentage of the maximum that we can transfer. That's there is a

[1:01:11] maximum in state law about what we can transfer. Yes,

[1:01:15] » that was reduced but not the amount, you know, and again the the rural piece of

[1:01:20] it >> still had an increase. So

[1:01:24] » it was I just meant I misspoke. It was the amount. It was the percentage we

[1:01:27] could increase. >> Yep.

[1:01:33] And maybe some of you can re increase that next year

[1:01:37] » for the building. You got to pay for the building.

[1:01:40] » Maybe. >> We'll find out.

[1:01:43] » I do have two other things to update you on. I would like to schedule a work

[1:01:47] session probably in the next two to three weeks to talk about the speed

[1:01:51] limit here in Blackhawk County. Uh we've done some work on that. Had some uh

[1:01:57] productive meetings with law enforcement last week. Uh so we feel like we're

[1:02:01] ready to come to you with I feel like we're ready to come to you with some

[1:02:05] decisions. I can work with you all on a a time

[1:02:09] frame for that work session. And then the last thing I wanted to update you on

[1:02:13] was we we were able to set beams on Hoffro Bridge uh last week, last

[1:02:18] Thursday. Gabby had some social media uh out there on it and we are hopeful that

[1:02:23] um I know they had to do the closure pores and then put the the uh excuse me

[1:02:28] the guardrail on and we are hopeful I would be hopeful that we would have that

[1:02:33] road reopened probably within two weeks. So can I answer any other questions?

[1:02:39] » The crane's up and running again. No, no, no. We hired Emerson crane just

[1:02:45] to be on site out out on Hoff to set those beams for us. Uh we used our We do

[1:02:51] have two cranes. We have a smaller crane that sat at Longfellow and was able to

[1:02:55] pick up the beams and place them on our semi to haul them out to um Hoffro and

[1:03:01] then we were able to set them. Emerson was able to set them for us.

[1:03:06] The our crane is still going to be down possibly for six more weeks. We're

[1:03:11] waiting on parts.

[1:03:19] » Kathy, would would next Tuesday be too soon on the speed limit deal? I've got

[1:03:24] people itching to get to 60. >> So, I did I would like to invite a few

[1:03:31] other Nate, of course, I would like him to be here. So, let me

[1:03:36] » Okay, >> we can try for that. Let me see if he

[1:03:38] can make it for that date as well. >> Fair enough.

[1:03:40] » They're holding down. I'm sticking at 55 right now.

[1:03:43] » They're not 56. 55.

[1:03:48] » We're 62. >> Thanks, Kathy. Good update. Anyone else

[1:03:52] for an update for department or elected official?

[1:03:57] » Anyone online? >> I have a quick one. I just wanted to say

[1:04:01] that the capital improvement program five-year requests are out to

[1:04:06] departments. So hopefully they will start figuring out what their needs are

[1:04:11] over the next 5 years so we have a better idea of what we're looking at.

[1:04:18] » Anyone online with >> And good morning board. This is Yolando

[1:04:22] uh from Veterans Affairs. I I just had a a couple things. I wanted to let Jim uh

[1:04:28] Bush Camp know that we're here to support you. Uh we had a walk-in first

[1:04:32] thing this morning and I got a funeral to go to, but we're here to support you.

[1:04:35] But also, board, I wanted to share a couple things uh from our commission

[1:04:40] meeting that we had. Um if you don't mind, I'll just go quickly through

[1:04:44] those, just the highlights of them, >> please do.

[1:04:48] » And can you see the uh slides? >> Yes.

[1:04:52] » Okay. So, a couple things. the warrior expedition. Uh they completed their

[1:04:56] coast to coast ride. Uh again, I want to take my hat off to uh supervisor uh

[1:05:01] Tavis Hall and supporting. We we've been doing that for Blackhawk County with our

[1:05:05] supervisors and with the experienced water. We been supporting for almost 6

[1:05:10] years. Um and they've completed their their ride uh from Washington DC to

[1:05:16] Washington uh state using the uh Cedar Valley Trail and the Great American

[1:05:20] Trail. So, thank you for that support. Um, and then just quickly, I'm going to

[1:05:26] slide through these. Um, one thing that, uh, hope everyone enjoyed their their

[1:05:30] Labor Day weekend. Uh, but over the the Labor Day weekend, um, there was some

[1:05:35] damage to, uh, a particular banner, and that particular banner belonged to me.

[1:05:39] Um, as you could see, the the Veterans Way. Usually, this is my fourth year

[1:05:44] participating in that. Uh, but someone took advantage to, uh, create googly

[1:05:49] eyes on my banner uh, over the weekend. Maybe I do have googly eyes. I don't

[1:05:54] know. Um but that that was a point of emphasis. Couple of the things uh that

[1:05:58] we talked about last Wednesday was celebrating our oneyear anniversary. Uh

[1:06:02] and again, my hats off to the board of supervisors, to the um our veterans

[1:06:07] commission, particularly Rory and his department, uh Michelle with financing,

[1:06:12] everyone that made this very successful. Uh we are appreciative of being in this

[1:06:17] facility. Uh we want to be good stewards of this facility. Um, and we look

[1:06:21] forward to doing great things. We continue to get accolades from our

[1:06:24] veterans coming in saying this is a very conducive environment for sitting down

[1:06:28] and doing um claims uh for veterans. So, thank you again. Um, our hidden hero for

[1:06:34] the month of of August uh was uh Jordan. Uh she's a Marine uh who is actually

[1:06:42] working with um still attending school at UNI. uh a very active uh veteran at

[1:06:48] the veterans organization at uni and she's doing some great things there and

[1:06:52] so this month we took opportunity to recognize this young Marine and for the

[1:06:57] great service that she's done for her country serving as a Marine and then

[1:07:00] what she's currently doing in the community and then this slide is just

[1:07:04] I'm going to pass through but the things that we we're getting ready to celebrate

[1:07:08] 911 the 25th year we just celebrated 250 years um and now we're celebrating the

[1:07:14] 25th year of 911. Um, and I could tell you 9/11 changed my military life and it

[1:07:20] just kind of shows you the aftermath of uh what's going on. But to celebrate it

[1:07:24] is the biggest thing is to recognize the lives that were lost uh both in the

[1:07:28] military and the lives that were lost civilian whether it was the towers,

[1:07:32] whether it was the uh the Pentagon or the aircraft and all of the lives that

[1:07:36] were lost in the towers. Couple success stories that uh I shared. I'm going to

[1:07:41] spin through these because I did send you these slides. uh but to know that

[1:07:45] again interacting one to another with another veteran, you never know how

[1:07:49] we're going to touch that veteran's life or that surviving spouse. And then uh

[1:07:53] the paragraph two was a surviving spouse whose husband died uh from uh a

[1:07:59] presumptive condition. She didn't know about it till she came in and spoke with

[1:08:02] one of the veteran service officers and she ended up getting almost $20,000 in

[1:08:07] retropay and now she has a benefit for the rest of her life. Um the the third

[1:08:12] one is the Marine who succumbed and is still living but succumbed to some um

[1:08:18] Marine Corps hazardous water that was out of Camp Lun. Um he fought it fought

[1:08:24] it and eventually uh the the VA said, "Yeah, I agree that the conditions

[1:08:28] you're suffering from affects your your your ability to work and your overall

[1:08:33] lifestyle." And they paid out $94,000 in retropay. And now he has a benefit for

[1:08:38] the rest of his life. again, changing lives one claim at a time. Um, and then

[1:08:45] the other part of that is the positive thing is we're starting to see more uh

[1:08:48] donations come in. Uh, I I put two months together. So, you have the two

[1:08:53] months calendar year, we took in $8,385 so far in donations. A lot of them are

[1:08:59] associated with our success that we're having with our lunches. And then, um,

[1:09:03] in particular, uh, the Kevin Deal Foundation provided us $1,000 just

[1:09:08] recently. And this morning, uh, we just had a walk-in where they provided $300

[1:09:13] based off the success that we've and a lot of it has to do with Gabby promoting

[1:09:18] our promoting the lunches on social media. And veterans are seeing it. We've

[1:09:22] been doing this for a while now, but veterans are seeing how successful this

[1:09:26] has been. And now we're starting to see new faces come in and they're they

[1:09:30] really like this ideal. And again, it's all based off of your support, board of

[1:09:34] supervisors, for allowing us to be in a new space, a new facility that is

[1:09:38] conducive for veterans. And then for August, our our production for August,

[1:09:42] you can see uh we brought in about uh $34,000

[1:09:48] in federal funds to uh for retro pay. You can see our individual client

[1:09:53] support. And then what we're really adding to the county about $38,000 in

[1:09:58] additional monies that veterans and surviving spouses are receiving. And you

[1:10:03] can see our July report. So uh close to almost $500,000 in the first two months

[1:10:08] um is what my staff is doing. And again, I take my hat off to our staff, uh

[1:10:13] Stacy, Michelle, and Sarah. And one of the other reasons why I'm not there in

[1:10:16] person is Sarah's doing court duty today. So, uh, it just adds up, but

[1:10:21] we're still going to be able to support. Um, and then you can see our our July

[1:10:25] and August production. Um, where the, uh, veterans are coming from, uh, their

[1:10:31] service. Uh, in particular, we did see an uptick, um, from other counties,

[1:10:36] about 12 coming in, um, from various counties. Um, but again, we are going to

[1:10:42] service every veteran. A couple of the things that I've been doing lately is

[1:10:45] recognizing what their pay grades are of who's filing those u disabilities. Um

[1:10:51] and then this key slide here is kind of talking about where we're at. You see

[1:10:55] that, but down at the bottom is the the point of emphasis. Uh about 1856 are

[1:11:00] receiving some type of compensation u for disabilities. Uh so 502 of them are

[1:11:06] receiving it at 100% which is close to about 27% of those veterans out of the

[1:11:12] 1856. Uh you also can see 328 of the 2184 that is our total number are are

[1:11:20] receiving either a survivor's benefit or a pension. And then lastly, I kind of

[1:11:25] looked at okay 100, 50, and 10. And you can proceed to percentages associated

[1:11:31] with the veterans who are receiving a disability at those uh percentages. And

[1:11:37] then lastly, uh what we've done out of county and donated funds and supporting

[1:11:41] veterans um was a good month for us. We didn't have to help anybody with

[1:11:45] utilities or uh with shelter. Uh but we did see an uptick with the gas card

[1:11:50] production. And then the trust fund dispersements was about $2,500 and that

[1:11:55] was in support of a some auto repairs. Um and then you can see our first two

[1:12:00] months um we've only um used $1,000 out of our 53,000 that we have quarterly

[1:12:07] budgeted as we get ready to go into our budgeted session uh to look at how we do

[1:12:11] things going into FY27 and 28. Uh but I think we're doing a great job there. And

[1:12:17] just uh just one short slide is this is my fourth year uh going out to the UAW

[1:12:24] um at the veterans conference about 400 veterans attended. It gives again an

[1:12:29] opportunity for a young guy from Iowa which was the only presenter out of that

[1:12:34] international um UAW veterans conference was the only one from Iowa. Everyone

[1:12:40] else was from all over the 50 states. Uh but it gave me an opportunity again to

[1:12:44] interact with other veterans, see the great things that we're doing and some

[1:12:48] of the things that we could add. But I will tell you for assurance that talking

[1:12:51] with other veteran service officers that were in attendance and with veterans

[1:12:55] that we interacted with as we talked for the 3 days, um we are doing uh a job

[1:13:02] that uh most people would say, "Hey, wait a minute. How let me follow your

[1:13:08] lead." And so we we had a lot of uh BSOs say, "Hey, Yolando, how you doing that?"

[1:13:12] And so it gave me an opportunity to interact uh with other BSOs from other

[1:13:16] states. Then we want to thank our sponsors uh for our lunches. Again,

[1:13:20] that's where um the road meets the rubber, so say um this is how we really

[1:13:25] do do a lot of our our articulation to hey veterans, make sure you get out

[1:13:30] there and get involved. But those are the other things and and so I share that

[1:13:34] with you guys to just say thank you again for the opportunity to uh be in

[1:13:39] this position. Um you know I I was not elected official. I'm a darn uh what

[1:13:45] they call a war fighter. So I'm not a politician. I I speak from the truth. I

[1:13:50] speak uh truth to power. And I'm just very appreciative of everything that you

[1:13:53] guys have allowed us to do. And with that first year in this uh environment,

[1:13:58] I think it's now time for me to step down and and allow someone else to move

[1:14:02] into this position. So uh I'm going to probably step down in November of this

[1:14:07] year to allow a new BSO to come in, new director, new executive director to come

[1:14:11] in and move Black County forward. But I do appreciate all the opportunities that

[1:14:16] I've had in the last eight years.

[1:14:20] » Well, I'd say Elon but not today. Go >> ahead. No, I was just going to say thank

[1:14:26] you much so much for your service, Yolando, but um so sorry to hear that,

[1:14:30] but um certainly understand you have priorities and things to consider and

[1:14:35] and uh other ventures in your life you may want, but can't say enough about

[1:14:39] your reporting and the working together and the relationship we've had. So,

[1:14:43] sorry to hear that news. >> Gerando, I just want to again pass along

[1:14:49] the words I heard at the ISAC conference. uh four different counties

[1:14:55] spoke very highly of your leadership and I appreciate all your help with their

[1:15:01] veterans from their counties. Uh you are definitely been setting a standard for

[1:15:06] the state of Iowa and and that setting that role. So uh just again thank you

[1:15:11] and just appreciate all you do over there.

[1:15:16] Yolanda, I just echo that. It's been an honor to have you as the director and

[1:15:21] you look at uh where things have advanced over your tenure here. we've

[1:15:26] got this brand new facility that um we all work together to help make happen

[1:15:30] and it's just really remarkable to to have and just a shout out that um both

[1:15:36] you and your wife Chakita have just been a an awesome power couple in the service

[1:15:41] of veterans in this community and it's it's been a joy to to be able to support

[1:15:47] you.

[1:15:53] Yeah, you'll end up definitely surprised to hear this. Uh you've been great to

[1:15:57] lean on. Uh very easy to work with in my short tenure here. I'm disappointed to

[1:16:03] hear that, but at the same time, uh you deserve to live a a good life in

[1:16:07] retirement now and and dedicate time to yourself and your wife. So for that, I'm

[1:16:13] glad to hear it for you guys. >> I'll just also add Yolando. Um

[1:16:20] it's been about 4 years uh that I've known you uh since seeking this role. I

[1:16:26] think it's probably the one of the first times I met you. Um with the exception

[1:16:31] of course uh dating back I guess actually to that to those to those

[1:16:35] warrior rides. Um your work is meaningful. Uh your

[1:16:41] leadership is meaningful. Um it's been an absolute pleasure getting to know

[1:16:47] you. uh working with you uh and and calling you a friend. So uh excited to

[1:16:52] continue to do that uh and maybe we can golf together a little bit more uh

[1:16:57] moving forward. So congrats. Uh definitely not the news I was expecting

[1:17:01] to hear this morning. Um but uh really honored to uh to know you and to call

[1:17:07] you a friend. So thank you.

[1:17:13] Any other department heads or elected officials online with a report?

[1:17:19] We'll move on to item seven, minutes approved for September 1, 2026. So move

[1:17:24] second. >> All in favor say I.

[1:17:26] » I. >> I. Same sign. Minutes are approved. Item

[1:17:30] eight is the consent agenda. The following items are acted upon by a

[1:17:32] single resolution unless someone wishes to remove something for discussion.

[1:17:36] » Move. >> Second.

[1:17:39] » This resolution. Please answer. Your name is called.

[1:17:41] » Curtainbach. >> Yes. Grant,

[1:17:43] » yes. >> Paul,

[1:17:44] » yes. >> Schwarz,

[1:17:46] » yes. >> Leilen,

[1:17:47] » yes. Item nine, contracts and agreements. resolution that the federal

[1:17:51] aid agreement between Blackhawk County and the Iowa Department of

[1:17:54] Transportation agreement number 2-26-CHBP-025

[1:18:01] for the competitive highway bridge program grant project BRS- CHBP-

[1:18:08] C00007 parentheses 181-GB-07

[1:18:15] on Eagle Road over Miller Creek be approved and direct the chair to sign

[1:18:18] for same as recommended by Katherine Nicholas, County Engineer.

[1:18:21] » So move. >> Second.

[1:18:23] » Uh good morning again, board. So this is our standard DOT agreement uh that says

[1:18:28] we will receive up to $795,000 when we replace Eagle Road bridge. It

[1:18:34] was selected as as part of a competitive BR highway bridge program. We're

[1:18:39] estimating that cost will be about 1.1 to$ 1.2 million. Uh we have submitted

[1:18:45] plans. It is it should be let in February in the in one of the DOT

[1:18:49] February letings and I would just ask for your approval

[1:18:53] that be we be allowed to move ahead. It just uh we are agreeing to follow all

[1:18:58] federal aid and state DOT requirements.

[1:19:05] » Any questions for K? >> This is a resolution. Please answer.

[1:19:08] Your name is called >> Schwarz.

[1:19:11] » Yes. >> Briant.

[1:19:12] » Yes. >> Herinbach.

[1:19:13] » Yes. >> Hall.

[1:19:14] » Yes. Leland. >> Yes. Item B, resolution that the lowest

[1:19:18] responsible bid received from NB Cook General Contractors Inc. Cedar Falls,

[1:19:22] Iowa for the repair of the skywalk over Lafayette Street between 225 East 6th

[1:19:27] Street and 316 East Fifth Street in Waterlue in the amount of $25,390.

[1:19:34] Engineer's estimate was $30,89 be approved and the chair be authorized

[1:19:39] to sign the contract contingent upon receipt of certificate of insurance as

[1:19:43] recommended by Rory Gbing, facilities director.

[1:19:46] » So moved. >> Second.

[1:19:48] » Morning. >> Good morning board. Rory Giving,

[1:19:50] facilities director. Uh this is as a result uh to damage that the Skywalk

[1:19:55] sustained uh back in October of 24 uh from a garbage truck that had their

[1:20:01] front uh forks lifted up a little too high. Uh fortunately in our case uh it

[1:20:07] was not a structural situation. It was more of a cosmetic. Um we did reach out

[1:20:12] to AECOM who is the uh engineering services that put this uh project

[1:20:18] together for us. Um, we did put it out on our website and we've received one

[1:20:23] proposal from uh Cook uh construction. We're just asking for the board to

[1:20:28] approve us to move forward with that. And this is an insurance claim. So,

[1:20:33] » I was going to say Ry all of this will be from insurance.

[1:20:37] » This will be submitted to uh uh to the that company's insurance

[1:20:43] and we are working with our IAP as well just to make sure that that's a smooth

[1:20:47] process. Any

[1:20:52] questions? >> No.

[1:20:53] » Resolution, please answer. Your name is called.

[1:20:55] » Brandt, >> yes.

[1:20:56] » Curtainbach, >> yes.

[1:20:57] » Hall, >> yes.

[1:20:58] » Schwarz, >> yes.

[1:21:00] » Leilen, >> yes. Item 10, other business. This is a

[1:21:04] motion that the appointment of Jim Bushamp as commissioner on the Veterans

[1:21:07] Affairs Commission be approved to serve the remaining term ending on June 30,

[1:21:11] 2027 as recommended by Yolanda Loveless, Director of Veterans Affairs.

[1:21:15] » So moved. >> Second. Would you like to say a few

[1:21:19] words, Jim? I was going to say you don't have to, but you certainly hope we

[1:21:22] should because your wife says no.

[1:21:28] » Good morning, ladies, gentlemen, board. Um, given the information that uh uh

[1:21:35] Yolanda just passed out, I would like to make a comment.

[1:21:39] I know Yolanda from about two years ago when I worked with him on my own claim

[1:21:46] and in more recent months um working with the uh with the commission board as

[1:21:54] a private citizen and I truly appreciate his uh kind and encouraging comments to

[1:22:00] me. Uh I approach this with both great deal of humility and a great deal of

[1:22:06] excitement. Obviously, one of the first elements that we're going to have to

[1:22:12] address is to try to find a suitable and competent uh replacement for Yolanda,

[1:22:19] which is going to be exceedingly difficult. But it is one that we will

[1:22:24] face and do everything that we can as a commission to ensure that the quality of

[1:22:31] services that our veterans get um remains at the same high level. Uh so

[1:22:39] with that uh my comments conclude.

[1:22:43] » Okay. Well, thank you very much and thanks for being here this morning to

[1:22:46] share comments. >> Thanks Jim.

[1:22:51] All in favor say I. >> I

[1:22:54] post oppose. Same. >> Thank you again for your service and

[1:22:59] congratulations on your point and your job ahead.

[1:23:04] Item B, resolution that the statement of completion and final acceptance of work

[1:23:08] for project LFM-5031-7X-7

[1:23:14] HMA resurfacing on Raymond Road be approved and direct the chair to sign

[1:23:18] for same and authorize and direct the auditor to make final payment in the

[1:23:22] amount of $28,641

[1:23:26] with a total project cost of $954,000. 954,7361

[1:23:35] as recommended by Katherine Nicholas, county engineer. Project contracted

[1:23:39] at1,756,192.70

[1:23:44] contractor Aspro Waterloop. >> So move second.

[1:23:50] » Good morning again, board. As is customary during a final acceptance, I'd

[1:23:54] like to show you some photos so you can see what we've purchased with our $1

[1:23:58] million. And I will try to be expeditious as I uh go through my slides

[1:24:03] here. Just a few comments about what this road was like before. This is the

[1:24:07] Raymond Road portion from uh the new fire station in Gilbertville up to the

[1:24:13] the four-way stop at Deuke Road. That portion from Highway 20 north up to the

[1:24:18] four-way stop. That's our I believe that's our busiest portion of roadway

[1:24:22] out in the county and it has probably our most truck traffic. Uh so it gets a

[1:24:27] lot of wear and tear from uh the trucks and the heavy amount of traffic. It was

[1:24:32] last resurfaced in 2009. So um several years ago obviously and an

[1:24:39] improvement we did uh in 2018 was we base widened the road from the Gville

[1:24:46] city limits up to the Raymond city limits. And by base widening means we

[1:24:50] put an extra 2 ft of shoulder. We paved the shoulder essentially 2 ft wide

[1:24:54] because our maintenance crews were just doing a lot of what we call filling in

[1:24:59] the edge rut. You can see that uh we get off traffic off trafficing of the

[1:25:05] asphalt roadway onto the shoulder by the large semis and they are uh constantly

[1:25:11] tearing away or eating away at that asphalt shoulder creating this edge that

[1:25:16] that of course is dangerous a dangerous drop off. So our uh we were spending

[1:25:21] quite a bit of time doing this edge writing uh maintenance responsibility

[1:25:24] until we did this this uh project in 2018.

[1:25:30] However, as I said, it stopped at Raymond Road. So the Raymond Road

[1:25:33] portion never did receive the edge the base widening. So they were continuing

[1:25:38] to experience this edge rut. And this these this photo on the right, it was

[1:25:43] taken in the city limits of Raymond. So again that was we have maintenance

[1:25:48] responsibilities by our 28e agreement with them that was just taking a lot of

[1:25:52] time for us. So we were really anxious to when we came back and do did this

[1:25:57] resurfacing to improve to do the base widening in the city of Raymond.

[1:26:02] Uh other than that the general condition of the road the ride was getting pretty

[1:26:06] rough at this time. Uh we done crack sealing multiple times. It started to

[1:26:12] exhibit transverse cracking etc. it was time to do a resurfacing on the roadway.

[1:26:17] Uh you've already given these pertinent details. We did split the contract into

[1:26:22] three divisions. The city of Gilbertville had that small share in

[1:26:27] excuse me about 800 ft long right in front of their new fire station. So then

[1:26:32] they owned half the road and then of course our portion was most of it and

[1:26:37] then the city of Raymond uh north up near the four-way stop was

[1:26:43] their portion. I just have a few uh photos of the construction. The first

[1:26:48] thing we did was Aspro came in and did milling milled several inches off the

[1:26:52] entire surface. Then the base widening in that portion of Raymond was

[1:26:59] completed. And that simply means milling a hole, a trench uh 24 in wide by about

[1:27:06] 5 in deep. And then that was filled with a little bit of rock and then it was

[1:27:11] shouldered or paved. The shoulder was paved with this small shoulder uh paving

[1:27:17] machine. Then after that, two lifts of asphalt were placed with about 2 in of

[1:27:23] asphalt in each lift. Uh here you can see the the uh paving crew placing the

[1:27:28] first lift of asphalt. And then this was up near the new Dollar the newer Dollar

[1:27:32] General up up at the four-way stop right here. Placing the first lift of asphalt

[1:27:38] and then the final lift of asphalt. The second lift was placed. And there's some

[1:27:43] nice photos of uh the aspro work here uh taking care at some of the driveways.

[1:27:49] And then here's a final look to the uh I guess this would be I believe to the

[1:27:55] north. Uh these were our final costs about 11% under our our contract cost

[1:28:01] and these were the percentages broken out. Uh we've we have of course

[1:28:06] submitted bills or payment plans to uh Gilbert Valley and the city of Raymond.

[1:28:10] Uh ASPRO did finish uh under the the 25 working days. So no liquidated and

[1:28:16] damages were assessed. It was built in substantial conformance with the plans

[1:28:20] and specifications. So I am recommending that you approve the project so that we

[1:28:25] be allowed to release uh the retainers back to Aspro. Can I answer any

[1:28:29] questions at this time? >> Okay. Thank you. Looks nice.

[1:28:37] » This is a resolution. Please answer. Your name is called.

[1:28:39] » Schwarz, >> yes.

[1:28:41] » Curtainbach, >> yes.

[1:28:43] » Hall, >> yes.

[1:28:44] » Bryant, >> yes.

[1:28:44] » Layen, >> yes.

[1:28:47] » Item C, discussion, possible board action concerning the proposed animal

[1:28:52] control ordinance. >> All right.

[1:28:57] So, per the uh email to the board last week, there were u

[1:29:03] number of changes made to the last draft of this um proposed ordinance. I'm just

[1:29:09] going to highlight those right now. Uh first of all, we redefine the appeal

[1:29:13] board as being the Black County Board of Supervisors.

[1:29:18] Um secondly, under repeat offense, um made a couple of changes. Number one,

[1:29:25] uh we made it second offense and each subsequent offense. We've no longer

[1:29:30] referenced third offense because we no longer have a three tier uh civil

[1:29:35] penalty structure for this. Uh we also uh and this was something that was at

[1:29:42] the suggestion of the sheriff. I put in a line which states, "Prior violations

[1:29:48] of any provision of this title within the preceding 10 years shall be counted

[1:29:53] toward determining a second or subsequent offense." Meaning that if

[1:29:57] it's been a decade since an offense of this uh of this ordinance has been

[1:30:03] found, it's kind of like it goes off your record at that point. Um, we define

[1:30:10] violation. Uh, that's number 20 on page four.

[1:30:15] And moving on, um we did make a reference

[1:30:21] uh because there uh section 11.03 dealt with prohibited conduct that uh and

[1:30:29] prohibited acts that anybody who engages in those in that conduct uh commits a

[1:30:34] violation. We reference that at the end of 11.03.

[1:30:40] Um in 11.04 4. Uh, subsection 6 and subsection 7 now state that the, uh,

[1:30:49] violation penalty is $500 for first offense and $1,000 for each second or

[1:30:55] subsequent offense.

[1:31:01] Uh, under 11.05,

[1:31:04] 5

[1:31:09] we have changed and this is in uh subsection 10.

[1:31:16] Uh we we've talked a great amount in the last uh board meeting where we

[1:31:21] considered this about the animal disposition review committee.

[1:31:27] Um, at that point the board had suggested that it be the chair of the

[1:31:30] board of supervisors along with the sheriff and the director of who happened

[1:31:36] to be the contract animal care provider uh which is currently the Cedarbend

[1:31:41] Humane Society. Um, after that there was some discussion I learned of

[1:31:48] uh with the conservation director and I confirmed with him uh that he would be

[1:31:53] willing to have himself or his designate be named as one of the uh people on this

[1:32:01] commit commission or committee uh so that the board could come off of this

[1:32:06] committee. There was some concern that because the board is the final appeal

[1:32:09] board, they shouldn't have a member on this committee. Uh since then, I

[1:32:13] understand there's been some concern about whether we should have, and we'd

[1:32:17] certainly want to talk to them about this, whether we should have the animal

[1:32:22] care provider provide one of these uh committee people. And that uh that's the

[1:32:30] board should kind of determine at this point. Uh it does occur to me that I can

[1:32:36] add a provision after this sort of a savings clause so to speak where we say

[1:32:43] the uh that if anybody would be unwilling or unable to serve who is

[1:32:48] listed here the board could designate someone else and I think we should do

[1:32:53] that. Um but that uh that was an idea that came a little later that happens

[1:32:59] sometimes. Um, so that's something the board ought to discuss, but I want to

[1:33:03] get through the rest of these highlights first. And that means skipping all the

[1:33:07] way to uh 11.14. That is our last section. And that has

[1:33:13] to do with appeals. And really the only change that's been made there. It is in

[1:33:18] subsections 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 is that now the board of supervisors is the

[1:33:26] appeal board uh for the county. So, those are the changes that have been

[1:33:31] made. Um, did add a spot to put in an ordinance number at the top. That's a a

[1:33:36] technicality, but it's something we usually have that I've left out of

[1:33:39] earlier drafts. And so, um, if there's an area to be discussed, unless

[1:33:45] something new comes up, I I assume that it would be the animal disposition

[1:33:50] review committee uh, under section 11.05. Oh, and by the way, we changed

[1:33:55] the title number from 19 to 11. that was at the suggestion of the concern of who

[1:34:02] compiles our ordinances. So I had gone after our last one. They wanted to use

[1:34:07] one of the reserve numbers. So another technical change.

[1:34:16] I was going to say I know when an email I'd sent it was really just my concern

[1:34:20] and and that's why I said I want certainly others to weigh in but it was

[1:34:24] the fact that number one the Cedar Band Humane Society is contracted by us for

[1:34:28] services and whether or not we are happy with that or not happy with that or

[1:34:32] continued that service or not or whether they needed to go out of business or

[1:34:37] something too that it's still that relationship I guess because this is a

[1:34:41] county created ordinance. I I was just looking out for that and and when you

[1:34:46] mentioned um conservation, I was pleased that some like say with Mike and his

[1:34:51] background in history and that he would be willing to sit on it, but I wasn't

[1:34:54] thinking about the fact that the chair that would take the place of the chair,

[1:34:58] I was looking at more the fact that it might take this fact the role of the

[1:35:01] Cedarband Humane Society and remove them kind of from any conflict or anything

[1:35:07] that could come up too with animal. >> Yeah. And if uh and that that could

[1:35:11] happen um that would leave two because we'd no longer have the board chair

[1:35:15] designate on there. And >> are we procluded from having a board

[1:35:20] members? >> No. In my opinion, I don't have an issue

[1:35:23] with the chair serving on that initial committee and then if there is an appeal

[1:35:28] coming to the full board. I don't personally I don't have an issue with

[1:35:31] that. I don't know how the other supervisors feel. I I can understand the

[1:35:34] concern of one >> being on there, but at the same time, I

[1:35:38] don't think it's a problem either. I think that you're you're looking at a a

[1:35:43] one board member versus a five member full board considering it on appeal.

[1:35:50] » I think I think the concern was more when we tossed around the idea of two

[1:35:54] board members being on there as we were trying to fill out the committee. And so

[1:35:58] I'm supportive of having a board chair for design conservation

[1:36:03] um and sheriff or designate. Um I think that that takes care of it.

[1:36:08] » When when we say designate, does it have to be a board member or

[1:36:13] as a could that be at the discretion of the board in the negotiation with the

[1:36:19] animal service provider? Could that be a design could that designate be for

[1:36:24] instance Cedar Band? Um, in my opinion, it could because when you say the board

[1:36:28] chair or designate, that gives the board chair the power to designate someone

[1:36:33] else. >> Then we aren't requiring them to do it

[1:36:36] in this ordinance. But if they are agreeable to it and we just feel like

[1:36:40] it's it's best to remove the board from that, then there's

[1:36:43] » it could be them or anybody. It's just it's just like not designating them as

[1:36:48] it I think is the only one. So then we're committed to doing it. And I I

[1:36:52] know for example, in the case of Mike Hendrickson,

[1:36:56] » um he would he's he's happy to have it worded this way. He would probably

[1:37:00] designate someone else who was currently in the uh in the active dealing with

[1:37:06] animals a little more than he is because he has a a couple of uh of rangers who

[1:37:12] are dealing with pet issues pretty frequently.

[1:37:18] And um should it maybe be clarified um at least for for the board design

[1:37:24] that it's a board um board chair or design as agreed to by the board of

[1:37:30] supervisors. Um just I don't foresee a problem with our current makeup, but who

[1:37:35] knows what the board will be 10 years from now, 20 years from now. Um and just

[1:37:42] to make sure there's not some funny situation.

[1:37:46] I think that's just transparent anyway bringing it before the board for the

[1:37:49] decision instead of just one person making it anyway

[1:37:53] for me. >> Yeah.

[1:37:55] » So a designate approved by a majority >> of the board

[1:38:00] » of the board of supervisors. >> Yep.

[1:38:05] » All right. Um, so as I understand it, the kind of direction the board wants to

[1:38:11] take to approve a final version of this would include the sheriff or sheriff's

[1:38:15] design, the board chair or design approved by

[1:38:21] the board of supervisor and the director of Blackout County

[1:38:26] Conservation or the conservation director's designate. And then we would

[1:38:31] put a clause that would say if anyone one is unable or unwilling to serve the

[1:38:36] board of supervisors shall by majority vote designate um an alternative

[1:38:43] committee member in the event committee needs to be convened.

[1:38:50] » We we tracking so far >> we're tracking

[1:38:55] » among the many changes made. Thank you. So, we also have as a later agenda item,

[1:39:02] I think it's the next one, um the publication of notice of a

[1:39:07] hearing for this. I believe that

[1:39:13] we could do we should probably get the ordinance in final form and approved

[1:39:19] before we do this ideally. And so, I think we should perhaps wait on that

[1:39:24] until next week. Um, technically you could do it, we could change it, it

[1:39:29] would be in in time. Uh, but it just I I think setting hearings should be after

[1:39:35] the board is satisfied that we have a final version to vote on unless you want

[1:39:39] to vote on it with the changes that we've just articulated. That would be

[1:39:42] the other >> I'm ready to do that.

[1:39:44] » I'm fine to just >> You're fine doing that bandaid off.

[1:39:46] » And we can do that. >> No band-aid. We've just been working.

[1:39:51] » It it gets there's a fatigue effect after a while on this. Well, we've made

[1:39:55] progress in just a few weeks, so it's taken a while, but Yeah.

[1:39:59] » All right. Well, then I think that uh when you

[1:40:02] » So, you want possible board action to be action?

[1:40:05] » Yep. >> On the on the previous item.

[1:40:08] » Yep. I think that uh item D would be where you take the action

[1:40:13] » and specify when you when you read this this motion that it incorporates the

[1:40:19] changes previously discussed in item C.

[1:40:24] and you >> and I should have a draft out to you

[1:40:27] fairly soon on that. Hopefully either yet today or tomorrow

[1:40:33] » famous last words until fire comes up. >> I've so far kept up the last few times

[1:40:38] but >> I didn't mean anything by that like you

[1:40:41] you've been great. So thank you. >> Does that sound like the motion we want

[1:40:47] to go ahead with item D? >> I'll make the motion.

[1:40:50] » What's your motion? >> Item D. And what was that language you

[1:40:54] wanted us to add, Mike, to make? >> Okay. So, as I understand it, the motion

[1:40:58] is to direct the county auditor to advertise for a public hearing to be

[1:41:02] held at 9:05 a.m. on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 in boardroom 2011 of the

[1:41:09] Blackhawk County Courthouse, 316 Eth Street, Waterlue, Iowa, on the proposed

[1:41:16] animal control ordinance number 149. with the changes discussed under item C

[1:41:23] in today's meeting. Uh that would provide for the supervision and control

[1:41:28] of animals within Blackhawk County so that animals may be kept in a manner

[1:41:32] consistent with public health, public safety, property rights, animal welfare,

[1:41:39] and applicable state law. >> Second.

[1:41:42] » Think this is a motion. Do we want a resolution?

[1:41:46] » No. We're just advertising. This is this is just

[1:41:50] » All in favor say I. >> I

[1:41:53] » oppose. Same sign. The motion carries. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mike. It was a lot

[1:41:59] of work and a lot of effort in all the changes as well as the revisions and

[1:42:04] things to come. Item E, discussion possible board action on temporary

[1:42:08] security services at Pinerest.

[1:42:13] » Good morning board. Jim Bor giving facilities director. Um as we're nearing

[1:42:18] the uh completion of the uh new clinic entryway,

[1:42:23] um we uh our next steps are to uh move forward with the other two entryways on

[1:42:28] the south side of that facility. Um, and so what that means is we'll have to uh

[1:42:36] come up with a plan to direct uh the general public um through the new uh

[1:42:42] clinic doorways and uh direct them uh through uh into the uh lobby area. And

[1:42:49] so what we're asking for is during this time is to allow us to uh hire a uh

[1:42:56] security service uh one person that would be at the entryway of that clinic

[1:43:01] area um serving nothing more than uh direction as far as uh for the general

[1:43:08] public uh anybody visiting that building. Um also uh making sure that uh

[1:43:14] people are not uh uh going outside of the uh general path to the lobby. Um the

[1:43:22] health department, they do have some of their uh

[1:43:26] uh clinic space. Uh they do have some equipment in there. They have

[1:43:30] refrigerators in there with vaccines. So although those doors are going to be

[1:43:35] locked, uh we still feel it's necessary uh to have somebody there to have eyes

[1:43:41] on that uh to make sure people are going where they're supposed to be going. Um

[1:43:46] and so we're the goal is uh to get these other two entryways completed within 6

[1:43:52] weeks. Um we're asking for uh security services not to exceed nine uh just to

[1:43:58] cover ourselves uh just in case it uh does go over that 6 weeks so we don't

[1:44:03] have to come back to the board and ask for an additional uh time. Um so the

[1:44:08] amount uh that we estimated for those uh um 9 weeks is $11,520.

[1:44:16] Uh that is $32 an hour for the security services. Um, we did look at uh

[1:44:22] potentially other options uh doing this in-house. It's just uh you know most

[1:44:28] departments are running fairly lean. Our department being one of them. We just

[1:44:32] don't have the resources to set somebody up there for uh 8 to nine hours a day.

[1:44:37] So, um and I believe the health department's probably in the same

[1:44:40] situation. So uh if you are in agreement um we will go ahead and make those

[1:44:46] arrangements with permar and uh get that set up with them.

[1:44:52] » Do you have a separate contract already made up for this then?

[1:44:55] » Uh they did provide us a uh document um for the chair to sign.

[1:45:01] » So if we approve this is we got to approve that contract separately or will

[1:45:04] this >> uh

[1:45:07] let me let me check on that. I don't have that in front of me. I need to see

[1:45:11] what that verbiage says actually if it's actual contract or if it's agreement. Uh

[1:45:16] but uh we could put in the in the verbiage here um to sign

[1:45:23] uh you know to allow the chair to sign whether that's an agreement or a

[1:45:27] contract. Then I wouldn't have to come back again for a second time.

[1:45:31] » Meaning you could put in contingent. You could do the approval contingent on

[1:45:35] whatever you >> Yeah. something along those lines just

[1:45:38] to >> if there's some way you'd rather have

[1:45:40] it. >> So, this is they're not going to do

[1:45:43] screenings or anything along those lines. This is just sort of directional

[1:45:47] » traffic control. Yep. A little bit of security again. Uh making sure that uh

[1:45:53] you know they're not wandering off into other hallways within that clinic space.

[1:45:58] Uh but really just traffic control into the main lobby.

[1:46:04] » Be cheaper. Yeah, that seems like a hell of a lot of money. $11,000 for signs.

[1:46:09] » Yeah, there's >> Yeah, there is a uh signs.

[1:46:13] » I think there could create some confusion when you go in through that

[1:46:16] just the way that clinic is designed. There is a stairwell also um right

[1:46:21] there. Um even though those doors going into uh each wing are locked. Uh you

[1:46:30] know, we should be okay there. But I think for the sake of uh making sure

[1:46:35] that uh people know where to go once they get in there um and keep uh those

[1:46:40] areas those clinic spaces safe.

[1:46:46] » Could we >> we could try we could try signs for a

[1:46:49] week or so and see how that goes. I mean I'd be definitely open to something like

[1:46:54] that. >> We looked at other employment services

[1:46:56] outside of Perar. I mean again $32 an hour is is that's good. That's good

[1:47:01] money for >> Yeah.

[1:47:03] » nine weeks though. >> Yeah, we can search other uh we just

[1:47:07] went with Perark because that's who we have our existing contract through.

[1:47:12] » I have an idea. >> Could we use one of the health

[1:47:16] department interns? >> We could reach out to them. I'm assuming

[1:47:20] that each one of their staff has, you know, their normal duties to do. But

[1:47:25] » um >> I'm just being facitious.

[1:47:28] I I would maybe we table this till next Tuesday. I'd like to go over there today

[1:47:33] after the meeting. >> Okay.

[1:47:34] » Walk through, see it for myself >> and and kind of get a feel for what the

[1:47:39] situation >> and I can definitely go with you if you

[1:47:42] » I mean and I don't mean to diminish it, but if the if the scope of the service

[1:47:45] was going to be more screening and that sort of thing, I could understand the

[1:47:49] permar. >> Yeah. My my concern is just we're we're

[1:47:53] we're basically paying $32 for a greeter is what it sounds like.

[1:47:58] » And that that seems >> I don't know.

[1:48:02] » Yeah. >> And that security position's come up

[1:48:04] several times. >> Yeah. And and and screening Yeah. for

[1:48:07] that facility. If we were going to do a true screening, then obviously we would

[1:48:11] have to follow the other guidelines that we need to that are

[1:48:15] » required here at the courthouse. >> So yeah.

[1:48:18] » Yeah. I' I'd like to see what one of the temp agencies could maybe offer

[1:48:24] um instead cuz of course that $32 an hour um not very much of that is

[1:48:29] actually going to the to the guard um right

[1:48:33] » that's mostly going to per I'd like to see us try to utilize a a temp agency

[1:48:39] that's taken less of the cut

[1:48:45] » something to explore and come back to next week

[1:48:47] » yep please. >> Yeah. Um, like I said, we're hoping to

[1:48:51] have that uh clinic entryway completed by this Friday. So, uh, as they move on

[1:48:57] to the next ones, we'll make sure to get this back in front of the board before

[1:49:01] we actually close that down. So, all right. Thank you.

[1:49:09] » Item F, discussion, tax abatement procedure and request.

[1:49:13] » Do we anticipate this being more than 15 minutes? Otherwise,

[1:49:16] » what do we think? Maybe maybe I was going to say

[1:49:18] » I can give you the overview real quick and then it's going to depend on the the

[1:49:23] uh discussion that uh that ensues. >> Well, and I I will too kind of overview

[1:49:29] of your overview coming what's coming up and why this is on for an agenda item. I

[1:49:33] was going to say we have had tax abatement requests I mean forever um way

[1:49:38] before me but I said they've always been done and and they've typically always

[1:49:41] been from a church or um a nonprofit and there have been a variety of reasons.

[1:49:47] Sometimes it was all that February 1st timeline. Some met it, some had missed

[1:49:53] it, some had forgotten just a whole host of things um that um they'd come to us

[1:49:59] for requests. And the board always as TJ is always good to point out to them as I

[1:50:04] think others have that it's kind of a board responsibility that they make the

[1:50:07] request they can or they don't whether they have a recommendation or not where

[1:50:12] the project is that we're kind of the final step and they can make that

[1:50:15] request. So they always do and but this year there's been an unusual amount and

[1:50:21] number of unusual requests I should say. Um there were um just that come to mind

[1:50:28] I know there was one from a church um where the seller had paid the taxes but

[1:50:33] the church wanted to go back and have receive an abatement um for the taxes

[1:50:38] because they were a church and so and there was also a business that had

[1:50:43] taxable properties that had requested some properties um that receive

[1:50:47] abatement for that. And then um in the last few weeks we did have um someone

[1:50:52] that had had destruction of property or they felt their property had been

[1:50:55] destroyed and there was a tax abatement request they wanted to come to us that

[1:50:59] they did too. So, um, I have learned so much and I've kept going back to, like I

[1:51:05] said, TJ and Linda and and Tim and Mike and we had to always go back to others

[1:51:10] and kind of find out what was legal, but what was kind of going on and why some

[1:51:14] of these requests were, yes, the board could override some of that, but

[1:51:19] understanding all the the things that had been done or needed to be done or

[1:51:23] clarified before you actually made that sometimes were not something that had

[1:51:27] been done all the previous years I'd been there because they were pretty

[1:51:31] standard in the types of requests and these all seem so different that it was

[1:51:35] like okay what am I missing because I wanted to learn what it was so it was

[1:51:38] kind of I thought very helpful information Mike's kind of been involved

[1:51:42] in this last one was just kind of from another again legal standpoint but Tim

[1:51:46] and TJ and Linda work with this all the time and I thought that's kind of the

[1:51:52] key people that have just been so helpful to learn more know more and not

[1:51:55] just think that oh yeah take it put it on the board agenda and we get to say So

[1:51:59] that's what led me to ask for this for I thought it would be beneficial for all

[1:52:03] of us and it always has been for me. So it's up to you and your questions or

[1:52:08] anything too but Mike kind of and the staff

[1:52:10] » so I want great >> I want to know supervisor hall when do

[1:52:14] you have to be done here? >> I just need to use the restroom.

[1:52:16] » You want to go

[1:52:20] » well maybe we uh maybe we take care of that now and then started. Yeah.

[1:52:26] » Not trying to make it longer but Just trying to be kind. But yeah,

[1:52:37] » I hope I didn't just elongate this.

[1:52:43] » Hands are freezing. >> See, that's what Who was it said they

[1:52:47] wanted to keep it this way? Tim, I think.

[1:52:48] » Yeah. >> Said, "I wish my office was the same."

[1:52:50] » You got a jacket on you. Yeah, that's >> sleeve. It is cool. My hands are cool.

[1:52:57] Yeah, Julie fingers are numb. Actually, >> I was going to say I wonder if you had

[1:53:03] any security questions like for Washington.

[1:53:06] » Well, I'm curious. I'm curious.

[1:53:12] » Yeah.

[1:53:15] » Before Decat was dissolved, that's where their meetings were.

[1:53:19] » Oh, were they? >> Up on the second, third floor. And

[1:53:25] » so, >> thanks very much for coming today.

[1:53:27] » Congratulations, Jim.

[1:53:31] » It was kind of I always question the purpose of the guard out there. didn't

[1:53:36] seem to have any real

[1:53:47] » obvious

[1:53:58] construction became like okay there's

[1:54:04] » always been I'll be I'll let you guys have thoughts.

[1:54:09] Let me know. I'll be out there. >> Well, yeah.

[1:54:23] » All right. Are we are we back in session?

[1:54:26] » I can relate. >> We are.

[1:54:27] » All right. >> Thank you. Uh so real quick I'm going to

[1:54:31] give a little overview and then um and then the the various departments that

[1:54:35] are involved. Uh they're represented here uh for you know questions that

[1:54:41] involve their department. First of all key distinction is

[1:54:45] suspension versus abatement. Um suspension means you're putting off the

[1:54:50] collection of property taxes. Uh therefore there's not going to be any

[1:54:55] enforcement of them for a period of time. But taxes do continue to acrue for

[1:55:00] payment at a later time. I think a common instance is that that payment

[1:55:05] occurs when the property is sold. Uh another key principle here is that

[1:55:12] abatement requires statutory authorization. So the board does not

[1:55:17] have general equitable discretion to grant this grant abatement. uh the code

[1:55:24] must specifically uh authorize it and we're going to talk

[1:55:28] about those areas that are authorized. So most of this is go is is governed by

[1:55:33] Iowa code chapter 445 but there are a number of provisions that affect this in

[1:55:38] other chapters including chapter uh 331, chapter 427 and chapter 446.

[1:55:46] So specific grounds uh first of all there is uh a ground where we can

[1:55:55] suspend taxes again distinction here uh under uh for hardship or inability uh

[1:56:03] to pay hardship or inability to contribute to the public revenue and

[1:56:06] that is under uh sections 427 and8 and 427.10.

[1:56:14] So the uh in those situations, a taxpayer needs to file a petition with

[1:56:19] the treasurer and most of this requires a petition to be filed with the

[1:56:23] treasurer uh by March 1. Uh petition must be sworn by the taxpayer. So there

[1:56:30] must be a swearing statement within it for it to be valid. The board then has

[1:56:36] discretion to suspend taxes. Again, that doesn't mean abate, but suspend taxes.

[1:56:43] So taxes would continue to acrue uh for payment at a later time. We see that

[1:56:48] quite frequently. However, and this is important, the

[1:56:53] board may the board has discretion to abate

[1:57:00] previously suspended taxes in the event that payment appears that it's never

[1:57:05] going to happen. I guess that the board under 427.10

[1:57:10] 10 has the discretion to abate previously suspended taxes. Now, there's

[1:57:15] not a set time frame as to when that happens after that, and we can dig in

[1:57:20] further on that, but as an overview, 427.10

[1:57:24] gives the board authority to abate previously suspended taxes.

[1:57:30] Uh, next ground, casualty loss. All right, this is one we've dealt with

[1:57:35] recently, uh, through a request. Um, it didn't come as a matter of public

[1:57:41] record. I don't believe an agenda item was created for this, but this is under

[1:57:46] uh section 445.62 of the code of Iowa. Board has the

[1:57:50] authority to abate or refund in whole or part taxes of any person whose

[1:57:58] buildings, crop, stock, or other property has been destroyed by fire,

[1:58:03] tornado, or other unavoidable casualty. uh this abatement or refund is allowed

[1:58:11] only to the extent that the destruction wasn't covered by insurance.

[1:58:17] Now uh as the board's aware, I've recently researched this particular

[1:58:22] ground. Uh case law is not 100% clear on it. However,

[1:58:28] um the wording of the statute uh together with the other authority that I

[1:58:32] found suggests that destruction does not mean simply damage or repable damage. Uh

[1:58:39] people generally have the obligation to repair damage to their to their

[1:58:44] property. Uh destruction means actual destruction of property. They don't

[1:58:50] define that term in the code but that term has

[1:58:55] kind of understood definitions and it goes beyond

[1:58:59] um beyond something for which repairs are made.

[1:59:03] uh even if less than full destruction were to be accepted for purposes of

[1:59:08] abatement and that's something I don't advise the board uh consider because I

[1:59:15] think it could set a dangerous precedent uh at the county level but if it less

[1:59:21] than full destruction were accepted the abatement wouldn't be measured by the

[1:59:27] amount of destruction uh but rather it would be measured in

[1:59:32] how much taxes you know value would go down. So how much taxes would be reduced

[1:59:38] due to the dei the dimmonition in value of the property. All right in the case

[1:59:43] of uh in the case of less than full destruction

[1:59:48] um being accepted for purposes of abatement.

[1:59:52] Uh, next ground uh when the county holds a tax sale certificate or the parcel is

[2:00:00] unsold at tax sale. So now the county purchases at tax sale and I don't

[2:00:06] believe we currently do this. I don't believe this has happened in the time

[2:00:09] I've worked here, but I know it's legally permissible.

[2:00:14] uh board of supervisors can compromise those taxes by written agreement or

[2:00:19] abate by resolution the tax interest fees or costs.

[2:00:24] Uh if a parcel is offered at tax sale but not sold, the county can compromise

[2:00:30] by written agreement or abatement by resolution

[2:00:34] uh the tax interest, fees or costs. I believe we have done some of that where

[2:00:38] we have a property sitting uh without standing taxes and we enter into an

[2:00:43] agreement so that it can be acquired and uh and hopefully put to productive use.

[2:00:49] Uh this agreement must be filed with the treasurer. A next ground for abatement

[2:00:55] late acquired exempt property. Now there's a deadline for someone to

[2:01:02] petition for exemption and that is February 1 of that you know that

[2:01:08] calendar year that tax year. Um, if someone buys, say somebody buys a

[2:01:14] church, uh, but they did so after the February 1 deadline and there's still

[2:01:19] taxes owing on it, um, they can then petition

[2:01:25] to have that property be declared exempt and to have that go back as though they

[2:01:33] were able to timely file a uh, petition for

[2:01:38] uh, the exemption. So this is only good and there's there's a very tenuous

[2:01:44] exception you can find under case law. We've dealt with that I believe several

[2:01:48] years ago. But technically you're not supposed to do this unless they could

[2:01:55] not meet the February 1 deadline. So if they got that property before that, they

[2:02:00] need to meet that February 1 deadline. And then of course the property is

[2:02:05] something that would have been exempt under Iowa code 427.1.

[2:02:12] Um another uh area where the board has discretion or authority to abate is

[2:02:20] clerical error. This is under 331.301 subsection 14. So it's under county home

[2:02:27] rule. Um this is when it's just as it sounds. It's when there's a clerical

[2:02:33] error that resulted in assessment of uh penalty, interest, cost, taxes that

[2:02:39] shouldn't have been. Then we we typically would wave all of that in that

[2:02:44] circumstance. Um in fact there's a uh

[2:02:49] you'll uh you'll find later there's a mandatory

[2:02:54] um abatement in cases where there is uh where there's an erroneous or illegally

[2:03:00] paid tax and I'll get to that in a second. So now I'm moving on to another

[2:03:04] category of abatement and this is where the board must abate. All right. Uh

[2:03:09] first of all and some of these by the way are are are sort of head scratchers.

[2:03:13] We'll get into that in a second here. Um, number one, uncollectable taxes

[2:03:20] returned by outofcount treasurer. So when a treasurer receiving an abstract

[2:03:27] endorses it uncollectible and administratively

[2:03:32] impractical to collect the tax, the board of supervisors

[2:03:37] shall compromise or bait the tax interest and cost under Iowa code

[2:03:45] section 445.56.

[2:03:49] Um, next one, impractical when when it is impractical to collect

[2:03:55] taxes after tax sale and personal judgment remedies. So, if the treasurer

[2:04:01] determines that it is impractical to pursue collection of the total amount

[2:04:07] due through the tax sale and through personal judgment remedies. And by the

[2:04:13] way, personal judgment means that it is that one of the remedies that is

[2:04:18] permitted to the treasurer is to file suit against the taxpayer to try to

[2:04:24] collect through a personal judgment against that person. We have done this

[2:04:30] one time uh since I've been employed by the county. Uh we had to serve somebody

[2:04:35] down in Florida for it, but then it was later determined that it would be

[2:04:38] uncollectible. and the treasurer who was then Rita Schmidt determined that we

[2:04:43] would not persist in in trying to prosecute the suit. So, we dismissed the

[2:04:48] suit in that instance. Uh but anyway, if the treasur determines

[2:04:52] that it's impractical to pursue collection of a total amount due through

[2:04:56] tax sale and personal judgment remedies, the treasurer shall make a written

[2:05:01] recommendation to the board of supervisors to abate the amount due and

[2:05:06] the board of supervisors shall abate by resolution the amount due and direct the

[2:05:12] treasurer to strike the amount due from the county system. I believe we've seen

[2:05:16] this on occasion on recommendation by the treasurer.

[2:05:21] Um, next one where we must debate are taxes owed on state or political

[2:05:29] subdivision property. All right. So 445.63

[2:05:34] 63 uh is where we find this uh this provision and that is when taxes are

[2:05:41] owing against a parcel owned or claimed by the state or a city or county. So any

[2:05:48] political subdivision uh the taxes preeded their ownership.

[2:05:54] The treasurer shall give notice to the appropriate governing body which and

[2:05:59] this is the part that's kind of the head scratcher which shall pay the amount

[2:06:03] due. But if they don't pay then we must abate. So we have to give notice to the

[2:06:09] government that they need to pay the taxes outstanding. But when they don't

[2:06:13] pay it on time then we have to abate them. Um and so then there's a separate

[2:06:21] section 446.7 sub2 that's very similar municipal

[2:06:26] political subdivision parcels at tax sale.

[2:06:31] Uh so when taxes are owing against parcels owned or claimed by a municipal

[2:06:36] or political subdivision of the state of Iowa or parcels of the state or its

[2:06:42] agencies, the treasurer shall give notice to the appropriate governing body

[2:06:46] of whichever government owns it claiming ownership anyway that owns it uh that

[2:06:54] they owe it and the amount due. And then if they fail to pay the amount due, the

[2:06:59] board of supervisors shall abate. Um I don't believe I've seen either of these

[2:07:04] circumstances arise in my time here. Um finally, and this was the one I

[2:07:10] mentioned earlier, uh refund

[2:07:14] of erroneously or illegally paid tax. So the board of supervisors shall uh direct

[2:07:22] county treasurer to refund any uh to any taxpayer any tax or portion of tax to

[2:07:29] have been found erroneously or illegally paid together with all interest fees and

[2:07:34] costs actually paid. Um, now it is it typically is not to be

[2:07:40] ordered uh unless a claim for refund is

[2:07:44] presented to the board within 2 years of the date the tax is due. There's kind of

[2:07:49] a statute of limitations on this one. Um, or if it is appealed to the board of

[2:07:54] review, the property assessment appeal board uh, director revenue or district

[2:08:00] court within two years of the final decision. So if they appeal it to one of

[2:08:04] the tax assessment appeal through the tax assessment appeal routes and that's

[2:08:09] within two two years prior then they are effectively tolling the statute of

[2:08:14] limitations so they're still on time. Um next category and I promise we're almost

[2:08:20] done here. >> I'm learning more today and more than

[2:08:22] I've ever heard. >> I tell you and I and one of these

[2:08:25] already gave me a question mark that I have to go back and research. It's funny

[2:08:29] how that works though. specific circumstances where the board

[2:08:34] cannot abate. And that doesn't mean they're the only ones, but these are

[2:08:38] ones that that are important to keep in mind. Number one, as I already

[2:08:42] mentioned, no general equitable authority. So Iowa courts have actually

[2:08:48] confirmed this over the years that there's not a general

[2:08:54] uh equitable authority by either a court or the board of supervisors to

[2:09:00] compromise or abate taxes just on general equitable grounds. So again, we

[2:09:05] have to have a statutory ground. Each time one of these comes before the

[2:09:09] board, we have to find that statutory ground.

[2:09:13] Um the uh

[2:09:18] with regard to uh a circumstance that could arise, I've never seen this arise

[2:09:24] here. The board of supervisors could be put into a position where they may act

[2:09:30] as a board of equalization. And if that were to happen, equalization duties are

[2:09:35] limited to equalizing the value of the property assessed by the property

[2:09:40] officer. Again, I don't see that ever happening. We've had equalization

[2:09:44] orders. Those have been addressed by the assessor. They happen. They have never

[2:09:49] come before the board. And I'm not sure that there's really a circumstance where

[2:09:54] the board would serve in this capacity anymore, but it does technically still

[2:09:58] exist on the books. Um,

[2:10:03] next one. No authority to abate another taxing body's levy. It's if it's a

[2:10:09] different government's taxes, our board can't abate them. That's the bottom

[2:10:12] line. Um and then uh

[2:10:19] other than that, you know, you just look to the statute for your grounds to

[2:10:23] abate. But if you don't have if you don't have statutory grounds,

[2:10:28] um if the taxes, you don't have general, you you can't

[2:10:32] just do it based on equity. Uh so you got to have specific grounds in order to

[2:10:36] abate. Now, if

[2:10:41] there are, it's important to understand the procedure here as well, and I think

[2:10:45] this generally happens, but petitions are to be filed with the treasurer by

[2:10:48] March 1 in the event that there's going to be a discretionary abatement.

[2:10:55] Um, and that's under 427.8 or 427.10. Those are the hardship abatements.

[2:11:01] Um the uh abatements under 44516

[2:11:09] which are the where it's impractical to collect after tax sale and personal

[2:11:16] judgment remedies have been exhausted or or found impractical.

[2:11:21] Um that you know must be accompanied by a resolution of the board and we've had

[2:11:26] that come before us before. Uh mandatory abatements require written

[2:11:32] recommendation from the treasurer uh before the board acts by resolution.

[2:11:39] And uh any suspended taxes or abatements the county treasurer shall remain within

[2:11:45] the county system an official record or the official record of those

[2:11:49] determinations and what was decided.

[2:11:55] Um moving right along. If in the event by the way that uh any

[2:12:01] taxes are abated for for and recommendation of the treasurer, they

[2:12:06] shall be deemed fully satisfied and cancelled and the records need to

[2:12:10] reflect that. Now, for refunds of erroneously or illegally paid taxes, a

[2:12:15] claim must be presented to the board again within two years after the date

[2:12:19] tax is due or within two years of the final decision if the matter was

[2:12:25] appealed. So if it goes down one of those assessment appeals. All right. So

[2:12:29] the the bottom line here and the one thing that the board needs to remember

[2:12:34] on all of this is that when an abatement and and the board's always done a good

[2:12:39] job of this in my opinion at least since I've been here has when a request for

[2:12:44] abatement comes to the board don't ever suggest to a taxpayer if you're the one

[2:12:50] talking to them that you know oh yeah you know it sounds like you've got a

[2:12:53] good case or it sounds like no we've got to we have to find our specific statuto

[2:12:59] ground in order to go through with that or we don't have the authority to abate

[2:13:04] and that's the important thing to remember. All right.

[2:13:08] Um so I think that's uh my part. If you have any questions for me right now, I

[2:13:13] will do my best to either record them and come back later or to uh try to

[2:13:18] explain what my thoughts are. >> Well, I know that's where like in this

[2:13:22] last incident where we were asked that and it sounded like something

[2:13:25] legitimate. I think the person said they'd even seen the form on other

[2:13:30] county sites or whatever that they could use and they were just looking for

[2:13:33] something similar on our website. And so, um, then I reached out to, like I

[2:13:40] said, I mentioned in the email, I think, to all of us that I was going to re we

[2:13:43] had to reach out to different department heads because that would be the

[2:13:45] treasurer that'd be involved and be the assessor that'd be involved. Sometimes

[2:13:49] it's Tim that's also involved, but we also needed the legal counsel from Mike

[2:13:54] before we just put something like that on the agenda and approve it. And then

[2:13:57] we started running into the different aspects of it which were totally unknown

[2:14:01] to me, I guess, of how it could be done or how it was done. So

[2:14:08] that's the part I think that's difficult to know to work through or how or even

[2:14:11] in the case of the church where um they thought they legitimately had a com not

[2:14:17] a complaint but a reason to do the abatement and typically we'd say yes you

[2:14:20] did you didn't you got the property is at this date you know and that type of

[2:14:24] thing so you probably would but then Linda suggested I can't remember what

[2:14:28] the document was called um >> sales agreement

[2:14:31] » like a what was it >> a closing statementing the closing

[2:14:34] statement >> and then when we got that and everybody

[2:14:37] took a look at that then it was then you actually saw that that had been paid by

[2:14:42] the seller. So while it would have been something that you might have put on and

[2:14:46] listening to the not that the church in any way tried to mislead us but they

[2:14:51] felt they were entitled to that because they were a church and they wanted us to

[2:14:55] put it on and were very frustrated and kept saying you know hey let's do this

[2:14:58] why aren't you doing this and um didn't didn't maybe understand either. So it

[2:15:04] was great to have all those individuals have that expertise. So I guess if

[2:15:07] anything it's kind of reaching out to make sure all of them including just the

[2:15:12] legal aspect but of all the different aspects of it. And I know TJ even when

[2:15:16] you mentioned this last one about the property being destroyed um and what is

[2:15:21] destroyed I thought you had certain things um that if you wouldn't mind like

[2:15:26] I said that was what constitutes destroyed or not or to what level and it

[2:15:30] isn't just >> having damaged roofs and things like

[2:15:33] that. uh TJ Koixfeld assessor. Um we do look we look at properties every year

[2:15:39] that you know not we're not seeing every single property every single year but we

[2:15:42] are reviewing properties and when he mentioned that his property was

[2:15:44] destroyed and unmarketable um we instantly tag it and then we go out and

[2:15:48] we take a look at it so we can verify if it truly is unusable we'll assess we'll

[2:15:53] we'll assess that differently if that's the case of January 1st. So we we assess

[2:15:57] as of January 1st each year. So, if they fix it throughout the year, you won't

[2:16:01] see any kind of relief at all. Um, just because it's it was if it was damaged in

[2:16:06] let's just say July or April or May or June somewhere, whatever that hail was.

[2:16:10] Um, they fix everything by January 1, then it never really happened in in

[2:16:16] valuation ice because we value January 1st. So, that's the important thing to

[2:16:20] remember. And the taxes that are currently out there now are for 2025.

[2:16:24] So, any kind of abatement would have been for something that was prior to any

[2:16:27] damage at all anyway. uh the taxes that will be coming out after this coming in

[2:16:31] January will be um for the our 2027 year be for uh 28 2028 in the fall. So how

[2:16:39] how the assessment process will will keep up with this as it's moving along.

[2:16:43] Now this is where it comes down to cosmetic versus not hail damage on a on

[2:16:48] a commercial building. You know for our purposes I don't know if it would affect

[2:16:52] assess value much. Uh we don't we we haven't had any any kind of input or any

[2:16:58] kind of appraisal work or anything to say due to hail damage it's worth 5% 10%

[2:17:01] less. I don't have a clue. Um you know it there's there's no market on that

[2:17:06] right now. We haven't had any catastrophic hail like this to see hey

[2:17:10] this house has this house had vinyl sighting and it's got a bunch of dimples

[2:17:13] all over the side of it. What does that mean? I I don't know. You know we'll see

[2:17:17] down the road if that really truly matters or not. Um, but yeah, in this

[2:17:20] case here, I can't say that it wouldn't affect market value, but I don't know

[2:17:27] how much or or anything about that. There's been nothing submitted. I'll say

[2:17:30] that. So, other than just, you know, this this should affect market value.

[2:17:34] That's all we've heard. We do have it flagged at his other parcel. Um, we do

[2:17:38] have it flagged to come take a look at. I believe they've been in contact with

[2:17:40] them. So, but that's the process on the values. And so, and that happens with

[2:17:46] floods, um, fires, they're all treated the same way. If you have a firehouse,

[2:17:51] you know, you're going to get a tax bill still because where everything's 18

[2:17:54] months in the rears. So, to bait something like that would be basically

[2:17:59] getting rid of taxes that's prior to anything that's actually happened.

[2:18:02] » But TJ, do you guys ask if any of the damage is covered by insurance and being

[2:18:08] repaired? >> No. No. For us, valuation wise, we're

[2:18:11] just January 1st looking at evaluation. That's all we're doing. We're not

[2:18:15] » Well, and in fairness to get to your question, I I want to make sure you

[2:18:19] understand this. >> He's he's looking at value, the board

[2:18:22] would consider abatement. So, the board would be concerned about the insurance.

[2:18:26] » But if if he's getting called out there because of damage,

[2:18:29] » yeah. >> Is it going to be repaired after you've

[2:18:31] been there? >> Yeah. Well, that's the thing. We'll keep

[2:18:33] up with that. But we're valuing as of January 1st, too. So, you know, it may

[2:18:38] be we go out to a house that had um you know, say had fire damage to it. we see

[2:18:42] it in May, we're not going to make that final decision till December, January,

[2:18:46] sometimes even February. So, hey, were you done by January 1. And so, you know,

[2:18:51] and and and that happens quite a bit where you will see fire damage and the

[2:18:55] house is repaired and they never saw a decrease in their tax bill because it

[2:18:58] was completed by January 1st. So, in that situation, we wouldn't just say,

[2:19:01] "Hey, here's, you know, x amount of dollars that your house or your your

[2:19:05] building is worth less now." And then we uh we would still want to know as of

[2:19:10] January 1, where's it actually sitting at, you know, has it been repaired or

[2:19:14] not? We Yeah, we won't just ignore it, I guess. Yeah, we we chase them.

[2:19:18] » Yep. >> Let me ask this question. This is

[2:19:21] because this is how you guys always have helped me. Um when we get requests

[2:19:25] because many times they come from people that have already worked with you and

[2:19:28] missed the timeline and so you really update us and tell us this is going to

[2:19:31] be the case or you know, we've already worked with these folks. But in um like

[2:19:35] when someone just reaches out to us and thinks like we'd like to request tax

[2:19:38] abatement because we think we have this reason or whatever should we refer them

[2:19:42] to you to start and then maybe after that conversation would they be best to

[2:19:47] help all the supervisors that understanding I'm just looking at ways

[2:19:50] to help everybody I guess thinking that it's difficult to be put in that

[2:19:54] position and we don't understand any of that and we don't work with any of that

[2:19:58] yet we're the ones that are able to do the abatements and give the approval and

[2:20:02] it sounds like you say when they talk to you, it sounds like a case that maybe

[2:20:06] does make sense or something and then it isn't

[2:20:09] » right. So then >> yeah, it happens where you know they

[2:20:11] don't we we do our best to contact if we know if we can tell that they're going

[2:20:15] to they're probably going to be exempt a church selling to a church or you know a

[2:20:19] nonprofit selling to a nonprofit. Some nonprofits we're not aware of. They, you

[2:20:23] know, we don't know. So we but we're contacting who we can to say, "Hey, make

[2:20:26] sure you sign up if you are going to be nonprofit." So hopefully it avoids this

[2:20:30] kind of issue with them just simply forgetting. Um because a lot of people

[2:20:34] don't a lot of nonprofits don't know what they have to actually file to be

[2:20:37] exempt. You don't just you're not automatic. Churches aren't just

[2:20:40] automatic. So when they do when they do get um a tax bill, that's when you

[2:20:45] usually see it because we don't pay taxes and here it comes. Yeah. You can

[2:20:48] forward on to us. I work with Tim and the auditor's office and Linda and

[2:20:52] treasur's office and you know I can tell them on our part here's what we found.

[2:20:56] They didn't sign up by February 1 deadline. they probably would have

[2:20:58] qualified if they would have and then you kind of go from there on how much it

[2:21:02] would have been looking at closing statements and all that kind of stuff.

[2:21:04] » Or does it make sense to send an email to you, I guess, and copy the others

[2:21:07] since >> Oh, I would send to everybody. Sure.

[2:21:10] » Yeah, I'd send to everybody because we're all going to be involved with it.

[2:21:12] » That's what I do. >> Yeah, we all have our own little part in

[2:21:15] every single one of these. So, yeah, it' be no problem.

[2:21:17] » Well, we've had in the last couple of years to a church that did um purchased

[2:21:21] a building or a building. There was a business that purchased it and thought

[2:21:24] they were a church and thought they were exempt and they didn't pay the tax bill

[2:21:27] and it had come twice >> and they wanted us to evade it and they

[2:21:32] thought they were exempt. >> Yeah.

[2:21:34] » Yeah. >> Yeah. There's there's there's all types

[2:21:36] of different scenarios out there and so we just we just uh try to just sum up

[2:21:41] here's the steps of what took place and um you know go from there. Obviously

[2:21:46] it's your final call. We just can just get

[2:21:48] » all the information we need to still we can make the

[2:21:51] » Yeah, you'll make the final call. Well, we're just kind of just guiding you on

[2:21:54] here's what happened and you know this what this is the the process and then

[2:21:59] Mike can weigh in on the code portion. >> I think I mean in a lot of these cases

[2:22:06] I mean some I would I would think that some of the owners would be falling on

[2:22:10] either the real estate agents or the um real estate um attorneys that are often

[2:22:18] times being paid a hefty amount in some cases. You know, I know I bought my

[2:22:22] house, they had to do very little. I found the house myself.

[2:22:26] » Um, >> and so I I I wonder if if the county I

[2:22:32] don't know if this is your suggestion, Mike, that we set out some more clear

[2:22:37] parameters within what's allowed in the state law of what Blackhawk County is

[2:22:42] going to be sticking to. And maybe that would make it more clear to folks like,

[2:22:46] hey, at closing, this is something that you need to be aware of. and and check

[2:22:51] those boxes. >> I would uh this is uh kind of out of

[2:22:56] left field for me, but bear with me here. Um I have some concerns about the

[2:23:01] county trying to set out parameters. Parameters are already set by state law.

[2:23:07] And if the county tries to summarize or reword those, um, we could

[2:23:14] potentially be held liable if there were a a circumstance

[2:23:20] where say the state didn't agree with our decision or something like that for

[2:23:25] for misstating the rule or the law. And that in

[2:23:28] addition to that, I I don't know how you go about communicating that. you know,

[2:23:32] there are, yeah, there are closing companies, there are realtors, there are

[2:23:36] real estate attorneys, there are others who are involved, but do you actually

[2:23:40] get this through to everyone? And then if somebody doesn't see this, do they

[2:23:44] claim that they were somehow, you know, left in the dark or or didn't have a

[2:23:48] right somebody else had by not getting that? Um,

[2:23:53] this is one of those circumstances where it it comes up

[2:23:58] infrequently enough that I think it's better to leave things the way they are

[2:24:04] since the parameters are already set by state code.

[2:24:08] » Maybe just to me the procedural kind of stuff helped us when we all got

[2:24:12] together. I mean, it helped me tremendously then to understand

[2:24:15] everybody's role and where that was and each had an opinion and thought on it.

[2:24:20] But yet it was something then to share with the board, not just me. So

[2:24:25] great. Oh, thank you. Please. >> I was just gonna add to the closing

[2:24:29] statement. Uh, Linda Hinsman, treasurer. Um,

[2:24:33] I think all of us communicating the board and all of us back here, um, TJ,

[2:24:40] um, Tim, Ashley, and myself has been very helpful

[2:24:44] on the on the church that we had. I think where the confusion was was the

[2:24:51] they didn't understand what had happened at the closing.

[2:24:55] So when they closed, it wasn't like they bought it from a business. The business

[2:25:01] pro the taxes were prorrated like they should have been. They didn't actually

[2:25:05] receive the money in their hand. They received basically a credit. So they

[2:25:10] paid less for that building because of the business.

[2:25:15] They paid what was it the September taxes I believe. Was it September?

[2:25:20] » They they had paid the September. Okay. But when March rolled around, they were

[2:25:24] confused. Well, we should be abated. And that's where the confusion was was, you

[2:25:29] know, us asking, hey, can we see your closing statement? Um, so they had

[2:25:34] actually received credit of uh where were we at? Oh, proration of

[2:25:41] $154,891.

[2:25:45] They didn't understand that that credit they received upfront that they paid

[2:25:50] less on in the end was actually designated to come to Black County to

[2:25:55] pay the taxes. So, I think with all of us working together, um, communicating

[2:26:01] was a good way to try to communicate with that church, saying, "Hey, I I see

[2:26:07] where you're coming from, but I don't think you realize that the church

[2:26:11] actually got paid the money up front. Um, they

[2:26:15] actually came out ahead than what the taxes were in all honesty. But like I

[2:26:20] said, I just I feel like we have a great group here and we all communicate very

[2:26:25] well. But I I think it's our job to inform the public or whoever's asking,

[2:26:31] you know, this is why we're saying this or this. So,

[2:26:35] » no, I thought it was a great job you did for the taxpayers is really looking out

[2:26:38] for the taxpayers in this, but I said the church still doesn't feel

[2:26:41] » Yes. >> the people we're talking to.

[2:26:42] » Well, and and now the church knows moving forward they're within the

[2:26:46] guidelines. They're now exempt and everybody's happy. So,

[2:26:49] » yes, going forward they are. But I just Yeah. I asked if it was resolved the

[2:26:53] other day and they said no, it hasn't been. And I thought, well, it has.

[2:26:56] » It's been, >> but we're sorry.

[2:26:58] » Yep. They should be happy. >> I found it interesting that the three

[2:27:01] examples, one was from California, another one was from a county in

[2:27:05] Washington, and then the the questionnaire came from Ohio. None of

[2:27:10] these were from Iowa. There's I don't know if this is something something

[2:27:14] specific to Blackhawk County. It's happening or is there other counties in

[2:27:18] Iowa don't have something already in place similar what they're giving us?

[2:27:21] » Go ahead, Tim. You want to speak to it, too? You were talking about the history

[2:27:24] of when this had happened before that one.

[2:27:26] » Yeah, sorry. >> I do have four slides, but I can skip

[2:27:29] them. Uh Tim Jameson, real estate tax manager in the auditor's office. First

[2:27:34] thing I wanted to point out, uh Mike was talking about the casualty abatements or

[2:27:39] the uh you know, flood fire. Um I did a minute search um on our new searchable

[2:27:45] minute system, which is great. Thanks for letting us do that. I only found

[2:27:49] four instances where that code section was mentioned. one where they abated the

[2:27:53] taxes in 19 1983 for a person whose house was destroyed by fire and it was

[2:27:58] like $114 were abated. It was half of what what the bill was. um it was

[2:28:03] briefly mentioned in relation to another uh tax abatement request, but it wasn't

[2:28:08] relevant to that request in 1993. And then in um 1994, there were two long

[2:28:15] board work sessions, and there's some extensive correspondence in those

[2:28:20] minutes about what was discussed. At that point, I think it was all related

[2:28:23] to the 1993 floods, if anybody remembers those, but it was a lot of statewide

[2:28:28] damage. So, a lot of counties were talking about that policy. From the

[2:28:32] minutes, it sounded like only Scott County implemented any kind of a policy

[2:28:35] to uh uh pay any claims on that. Pulk County specifically said, "No way. It'll

[2:28:40] destroy our budget." So, um and Blackhawk County took no action at that

[2:28:45] point. But I emailed you all copies of those minutes this morning. Uh so you

[2:28:50] can read those yourselves um if you're interested. It's four pages, but it's

[2:28:54] from four different meetings. So, um, the other thing I was just going to

[2:28:58] mention briefly, if I can,

[2:29:03] » while you're looking, I was going to say that makes sense to you because during

[2:29:06] CO, remember, there were people that came to us then and were hoping we could

[2:29:09] evade taxes just to kind of help out because their businesses have been

[2:29:12] closed or they've had >> uh so um when those requests for tax

[2:29:20] abatement come, uh the assessor's office, our office, and the treasures

[2:29:25] office all work really closely together. We're not making making a recommendation

[2:29:29] to you. Uh but we can provide some technical information that might be

[2:29:33] valuable when you um make your decision. One of the things that TJ mentioned I

[2:29:38] wanted to point out was that you pay the taxes the year after you incur them. So

[2:29:43] uh for the tax bills that just went out, those were based on the January 1st,

[2:29:47] 2025 value that TJ sets. And at that point he's also setting the

[2:29:52] classification and also whether it's exempt or taxable property. Um the taxes

[2:29:58] actually start in being incurred or acrewing on July 1st of 2025 and that

[2:30:03] runs through June 30th of 2026. Then we mail the bills out or or Linda mails the

[2:30:08] bills out in July and you pay half of them in September and half of them in

[2:30:13] March. So again, the point is you're you're paying taxes the year after

[2:30:16] you've actually incurred those. And it works both ways. If you build a brand

[2:30:21] new house, the first year you're living in it, you don't get a tax bill for that

[2:30:25] house, right? Because it comes a year later. Um,

[2:30:29] and and and so what our office will do when we get these requests for tax

[2:30:33] abatements is just look at the proration. So here's a here's a standard

[2:30:36] proration, right? Your taxes are in are being incurred from July 1st through

[2:30:40] June 30th. Well, what happens if somebody buys your house in April? How

[2:30:44] do you deal with the taxes then? Because the seller owned it for three4s of the

[2:30:48] year. or the buyer is only going to order it for a quarter of the year that

[2:30:51] those taxes were incurred. So, the example being if the if the buyer was

[2:30:55] getting it on April 1st of 2026 and they're expecting a $4,000 tax bill,

[2:31:00] your closing agent is going to credit the buyer with $3,000 in taxes for that

[2:31:05] 34s of a year. Um, we don't in the uh treasur's office and auditor's office

[2:31:10] don't bill each of you for your portion. We build a person who owns the property

[2:31:14] on July 1. So, the buyer is going to get the full $4,000 tax bill. They should

[2:31:19] have been credited if they had a good closing agent with three grand at

[2:31:23] closing as part of their closing. And I think Linda mentioned the church had a

[2:31:27] closing document that showed how much they received at closing for the taxes.

[2:31:32] Um, so the reason I brought this up is when we get a request for tax abatement,

[2:31:38] the county gets a request for tax abatement and we're looking at that.

[2:31:42] What our office does is looks to say, well, the person that's requesting this

[2:31:46] abatement, did they own it for that full year, or did somebody else own it for

[2:31:50] part of that year? And if so, wouldn't you want to know that if you're deciding

[2:31:54] whether to abate those taxes? Um, maybe you only want to abate the taxes if you

[2:31:58] choose to abate the taxes for the period that the person requesting that or the

[2:32:03] current owner actually owned the property. Um, the second thing, and we

[2:32:07] don't get closing statements regularly, but if you had a situation, maybe you

[2:32:11] would want to ask for that to find out, did you get those taxes at closing? Um,

[2:32:16] why are you asking for us to abate it if you receive those taxes at closing? Um,

[2:32:20] so that's what our office does. And then I just wanted to note in general, and TJ

[2:32:24] mentioned this, that we've we get requests from churches, uh, 501c3s,

[2:32:29] charities, um, for tax payments. they automatically assume they just don't pay

[2:32:33] taxes, which is not true. Um, first of all, just because you're a nonprofit

[2:32:38] doesn't mean your property is taxexempt. You might be using it for a taxable

[2:32:41] purpose. TJ's office, the assessor's office determines that. You also have to

[2:32:46] apply for that abatement uh with the assessor's office. You don't

[2:32:50] automatically get it. So, by February 1st of the assessment year, you have to

[2:32:53] apply for that exemption. And this is where we run into a lot of those

[2:32:58] requests is they don't apply for that exemption. A because they didn't know

[2:33:01] they had to uh or B they were late. Um and also um another misconception is

[2:33:09] once you buy that property, if you're a taxexempt uh uh organization, you don't

[2:33:15] you don't prorrate the taxes in the middle of the year and stop paying when

[2:33:18] you're buy it. You're exempt for the full year. You're taxable for the full

[2:33:21] year. Um the second one is government property. Uh, as Mike mentioned,

[2:33:27] federal, state, county, city, local governments are exempt from taxes and

[2:33:31] they don't have to file applications for that. It's automatic. Um, the exceptions

[2:33:37] to that is when properties used for a pecuniary profit, and we have plenty of

[2:33:41] those examples. When cities buy a land that they're going to use for an

[2:33:45] industrial park and they've got a a crop agreement with somebody on that, it's

[2:33:49] taxable. the the city owns it, but they have to pay those taxes and hopefully

[2:33:53] they're getting them from the person who's farming it. Um, you could also

[2:33:56] have a building that the city owns that's being leased uh to a for-profit

[2:34:00] entity. Um, the public market in Waterl was a good example. There was a

[2:34:04] restaurant and a brewery in there for a while. They were they were paying taxes

[2:34:07] on that even though the city owned it. Um, when state and local governments uh

[2:34:14] buy taxable property midway through the first through a through a a year that's

[2:34:19] being incurred, like the proration example, um, they'll get a tax bill for

[2:34:23] the full year and then they reach out uh to the treasurer's office and we all

[2:34:28] work together to review those. And the question we have for them is, did you

[2:34:32] collect any taxes at closing like you were supposed to? Uh, we bought a house

[2:34:36] we're going to tear down. Well, uh, you bought it in January. Did you get half

[2:34:40] the year's taxes from the person you bought it from? Um, you should have. Uh,

[2:34:45] the DOT is supposed to do Well, they're supposed to help with that. The DOT

[2:34:49] doesn't actually collect the prorated taxes, but they're supposed to help us

[2:34:52] collect it. I'm not sure how that really works.

[2:34:57] If we're lucky, the person pays them. Um but then um once we've worked through

[2:35:03] that process, determined how much the the cities uh should have collected in

[2:35:08] taxes, um and then what is legitimately should be abated, we come to the board,

[2:35:14] Linda, uh the treasur's office will bring to the board um a motion to abate

[2:35:18] taxes on properties that have come into public ownership. You may remember one

[2:35:22] of those um from last year when University of Northern Iowa bought a uh

[2:35:27] uh $10 million apartment complex. They bought it in January. They collected

[2:35:32] taxes from the June through January period. They remitted that check to the

[2:35:37] treasur's office and then asked to abate the balance, which is what we did. So,

[2:35:42] um that's all I have. I'm sorry it went long. I know it's late in the day, but

[2:35:46] um all three of our offices do work behind the scenes to provide any

[2:35:50] information you might need for those. Tim, is there a place to find what is

[2:35:56] the tax exempt would meet the tax exempt um exemption or property as a nonprofit

[2:36:03] or is there others are out there besides churches or uh you know there's there's

[2:36:08] ch you know any 501 churches, museums, there's there's a huge list of what can

[2:36:13] be exempt in Iowa code. It's it's uh multiple uh there's there's ones for

[2:36:20] wind turbines even. You don't even have to be an exempt property. There's just,

[2:36:24] as TJ knows, there's a gazillion different exemptions out there. Um, the

[2:36:28] more common ones though, outside of government ones, which would be the

[2:36:32] largest category of exempt property in our county. The more common ones are,

[2:36:36] uh, charitable and religious institutions, um, which includes

[2:36:40] hospitals, um, on the charitable side of things, and then religious on the

[2:36:44] churches, but you'll get like YMCA or YW.CA. Um, and again, and I don't want

[2:36:51] to uh uh speak for TJ, it's just because you're a 501c3 does not mean you're

[2:36:56] taxexempt. If you're using that property, uh if if if you're not using

[2:37:02] it for an exempt purpose, you'll be taxable. Um you'll get a tax bill. It's

[2:37:08] it's not just because you're a nonprofit.

[2:37:12] If the board could uh write down one one code number to look up, it's 427.1

[2:37:19] and I kind of mentioned that earlier that actually lists out the exemptions

[2:37:23] and Tim is absolutely correct. It's a long code section

[2:37:28] and and they uh they try to explain everything. We usually see like like he

[2:37:34] says, we we usually see the same ones come up, but uh yeah, there's a lot.

[2:37:40] » Okay. And typically I don't think like say if they've come to you Paul that

[2:37:44] then it's very it's a different procedure because by then we get the

[2:37:47] information but these three that we've had this year that I knew were unusual

[2:37:51] they all came to the supervisors first without talking to any of you first and

[2:37:56] so then it became a different >> I think we treat the governmentowned

[2:38:00] property process a little differently because you know it's the the cities are

[2:38:05] getting tax bills >> and they're reviewing those and then

[2:38:09] they send a um to the treasur's office saying, "Hey,

[2:38:12] we we don't think we owe taxes on this property or this property or or you

[2:38:17] know, we collected taxes and paid half of it, so we think you should be evading

[2:38:21] the rest." And so we, you know, this is going to happen every single year on a

[2:38:25] regular cadence. And so it's something that we all look at and work with the

[2:38:29] cities on, you know, before Linda would bring that motion to you. That's a lot

[2:38:34] different than these tax exempt properties where they're expected to pay

[2:38:37] taxes that are legally build and they come irregularly at uh you know when

[2:38:42] usually around September when they see the bill but um uh that's when they'll

[2:38:48] uh I guess we don't treat those the same way as like a regular routine situation.

[2:38:54] You guys will correct me if I'm wrong, but

[2:38:59] » thank you. Well, if you have any questions, we've got the teams in place

[2:39:03] obviously, but for any other time, but I was going to say it's just great

[2:39:08] sometimes that they have come back with a wealth of information that yeah, we

[2:39:12] didn't have. So, thank you. Thank you all.

[2:39:16] Well, we'll not going to make quite noon, so we don't need lunch. So,

[2:39:22] reports for information from the board. >> Update. Last Friday, I attended the UCCC

[2:39:30] uh briefing. It was down at Lynn Countyy's building. Uh Michelle zoomed

[2:39:35] in, went over the items, the list for legislative concerns and needs for next

[2:39:41] year. Uh one point of discussion again is the u cost of publishing board

[2:39:48] minutes and or the thought of posting. So um we may hear more about that coming

[2:39:55] up yet in this session being one of their issues.

[2:39:58] » And I did want to remind folks uh Friday there is another n webinar on data

[2:40:03] centers specifically on water issues. So you can get signed up on that as well.

[2:40:10] » Karen had contacted us. I was going to comment on the dates that we were

[2:40:13] available for that 99 county tour. >> I did get a response if you want me to

[2:40:18] share that. Well, yeah. I was going to say, and did you get a a date for us all

[2:40:21] then? >> Yeah, just going from the responses I

[2:40:26] got back from the board members. Um, from the responses I got back that both

[2:40:32] dates were available. So, I sent her that either date works. So, let me know.

[2:40:36] and I actually during this board meeting um heard back from her and so she said

[2:40:41] let's go with November 12th at 1 p.m. And then the survey was a long time ago

[2:40:47] but she also wants to know what um facility that we want to use and that

[2:40:52] survey we gave like I don't know three or four different uh county options. So,

[2:40:58] um, we also need to just decide what what facility if we want. I think some

[2:41:04] of them were using conservation courthouse, the VA building. So, I just

[2:41:09] need to let them know where to meet. >> VA.

[2:41:12] » I would think VA for parking with parking in mind so we don't have to use

[2:41:17] snowshoes. >> It's available.

[2:41:19] » Yeah. >> Especially in November. Yeah. At the

[2:41:21] time it was this whole calendar year. So,

[2:41:25] » VA Yeah. This is taken back. >> Was that one or did you say two?

[2:41:30] » November 12th at 100 p.m. >> And we also needed a date to have the

[2:41:39] work session for the budget carryover >> and etc. That came back from the staff

[2:41:45] that responded with 10. Tuesday the September 15th Avenue had 10 afternoon

[2:41:51] had 10. But what is what works for the board? I guess too. I don't

[2:41:55] » I had I was trying to read that off my phone. I thought it was said October

[2:41:58] 15th, not September 15th. So my response was

[2:42:04] u wrong month.

[2:42:08] » So So September 15th works for me though >> at 10 a.m.

[2:42:13] » No, no, no. There were 10 people the afternoon of that day worked

[2:42:19] » done >> for that work session.

[2:42:22] So that doesn't mean it works with everybody here.

[2:42:25] » I do have um call scheduled at 1 1:30 to 2:30 probably that afternoon.

[2:42:35] » Does >> you want to do three?

[2:42:38] » Three. >> Is it three work?

[2:42:41] » I'm completely open. I'm flexible. >> Yep.

[2:42:44] » Three o'clock is fine. That's good. Keep it roughly hour is good. Yeah.

[2:42:49] » Yes. Yep. Okay.

[2:42:52] » Al, did I know you had sent an email about

[2:42:57] that downstairs room

[2:43:00] » being available? >> Will that be available on the 15th? Do

[2:43:02] we think at 3? >> We can still use it for We just need to

[2:43:05] book it. We can still use it for the meeting. It'll just be the old camera

[2:43:09] angle from Yeah. >> Okay.

[2:43:14] » Okay. And we've got I think the presentations for the action committee

[2:43:17] is next on the 15th, too. So that's in the morning. Okay. 3:00 on the 15th.

[2:43:22] Gotcha. Thank you. That's all. So nothing else.

[2:43:29] » Motion for adjournment. >> Some moved.

[2:43:31] » Second. >> All in favor?

[2:43:33] » I >> I

[2:43:35] » meetings. We almost almost made it.

Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors Meeting - 09-08-2026

Agenda

Transcript