LINN COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
CEDAR RAPIDS, LINN COUNTY, IOWA
MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2023 10:00 A.M.
(These are the minutes in their entirety. Archived minutes can be found at www.linncounty.org).
The Board met in session at the Linn County Jean Oxley Public Service Center. Present: Chairperson Zumbach, Vice Chairperson Rogers and Supervisor Running-Marquardt. Board members voting “AYE” unless otherwise noted.
Chairperson Zumbach called the meeting to order.
Motion by Zumbach, seconded by Rogers to approve minutes of Mar. 13 & 14, 2023 as printed.
Jacob Lindauer, Linn County EMS Assoc., gave a presentation on the Linn County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system standards. Lengthy discussion continued regarding funding sources.
Motion by Rogers, seconded by Running-Marquardt to approve a letter to Honorable Ashley Hinson in support for a $2.5 million Community Project Funding (CPF) grant in support of a centralized aircraft deicing pad and a snow removal equipment building at the Eastern Iowa Airport retroactive to March 15, 2023 signed by Supervisor, Ben Rogers.
At this time Supervisor Rogers left the meeting.
Motion by Zumbach, seconded by Running-Marquardt to open a public hearing on the plans, specifications, form of contract, and estimated total cost for the Linn County Treasurer’s Office Glazing and Millwork Project.
Darrin Gage, Dir. of Policy & Admin., stated that he has not received any oral or written objections.
Motion by Zumbach, seconded by Running-Marquardt to close public hearing.
Motion by Zumbach, seconded by Running-Marquardt to approve Resolution 2023-3-37
A RESOLUTION GRANTING FINAL APPROVAL AND CONFIRMING THE PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS,
FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATED TOTAL COST FOR THE LINN COUNTY TREASURER’S OFFICE GLAZING AND MILLWORK PROJECT
WHEREAS, the Linn County, Iowa Board of Supervisors (“Board”) previously approved, in
preliminary form, the proposed plans, specifications, form of contract, and estimated total project
cost (“Contract Documents”) prepared by Martin Gardner Architecture (“Project Architect”) for the
Linn County Treasurer’s Office Glazing and Millwork Project (“Project”); and, WHEREAS, Linn County published a Notice of Public Hearing on the Contract Documents in accordance with Iowa Code Section 331.305 and Iowa Code Chapter 26; and, WHEREAS, the Board conducted a public hearing on the Contract Documents on March 20, 2023 in accordance with the published Notice of Public Hearing.
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Board hereby grants final approval to the Contract
Documents referred to in this Resolution, and confirms the prior Board action granting preliminary
approval to the Contract Documents, and finding the Project necessary and desirable. Discussion: Supervisor Running-Marquardt asked for the estimate of project.
Gary Landhauser, Emergent Arch., stated that the total project, including architect fees, is $255,000. The base bid with alternate is estimated to be $236,000.
VOTE: All Aye
Darrin Gage read the one bid received for the Linn County Treasurer’s Office Glazing and Millwork Project from Unzeitig Const. in the amount of $188,500 (base bid) and $25,900 (alternate).
The Board referred the bid to Linn County staff and the project architect for review and tabulation.
Public Comment: Kimberly Dickey, Proj. Dir. for Palo Solar I & II, stated that she is there to give an update to her previous update last week. They began preconstruction activities on March 17 (delayed one day due to weather). They are exclusively concentrated on the removal of select trees on Duane Arnold Solar I & II project area, including installation of necessary storm water mitigation measures. Those activities will continue to the end of March. Today they begin the setup of the project job site offices and safety training areas within the main laydown area (according to their site plan) on FPL and Duane Arnold Energy Center owned land. This activity is scheduled to take approximately one week. In April they begin
their civil work focusing on site grading, specific to the substation pad area. For these preconstruction activities, they will remain on roads approved for use by Linn County Secondary Roads. More updates to come in April.
Mike Carberry, Bright Future Iowa Outreach Dir., wished the Board a happy first day of Spring. He stated that he spent the last two weeks on the road doing solar business. He attended the National Farmers Union Convention in San Fransisco where he was proposed a few policy amendments. One of those was to support the property right of any farmer to harvest the power of the sun and turn into energy that farmers choose (food, fiber, fuel or electricity). He thinks that all farmers and landowners should be able to farm what they want on their farm if its legal. This backs up that policy from a national farm group that
has been around for 120 years. Last week he spent four days in Chicago for the first ever Agri Voltaic Summit (the duel use of land for both solar production and farming). Linn County’s policy already sets up the first level of agri voltaic (pollinator solar) by requiring a local seed mix to go into that project. The next level would be agri grazing or solar grazing. This is where they might be able to bring sheep in to graze the ground cover under and around solar panels. The last level is raising crop around and under solar panels. This requires a lot more dedication, work and preplanning. He asked the Board to keep in mind that all farming is solar farming and there are dual uses of land put into solar.
At this time Supervisor Rogers returned to the meeting.
Motion by Rogers, seconded by Running-Marquardt to approve the following Employment Change Roster:
AUDITOR’S OFFICE
Elections Technician Mark Wilson Termination/resignation 03/24/23
SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Sergeant Steven McElmeel Step increase/contract 04/15/23 S1 $46.70 – S2 $47.40
Communications Oper. Megan Collins Step increase/contract 04/16/23 CB $25.14 – C1 $25.89
Deputy Sheriff Colton Desmarais Step increase/contract 04/02/23 D4 $35.29 – D5 $36.65
Deputy Sheriff Michael Longwell Step increase/contract 04/08/23 D5 $36.65 – D6 $37.73
Deputy Sheriff Richard Byrd Step increase/contract 04/20/23 D2 $32.76 – D3 $34.01
Secretary Tracy Von Sprecken Step increase/contract 04/05/23 55C $21.99 – 55D $23.19
Account Technician Melissa Ash Step increase/contract 04/20/23 58D $29.40 – 58E $31.01
Secretary Amber Hotz End of probation 04/23/23 55A $19.92 – 55B $20.90
LIFTS
LIFTS Driver Nathan Schnell Transfer from Dispatch 04/03/23 55E $24.99
JUVENILE DETENTION
Youth Counselor Jordan Moore Transfer from FT to on-call position 03/24/23 36D $28.53 – 36A $24.48
Motion by Running-Marquardt, seconded by Rogers to approve claims for payroll 3/17/23 deduction checks #71010369 — #71010377 in the amt. of $16,827.12, ACH in the amt. of $57,713.81, and wires in the amt. of $1,964,471.75 for a total of $2,039,012.68.
Motion by Zumbach, seconded by Rogers to make the following appointments to the Compensation Commission for Condemnation Purposes, one year term 07/01/23-06/30/24:
Bankers & Auctioneers:
John Airy; Tami Moore; Chistopher D. Burke; Kent Stock; Anee M. Lampe; Jeff Gibney; Kellee Evans; Rod Short; Josh Moore; Kevin Boge and Randy Johnson.
REAL ESTATE: Lana Baldus; Dan K. Cosman; Robert Lynch; Adam Gibbs; Dan Nosbish; Richard Isaacson; Molly Iversen; Brooke Zrudsky; Troy Munger and Jeremiah Harris.
RURAL:
Wayne Blackford; Sharon Greif; Marvin Kilburger; Dave Machacek; James E. Lensch; David Prasil; Tom Watson; Sally Williams and Joe Kwapil.
URBAN:
John Stuelke; Dwayne Daniels; Doug Kelly; Mike Machula; James Bell; Ken Stanford; Randy Sconyers; Randy Rowland; Mike Zlatohlavek; Kathy Hall; Pytr Knoll and Michael Cline.
Adjournment at 10:37 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
JOEL D. MILLER, Linn County Auditor
By: Rebecca Shoop, Deputy Auditor
APPROVED BY:
LOUIS J. ZUMBACH, Chairperson
Board of Supervisors
Published in the MVL Sun, March 30, 2023.
Linn BoS March 20 minutes
March 30, 2023