Government : The Wall has Spoken, something new for the County Supervisors

Tuesday's meeting of the Benton County Supervisors kicked off with adjusted camera angles so that the speakers could not be seen on camera, but there was a great shot of the wall.

Concern was expressed by Supervisor Rick Primmer that he thought that text messages or notes he was taking could be seen on camera. Neither is true. After the case was made, the editor zoomed in to see, if this was true, it's not.

After several calls were received from the public, the county's Director of IT/GIS, Ben Turnis arrived to correct the issue but was dismissed abruptly by Primmer. If you'd like to watch the wall meeting, click HERE.

Primmer explained that the camera was now "redirected but still operable," The purpose of cameras is to see what's happening in the meeting, who is speaking and for the public to virtually attend the meeting. So while operational with sound, their purpose is to be able to see the meeting in progress, not to view the wall.

Ironically, changing the angle of the camera brought Primmer and his table more into focus.

Now to the rest of the meeting.

The board went on to address concerns about issues filling the weed commission position were discussed. A plan to place the department and integrated roadside vegetation under the supervision of Benton County Conservation is being considered.

Shelby Williams, the Director of Benton County Conservation presented a job description for the position. Williams said she would need support from other county departments. Members of the Conservation Board were also on hand to discuss the issue.

Supervisor Rick Primmer weighed in and said that he could see the benefit of combining the two and feels that it would be a good fit under the direction of Conservation and feels that as spring approaches something should be done soon. Supervisor Tracy Seeman, works with the Conservation Board, expressed concern that the task could be too much for the department, but wasn't opposed to the move.

The county will need to hire a roadside manager and two others to fill the positions needed. The Conservation Board is scheduled to meet on February 12 to discuss solutions. Williams said that she has talked with Engineer Myron Parizek of Secondary Roads and has discussed how this would affect the department budget.

Also discussed was the vicious dog complaint in the Belle Plaine area. Sheriff Ron Tippett discussed the county's vicious animal ordinance and how it concerns hybrid wolf dogs. He said that the investigation began after looking into the rumor that there had been an attack on livestock int he neighborhood.

DNA testing on the dog revealed that the dog's DNa was below the threshold of what the state deems a wolf dog. Tippett was unable to find any state code or county ordinance that addressed this. Assistant County Attorney, Tim Dille believes that the current law covers this. He said that a vicious animal is defined as one that attacks livestock twice in a year, and the dogs in question do not meet either definition as a wolf hybrid nor a vicious animal.

Elana Janss, the dog owner, has expressed her regret for the actions of her dog in previous meetings and also submitted a formal apology to the supervisors. She said the dog is now living in Urbandale and will remain there. This will close the investigation into this particular dog Tippett said.

Other dogs are in residence at the Janss home and said that there is another concern because of a daycare at the same site. The supervisors discussed getting DNA tests for the other dogs.

The Human Resources Director, job description for Sue Wilber was discussed. The Supervisors have asked for an updated version of her job description. Primmer explained that while there already was a job description there were some things that needed to be changed in the description.

Wilber felt that she needed clarification about what her job is. Three Department heads expressed a desire to see these updates and changes because Wilber's position affects their departments.

"Why should she do that?" Primmer asked.

Rippel explained it appeared that Wilber was told to take duties away from other departments, specifically, payroll which is the job of the Auditor. In past meetings, Wilber had implied that the Auditor should change her computer system she uses for payroll, to another which would give access to Wilber to obtain certain information. Benton County employs an IT employee who is tasked with managing software and data protection for the county already.

"I'm not trying to take payroll out of your office," Wilber responded.

Primmer said he didn't think it was necessary for Wilber to send her job description to the other departments but rather that Wilber should send it directly to each Supervisor for review.

In other business, a land use hearing was set for Tuesday, March 5, at 9:15 a.m. concerning Zeb and Tamara Reardon, for Section 7 in Benton Township as well as for Michael and Kristine Rommel, concerning land in Section 17 of Florence Township, north of Norway. These were approved.

Kristine Bullock of Kirkwood Learning Center spoke to the Supervisors. Kirkwood coordinates with the schools and businesses in the area and has set up apprenticeships, speakers, job shadows, tours, meetings with businesses and internships. They serve seven counties, Bullock requested $2,575 from the county for these projects.