Floyd County supervisors approve joining trial for shared communications position

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors gave approval at its meeting this week to join a six-month trial period for a shared communications and marketing position with the city of Charles City, the Charles City School District and the Charles City Area Development Corp.

The official go-ahead awaits formal approval of a 28E agreement by all four parties.

If everything proceeds as anticipated, Justin DeVore, the director of communications for the school district, will take on the shared role, dedicating half of his time to the school district, one-fourth to the city and one-eighth each to the county and the Area Development Corp. That will be an average of 20 hours per week for the school, 10 hours for the city and five hours each for the county and CCADC, during the six-month trial period.

As part of DeVore’s position with the school district he has also been director of the Public Access Network in Charles City, and the school district has provided space and resources to operate PAN. An annual fee paid by the Charles City Broadband Commission to the school district covered the cost of those resources, and some of DeVore’s salary.

The money from the Broadband Commission came from cable television franchise fees paid to the city by Mediacom. But in the last couple of years, as the number of people subscribing to cable TV has decreased, the franchise fee revenue has steadily declined.

The payment to the school district last fiscal year was $41,000. The Broadband Commission did not approve a payment for the current fiscal year which began July 1, prompting the discussion on what alternatives to the current arrangement were available.

The proposal being discussed would come up with half of the $41,000 to cover the six-month trial period, or $20,500, to be paid to the school district. The city would cover half of that, or $10,250, and the supervisors and the CCADC would each cover a fourth, or $5,125 each. The supervisors already pay $3,000 to have their meetings recorded and available online at charlescitypan.com, so the county would pay an additional $2,125.

Charles City Mayor Dean Andrews, who was among a group that first introduced the idea to the supervisors at a previous meeting, was back at the meeting this week, with an update and a draft of a potential 28E agreement. A 28E agreement is an agreement allowed under Iowa law between two or more public bodies or between public bodies and private groups.

Andrews reported that the CCADC had approved taking part in the shared position at its monthly meeting held last week.

“They agreed to their share as written here, the $5,125, the same as your share. Again, you are already paying $3,000, so it would just be an additional $2,125,” Andrews said.

Once all parties sign the 28E agreement, the next step is to decide who from each group will be on a oversight committee, to work with DeVore deciding how each group’s time will be used and how to best focus his efforts.

Andrews said, “The school, the ADC, the city, the county all want to have a representative on that committee that kind of says, “‘Well, here’s what we’d like to have Justin working on, and so we can coordinate that so he knows what his tasks are. He would be part of the committee, too, because he’s probably going to have a lot ideas for us as far as ‘here’s what I can do.’”

Andrews said the goal is for each body to get “more bang for your buck” by having one person coordinating communications and messaging for all four groups rather than each trying to do it on its own.

Supervisor Linda Tjaden said she would volunteer to represent the county board on that committee, at least until her term as supervisor is up at the end of the year.

The draft 28E agreement Andrews presented at the supervisors meeting this week had at least one change that needed to be made to clear up the language, so a final version will be prepared for all four of the bodies to sign.

The supervisors approved taking part in the six-month trial and gave Board Chair Doug Kamm permission to sign the agreement, as long as there weren’t any substantive changes.

County Auditor Gloria Carr said Floyd County Assistant Attorney Randy Tilton had already looked at the first draft and didn’t see any problems.

Also at the board meeting this week, the supervisors:

• Discussed with Conservation Director Adam Sears and County Engineer Jacob Page the issue of weed control and managing county secondary road ditches.

Sears, who is currently also the county weed commissioner, appointed by the supervisors, said in only two counties in the state is the conservation director also the weed commissioner, and he is one of those. Typically the position is based either in the conservation department or the county engineer’s office, but in almost all cases someone other than head of the department is appointed to the position.

At a minimum, Sears said, he would like the supervisors to appoint someone else to the position. But a better plan, he said, would be to consider establishing the position of a roadside manager, who could span the functions of the county Conservation Department by devising an integrated vegetation management plan using native plants to replace weeds in roadsides, and to coordinate with Secondary Roads for what spraying and brush clearing is still needed.

“If we have a roadside manager I think it should be in Conservation,” Sears said. The roadside manager is usually also the weed commissioner, “but if it’s just a weed commissioner it should be under Secondary Roads.”

Sears said the position likely would require another full-time person, but having a roadside manager would make the county eligible to apply for grants for equipment and seed through the Living Roadway Trust Fund.

Supervisor Tjaden said adding another full-time employee is something that the new Board of Supervisors that will take office in January should decide, since at least two members – a majority of the board – will be new.

Iowa Code requires every board of supervisors to appoint a weed commissioner by March 1 each year, so there is time for the new board to discuss the matter.

• Noted changes in the Floyd County Assessor’s Office. Former Deputy Assessor and then Acting Assessor Brandi Schmidt was named the county assessor by the Floyd County Conference Board, which includes the county supervisors, the mayor of each city in the county and a representative from each school board in school districts that have area in the county.

Schmidt replaces Gary VanderWerf, who retired Sept. 26 after having been placed on paid administrative leave since June 8. He will continue to be paid his regular salary until Nov. 4, and health insurance benefits through the end of November.

The Conference Board offered Schmidt the position at an annual salary of $100,000, frozen through the end of the next fiscal year, June 30, 2024. VanderWerf’s salary had been $84,000. Schmidt’s salary as a deputy had been $68,250 annually.

Chris Parker was appointed the assistant assessor at an annual salary of $60,000.

The Conference Board is the governing body of the office of the county assessor and appoints the assessor, approves the office budget and appoints members to other boards that work with the Assessor’s Office such as the board of review.