Tama County Conservation Director Curtis Behrens, right, fields a question from a Conservation board member (off frame) while presenting his department’s proposed FY2025-26 budget on Wednesday, Jan. 8, during the regular monthly board meeting held at Otter Creek Lake & Park Nature Center in rural Toledo. Also pictured, board member Jim Allen, left, and vice chair Steve Kenkel (center, partially obscured). PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

OTTER CREEK – Tama County Conservation not only needs a new naturalist following last month’s termination of Raina Genaw, the department is now also on the hunt for a new board member.

During the Wednesday, Jan. 8 regular meeting of the Tama County Board of Conservation held at Otter Creek Lake & Park Nature Center, Conservation Director Curtis Behrens announced that John Keenan – longtime member of the board whose five-year term was up for renewal this month – recently elected to step down.

“[Keenan] voiced he’s been doing it for a while [and] wants to pass the torch,” Behrens explained.

Taking into account Keenan’s vacancy, the board is currently composed of Chair Bryan Wacha of Tama, Vice Chair Steve Kenkel of Toledo, Jim Allen of Toledo, and Danielle Dunning of Garwin who replaced Carolyn Adolphs on the board in September 2024.

On Wednesday evening, both Kenkel and Allen said they felt the new board member should be from the north end of the county in the Dysart/Traer/Clutier area.

Anyone with an interest in serving on the Conservation board is asked to contact Behrens (641-481-3153; curtis.behrens@tamacounty.org), Auditor Karen Rohrs (641-484-2740; krohrs@tamacounty.org), a member of the Conservation board, or a member of the Tama County Board of Supervisors.

Following discussion on the board vacancy, a motion was approved to make Kenkel the new vice chair, while Wacha, the previous vice chair, had already assumed the role of chairperson in Keenan’s absence.

Staffing

Staffing was addressed several times during the meeting including as part of the public comment portion. Two members of the public – Extension and Outreach County Youth Coordinator Jenny Hulme and Lacy Starits with Miss Lacy’s Preschool in Toledo – both spoke about the termination of naturalist Raina Genaw.

Genaw was first hired as naturalist in May of 2023 to replace Emma Bruck who resigned to take a job with Marshall County Conservation. Genaw was fired by Behrens and Tama County HR Administrator Tammy Wise on Dec. 2 with no official reason provided.

Raina Genaw, former Tama County naturalist, pictured on May 3, 2023, at Otter Creek Lake & Park Nature Center shortly after being hired by the county. Genaw was fired on Dec. 2, 2024. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

After introducing herself, Hulme told the board, “I am here to express my sadness of losing another naturalist with Tama County Conservation. I have been in my position for 10 years this January and Raina was the fifth naturalist that I have worked with.”

She then went on to list the numerous activities and events Tama County 4-H and the county naturalist partner on each year including the Wildlife Habitat Education Program (WHEP) which Genaw coached.

“Raina partnered with us to create a 4-H team (Tama Turtles) for the WHEP competition with the team being selected to go to the national competition in Texas where they placed fifth in the nation (last summer). … Having a partnership with Tama County Conservation has made a huge impact on the youth of Tama County.”

Hulme also told the board that while she was not speaking in order to “get Raina’s job back for her,” she was asking the board to “be aware of the impact that your naturalists have in their partnerships.” She asked that the board be “more attentive to staffing.”

“You as a board speak for all of Tama County. I am very disappointed that Tama County did not have the opportunity to speak up for Raina before she was fired. You as a board could have heard and stopped this before having to look for a sixth naturalist.”

For her part, Starits provided similar sentiments, telling the board that during her three-and-a-half years in operation, her preschool has been through three naturalists (Genaw, Bruck, and Brendan Kelly).

“They are a tremendous support to our program. We’ve appreciated every one of them, but my kids grow attached to the naturalists and having this much turnover … is challenging for my kids.”

“They miss Raina. I miss Raina,” Starits said to end her comments.

Later in the meeting during the director’s report, Behrens first addressed the naturalist vacancy, fielding multiple questions from board members regarding Genaw’s termination including her severance agreement which seemed to perplex some of the board members including Dunning and Wacha.

“If it’s a legitimate termination, so to speak, there is no severance package. Usually, if it was in a contract that you had a severance package or something, then we pay a severance,” Wacha said at one point before asking Kenkel, a retired attorney, “I mean, does that sound correct, Steve? I mean, if you’re done, you’re done.”

Dunning also questioned why the county agreed not to contest Genaw’s (possible) claim for unemployment insurance benefits.

“I was surprised to see that in addition to the severance package,” she said.

The discussion eventually ended without Behrens providing much if any insight into the events leading up to and following Genaw’s termination.

Toward the end of the meeting under new business, the naturalist vacancy was more formally addressed with Behrens telling the board he had received seven applications thus far for the position – four women along with three men. He felt three or four of the applicants “are probably worth our time” and planned to start interviews the following week.

Kenkel volunteered to be part of the interview process, while Dunning, Director of the Garwin Public Library, said she would help out as her work schedule allowed.

According to the Tama County Auditor’s Office, as of Thursday, Jan. 9, Conservation has four employees on the payroll including three full time employees – Behrens, Park Officer Riley Conrad, and Maintenance Supervisor Dustin Horne – and one seasonal, Emelie Ahrendsen who was hired on Aug. 19, 2024. According to the minutes of the regular September board meeting, Ahrendsen was hired “to assist with forestry management,” Behrens said.

Just prior to this month’s meeting adjournment, board members inquired as to which of the department’s four employees would be “loaned” to the county’s Secondary Roads Department under the Conservation Winter Agreement Resolution which was approved by the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 6.

According to the resolution, Secondary Roads is currently short one motor grader operator for snow removal operations and Conservation is willing to loan an employee to help with such operations. As part of the agreement, Conservation will be reimbursed for both labor and benefits for the employee. The agreement is to last from Jan. 2025 to Spring 2025.

Behrens said Horne would be shared with Secondary Roads as part of the agreement, earning no overtime pay but rather additional hours ‘like contract labor.’ He would only be working as needed.

“Since we don’t have a huge amount of things going on right now, we’re just going to share Dustin,” Behrens explained before also stating that Horne was given the choice to participate or not.

Avian flu

While giving the maintenance report early in the meeting, Horne indicated he had “picked up a handful of dead geese that had avian (influenza)” in Otter Creek Lake during the course of the last month.

When contacted after the meeting about the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in wild birds at the park, Horne said that the Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) is currently not testing wild geese for the virus due to “so many reports.”

“We are assuming the geese we found had avian influenza and we are treating all dead waterfowl as if they do,” Horne explained.

Per Ducks Unlimited, symptoms of HPAI in wild birds can include nervousness; tremors or lack of coordination; swelling around the head, neck and/or eyes; lack of energy or movement; coughing; gasping for air or sneezing; diarrhea; or sudden death.

According to the Iowa DNR, state biologists along with federal partners have been monitoring for the presence of HPAI in Iowa’s wild birds since early 2022 with a sharp jump in affected waterfowl detected beginning in early December 2024 “spurred on by the stress of migration and the severe cold.”

In a press release dated Dec. 16, 2024, Iowa’s state wildlife veterinarian Dr. Rachel Ruden said the presence of five or more sick or dead flocking birds found within a week should be reported to local wildlife biologists or state conservation officers (in Tama: Rodney Ellingson at 641-751-9767 and Officer Brett Reece at 641-751-0931).

Iowans are urged to stay away from sick birds especially waterfowl as the virus that causes avian influenza can remain viable in deceased birds for several weeks depending on environmental conditions.

While mammals including humans can be infected with the virus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “continues to believe the threat to the general public remains low.”

As of press time and according to the CDC, 67 confirmed human cases of avian influenza have been reported in the United States since the beginning of 2024 (one in Iowa, attributed to poultry farms/culling operations exposure) along with one death associated with the H5N1 strain.

2026-27 Budget talk

Under old business, Behrens provided the board with his proposed FY2025-26 budget. The new budget includes a 9% ($132,692) overall increase.

The biggest increases include an 11% increase ($25,000) for Buildings-Permanent Improvement; a 275% increase ($11,000) for Tires and Tubes-Motor Vehicle; and a 50% increase ($10,000) for Minor Vehicle/Radio Repair.

Conservation’s budget presentation to the Board of Supervisors is set for Monday, Jan. 27.

State Auditor’s investigation

A brief mention was made at the very end of the nearly two-and-a-half hour meeting regarding the ​​state auditor’s review of financial transactions by former Tama County Conservation Director Stephen Mayne who was put on administrative leave on Aug. 1, 2023, before subsequently resigning on Aug. 17, 2023.

This past October following a 14-month special investigation, the Iowa State Auditor’s office announced Mayne had improperly spent $1,570.93 of county funds while also making $75,293.32 in “unsupported disbursements” during his nearly two-and-a-half year tenure with Tama County.

The bill for the investigation totaled $44,927.50 and was presented to the Conservation board by Behrens during the Oct. 30, 2024 meeting. Behrens told board members that Conservation was solely responsible for the tab. Payment was subsequently tabled in order to give Behrens time to discuss the invoice with both the Tama County Auditor’s Office and the Board of Supervisors.

On Jan. 7, the newspaper reached out to Auditor Karen Rohrs to determine if the invoice had been paid. Rohrs told the newspaper in an email that payment was made in full by Conservation on Dec. 9, 2024, but upon further investigation, she determined the fund line Behrens had used to pay the invoice was not allowed.

On Jan. 9, Rohrs told the newspaper Behrens would be “correcting the funds to come out of his Journals, CDs, Manuals & Books fund line.” Rohrs said she had confirmed with the county’s current auditing firm that such action was “acceptable.” And while that specific fund had a budgeted amount this fiscal year of $0, Rohrs said using the fund was OK to do as Behrens was “still within his overall budget.”

The newspaper spoke briefly with Behrens following the meeting about the possibility of charges being filed against Mayne. Behrens said such discussion by the board has ended with no charges forthcoming.