Tama County Administration Building, 104 W State St., Toledo, Iowa. -- File photo

As the wondrous face of spring was delightfully glimpsed on Monday, many went back into the fray of another Tama County Supervisors meeting. It was another week of experimentation, trial and error, and electronic exploration as live-streaming with the Owl device was again attempted. Glitches and bugs were present, but are slowly being worked out with every use.

The meeting began with Tama County Engineer Ben Daleske’s report, saying they have been winging back snow on the gravel roads. Snow equipment has been taken off of a few trucks in anticipation of hauling rock. The supervisors approved posting a notice to bidders to take the old shop down.

It was also approved to hire Brady Pearson for the Traer motor grader position.

The tax notice public hearing was set for 8 a.m. on March 31.

After much discussion, the supervisors approved posting for the VA Director/General Relief position, even though the county is in a hiring freeze, as they felt it was needed. The position is currently held by Elizabeth Ledvina, who has plans to retire by July. The state also provides money for training.

The supervisors altered the severe weather policy that they adopted last week. The policy now states that those employees who must report into work regardless of the county shutdown i.e. sheriff’s deputies and road workers will receive eight hours of comp time.

A public hearing was held and a resolution was approved for the vacation of a rural road.

The agenda item on discussion/possible action to approve a response to the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB) regarding a formal complaint from former HR Administrator and Insurance Manager Tammy Wise was removed at the request of the supervisors’ attorneys.

Near the end of the meeting, the ongoing discussions on the current budget situation resumed with Board Chairman Mark Doland explaining that the $500,000 transfer from E911 to the general supplemental fund, which was then loaned back into the general basic fund, would still need to be paid back before the end of the fiscal year. The vast majority of the county’s general fund, he added, is tied up in salaries and benefits, so individual departments will need to look for “targeted cuts” as part of the effort to make up the shortfall, which was estimated at about $950,000 before the previously reported E911 transfers.

Tama County Treasurer Amanda Kriegel said the county has about $13 million in cash reserves on hand, but Doland responded that those dollars must be spent in certain ways and couldn’t just be immediately transferred to the general fund to rectify the issue. She also described it as “a department head issue” and said some of them are paid at salaries comparable to people who hold the same positions in counties with 50,000 to 60,000 people.

“We’ve still gotta make it to June 30 and make sure that even after money comes in from the taxes, that we don’t feel like ‘Oh, we just got paid,’ and now we have this money that can be frivolously spent. Or not frivolously, but maybe not needed,” Doland said. “We have wants and needs.”

The supervisors urged department heads to “tighten the belt,” and although he noted that the county’s general business will have to continue, Doland cited out of town conferences as one expenditure that may no longer be justifiable in the future.

“We’re not bringing in enough revenue to sustain the spending that has been done in the past and is looking to be done in the future, so we want to make sure those things match,” he said.

Kriegel did express confidence that the $500,000 loan would be paid back before the end of the fiscal year.

Claims totaling $101,300.67 were approved.