County contributes funds to childcare feasibility study

     A $2,500 contribution toward Jones County Economic Development’s childcare feasibility study was approved by the board of supervisors at their Jan. 4 meeting.

     The total cost of the study is $12,400. Both the Monticello and Anamosa city councils also approved a $2,500 maximum contribution.

     “If Monticello and Anamosa are behind it, we should be, too,” commented Supervisor John Schlarmann.

     “This will be good for the county as a whole,” added Supervisor Joe Oswald. “We need to find out what our needs are.”

     Supervisor Ned Rohwedder urged JCED Director Derek Lumsden to also involve Jones County Public Health Community Health Specialist Jess Wiedenhoff and Cedar/Jones Early Childhood Iowa (ECI) Coordinator Sherri Hunt.

     “It’d be valuable for Jones County to participate,” Rohwedder said.

     Wiedenhoff piggybacked on Rohwedder’s request, saying that JCPH has already completed a Needs Assessment, which investigated the topic of childcare, or lack thereof.

     “If there’s a way for us to see the raw data so we don’t have to redo it down the line,” asked Wiedenhoff.

     The board approved setting the public hearing for the Secondary Road five-year road construction for Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the courthouse basement conference room. The hearing will also be made available on Zoom to encourage social distancing within the courthouse.

     Schlarmann said he would like to see mention of Ely’s Stone Bridge on the five-year program.

     “We need to see some discussion about it,” he said. “This has gone on for a while. We need to look at what we can do to resolve that.”

     Snead said the program would be published in the county newspapers as previously presented. (See page A5 in this week’s Express for the five-year schedule.) He told the board he would have information about the history of Stone Bridge at the hearing, especially for the new board members.

     “In the past we’ve had no input on Stone Bridge at the public hearing,” Snead said of previous interest from the public.

     Supervisor Joe Oswald said he was OK with the proposed program as presented, and suggested the board discuss adding Stone Bridge next year.

     “We have no additional funds available for Stone Bridge,” Snead added. He said if Secondary Roads does spend money on Stone Bridge, that’s less money that could go toward the Landis Road Bridge replacement project, which requires a local match with a federal grant.

     Swisher said that he’s heard from several people in Cascade who are concerned with 75^th Avenue.

     “People will be there (at the public hearing) to represent,” Swisher warned.

In other county business:

     • The board approved hiring former County Auditor Janine Sulzner for temporary, on-call employment to assist with the transition of a new auditor (Whitney Hein) and with the FY 2022 county budget. The fee, set to expire Jan. 31, is $40 an hour.

     “I encourage you to use her as much as you need,” offered Oswald to Hein.

     • The board set a bid letting date of Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 9:30 a.m. to accept bids for a tandem all-wheel motor grader.

     • Hein informed the board that they might want to discuss and consider opening the courthouse further to the public. She said her office is conducting a special election for Western Dubuque School District, beginning Feb. 1 for in-person absentee voting.

     “We will not screen voters,” Hein said of the COVID-19 screening currently in place at the courthouse west entrance.

     She also reminded the board that the cost for courthouse security was only covered through the end of December 2020.

     “It needs to be looked at,” agreed Oswald. He said doing away with appointments would be left up to individual elected officials.

     Oswald also urged Hein and the board to talk it over with Public Health Director Jenna Lovaas.