Discussion continues on Old Dubuque Rd.

Several entities have been in talks concerning the future of the Old Dubuque Road/130^th Street intersection in Anamosa. 

The dangerous intersection on Highway 151 not only involves Jones County officials, but the City of Anamosa, and the Iowa DOT. 

County Engineer Derek Snead held a conference call with the DOT on Dec. 19. He shared the gist of that conversation with the Jones County Supervisors at their Dec. 23 meeting. 

There are likely safety funds available for either/both the county or city if either entity chose to do any work at the intersection once it was closed. Snead explained the match associated with those funds would likely be a combination of in-kind engineering and design work, as well as local financial funding as well. 

When asked if the government entities ( Jones County Supervisors and Anamosa City Council) would be taking action during the Thursday, Jan. 9 public hearing, Snead said there would be an agenda item stating the entities have the ability to take action if they so choose. 

“They have the ability to proceed with some sort of action,” he said. 

As for what the course of action might be, that’s up in the air. 

In other county business: 

• The board approved cancelling a contract with Century Link for high-speed Internet and phone service for the JETS facility in Monticello. There is no fee associated with the cancellation. 

• The board approved the purchase of snow plow equipment for a Secondary Road truck in the amount of $92,268. The purchase is from MacQueen Equipment Company. The bid package was based on that of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. 

• Supervisor Wayne Manternach, who sits on the regional mental health board of directors, is proposing moving the monthly board meetings to Monticello to be more centrally located. 

The Mental Health/Disability Services of the East Central Region (ECR) serves Jones, Dubuque, Delaware, Buchanan, Bremer, Benton, Linn, Iowa, and Johnson counties.