Supervisors not on board with non-budgeted purchase

   During the Oct. 8 Jones County Board of Supervisors meeting, the board turned down a possible purchase request by Engineer Derek Snead for a new wheel loader.

   The two wheel loaders used by Secondary Roads right now are housed in the Wyoming and Edinburgh shops. The vintage machines are from 1985 and 1989 respectively.

   "We don't use them a lot, but we do use them for loading sand and salt in the wintertime," Snead said. "We've been able to maintain them for the last nearly 40 years now."

   Snead explained the reason Secondary Roads doesn't purchase a wheel loader very often is because they don't put a lot of hours on the machine.

   "But they are machines that when we do use them, we want to have a fairly reliable machine in the wintertime," he added.

   Another reason for not buying a more updated version is due to the cost.

   "A new wheel loader for the size that we are after is in the range of about $185,000 to $200,000."

   However, a new one was always in the back of Snead's mind.

   As luck would have it, there is a used 2010 wheel loader for sale in Lansing, Iowa, for just under $50,000. Snead said some Secondary Roads' employees recently went to physically check it out for themselves. The machine does have 17,000 hours on it, but it is in decent condition; no rust.

   While Snead does not have this purchase in his FY 2025 budget, he wanted to get the board's take on whether to pull the trigger or not.

   "We don't come across this very often," he said of the deal. "So it's something I wanted to bring up."

   Snead said the plan would have been to sell one of the older wheel loaders as part of this purchase. He estimated it could bring in $5,000 to $10,000.

   Due to a tight budget and this being an unplanned purchase, the board was reluctant to give Snead the go-ahead.

   "We do have back-up plans if our existing units do not work," Snead offered. "But that's temporary. Our back-up plan would be our tractors with smaller buckets."

   Last month, the board did approve the purchase of a new mower tractor for Secondary Roads. Snead said that machine does not have a loader on it.

   "We have an existing tractor right now that we can use," he said. "It doesn't have the same height reach; it also has a smaller bucket. But if any of our older machines did break down, it's something we could make do with."

   A new loader to add onto a tractor could cost between $11,000 and $12,000. Snead said they have not decided to make such a purchase at this time.

   "If it's not in the budget, I don't know…," expressed Supervisor Jeff Swisher. "We're going to have enough problems."

   "I'm not in favor of it," added Supervisor John Schlarmann. "Not at this time."

   "At least you have a back-up," said Supervisor Jon Zirkelbach.

   "I'm not against it," said Supervisor Joe Oswald, "but maybe because of the financial situation that we're in, try to get it in your budget."

In other county business:

   • County Treasurer Amy Picray and Recorder Sheri Jones asked the board if they plan to continue with the Compensation Board as budget season will be approaching at the end of the calendar year.

   The Compensation (Comp) Board makes recommendations to the county pertaining to wages for elected officials. The Iowa Legislature passed a law last session, doing away with Comp Boards, leaving the decision to still utilize such a board up to the counties.

   "A couple of members of the Comp Board don't see the need for it anymore, in their opinion," said Oswald.

   The board put the discussion on their next agenda.

   • Sherri Hunt, Cedar/Jones Early Childhood Iowa, invited the supervisors to the Oct. 30 Anamosa Community Foundation breakfast.

   • The board approved changing the status of Dawn Zembriskie from temporary to permanent part-time kitchen assistant for Senior Dining, effective Sept. 30.

   • The board approved issuing a notice of termination for the lease of the county-owed farmland, effective March 1, 2026. The farm is leased by Justin Buck.

   • The board approved a resolution to become a coalition member of the ECICOG FY 2025 EPA Brownfield Assessment Coalition.

   • The board approved hiring Janine Sulzner as temporary on-call election staff, effective Oct. 21, at $14.25 an hour.

   • The board approved the final plat of the Elsie Park Second Addition, a subdivision in Lovell Township.