Supervisors Appoint New Member To Compensation Board
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors met in regular session on Monday, August 1st, 2016.
After approval of the agenda and minutes from the July 18, 2016 meeting, the board continued moving quickly through the agenda, with the biggest payroll change coming from the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office, with the hire of Ben Johnson as a new deputy. Johnson worked for the City of Oskaloosa Police Department until July 31. Johnson took over his duties to the county on August 1st.
The board has several positions to fill on the compensation commission, and Mahaska County Supervisor Mike Vander Molen nominated Steve Wanders to that position. Wanders is president of the Mahaska County Farm Bureau.
Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Doland nominated Chuck Webb, and Tim Van Maanan. Van Maanan is president of Van Maanan Seed and Chemical in Leighton, Iowa.
The compensation commission is commonly made up of persons having knowledge of property values in that county (property owners, real estate brokers, bankers, and appraisers, for example) who determine the fair market value of the property interest (typically an easement) that is being acquired. That determination or “appraisement of damages,” can be appealed to the district court, where it is tried as an ordinary case.
The board approved covering the insurance deductible for car owners whose vehicles sustained damage as a result of tiles from the courthouse roof. Those tiles came loose during a thunderstorm wind event on July 13, 2016.
As a result, of de-unionising procedures at the Mahaska County Secondary Roads, one of those items discussed was a time-off without pay request. That request was instructed to follow the procedures as outlined in the county employee handbook.
The second request involved vacation time from a retiring employee. Because of the non-union status of the secondary roads department at this time, the employee handbook is being used to determine vacation time. This item was tabled until further exploration could be done.
Oskaloosa News asked Vander Molen about his selection of Steve Wanders to the commission and if he found any potential conflict of interest with Wanders being the president of the local Farm Bureau.
“No, the only requirement is that it be a farm operator. He’s a farm operator and I don’t see that being a conflict at all. The goal of the compensation commission is to find fair compensation for eminent domain proceedings”, said Vander Molen.
We asked Vander Molen how he would be able to be a fair member of that board, in which Wanders has been an outspoken critic of the proposed regional airport. A potential proceeding he could be asked to serve on. Wanders could help to determine the amount of compensation for any land acquired in the building of the regional airport.
“Because their job is to find the value of parcels that are subject to eminent domain. As a farm operator, I think he knows the value of crop land in the county”, said Vander Molen.
Van Maanan was a financial backer for Doland’s campaign for supervisor, with a $1,000 contribution on May 2, 2014, and another $1,000 contribution on October 8, 2014.
Van Maanan was also a financial backer to the no regional airport campaign that had signs and other material being distributed in that campaign, and his nomination by Doland to the commission is pending. Van Maanan served as Treasurer of TARA-PAC, also donating $1,000 to the effort on October 25, 2013.
