Mahaska County Supervisors Discuss Not Hiring New Deputy Due To Lawsuits
May 5th, 2022
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors met on Monday, May 2nd, 2022.
On the agenda was setting a public hearing for May 16th, 2022, for the fiscal year 2022 budget amendment. The hearing will take place beginning at 9 am.
The Supervisors approved paying the bills for April and then discussed an invoice from CellSite Solutions for rock and grading at the new communication tower sites.
A discrepancy with the date on the invoice had the supervisors looking for a way to keep things moving at the tower sites while also ensuring accountability was in place.
The motion was tabled for the time being until the details were worked out.
The Board then discussed an annual contract with HR Consultant PJ Greufe and Associates.
The Board is considering moving to a different firm to handle HR needs in the future.
In the closing comments of the meeting, Board Chair Mark Groenendyk spoke about the Board of Supervisors being sued by the Emergency Management Commission.
Groenendyk read a list of commission members, 12 in all, who voted to sue Mahaska County and stated that the board members had voted again to return to court.
The last lawsuit over funding was unsuccessful, as the Board wasn’t on time with budget filing.
“Somehow, this has got to end,” said Groenendyk of the lawsuits, referencing the airport and EMA lawsuits. “Our budgets don’t sustain this.”
“Our own sheriff is voting against us, and there’s no end in sight,” said Groenendyk of Mahaska County Sheriff’s vote to move forward with litigation. “There’s no end in sight.”
“Where does this end,” commented Groenendyk on the lawsuits.
New legislation passed by the Iowa Legislature is at the heart of the controversy now. When signed by the Governor, EMA Commissions will have the authority to replace the 911 Boards if both boards approve.
Iowa SF 2298 is the new legislation to allow Emergency Management Commissions the authority to “have all the powers of a joint 911 service board if a commission is substituted for the joint 911 service board.”
At a meeting on April 28th, the Mahaska County EMA Commission voted to move forward with their plans to sue the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors.
Groenendyk said that the Commission talks about the legislative change, but they don’t state “where all this new authority is coming from.”
Mahaska County Supervisor Steve Wanders said that they need to find a way to fund the lawsuits, and that would be to cut county workers. “I’m not raising taxes for stupidity.”
“This has gone past absurd; we’re all laughing about it. This is silly,” added Groenendyk.
Groenendyk added that there are options, such as cutting budgets across the board 10%. “That doesn’t make anybody happy that their Sheriff decided to sue you. Yeah, so we’re cutting your budget.”
Groenendyk then added he thought back to a recent meeting when they [Supervisors] approved hiring a deputy to replace the civil position as the head of the jail.
Recently retired Chief Jailer Larry Septer wasn’t a certified peace officer and required a deputy to do things like press charges, among others.
“I’m thinking maybe it’s time we put that on hold,” said Groenendyk.
“They can bring a deputy out of the field to do the jail,” added Supervisor Chuck Webb.
Groenendyk added that the Board of Supervisors needed to consider where they would get funds “to keep protecting the county.”
Groenendyk indicated that he would rescind the recommendation to hire another deputy to replace Septer as the Jail Administrator.
Mahaska County Sheriff is also the Chair of the Mahaska County Emergency Management Commission.
With that discussion, the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors adjourned.
