Vander Molen Highlights Mahaska County 2013
Oskaloosa, Iowa – “In 2013 we really started out the new year with some new faces,” Vander Molen said, of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors, to those gathered at Smokey Row in Oskaloosa, Saturday morning.
Vander Molen was elected to the board in November of 2012 and took office in January of 2013. Mark Doland took office the first part of February 2013 to fill the vacancy left by Ken Rozenboom, who had been elected to the State Senate.
“We spent a lot of the year sort of going through that learning curve and coming up to speed, as much as possible, on the day to day operations of the county,” Vander Molen added.
Vander Molen touched on some of the other changes during the year, such as the appointment of Charles Stream as the county attorney. “We decided as a board to do an appointment,” Vander Molen said of their choice, who had previously held the office. “He also indicated he didn’t intend to run for that county attorney position, so that will be a contested election here in November.”
Vander Molen also pointed out that two supervisor seats will be up for election in November. Greg Gordy and Mark Doland will both face the re-election process.
Besides the two supervisor seats, the treasurer, recorder are also facing re-election. “It will be a busy election cycle,” Vander Molen said.
Those interested in running for those offices have until March 26th to file.
Vander Molen then turned to projects that had been completed in the past year, such as the Lacey blacktop between Oxford and Queens avenues. He also pointed out the completion of Indian Way resurfacing that was completed before RAGBRAI made its way into the county.
Vander Molen commented on that project saying he “took a little grief” over the project versus some others that constituents believed deserved priority.
The possible improvements to Highway 63 and a by-pass around Oskaloosa that is currently in the study phase by the DOT, was also brought up during his opening remarks. “So in a couple of years, we should know more about that route. It’s very preliminary right now,” said Vander Molen.
“At some point, I think we’re going to have to have a by-pass around New Sharon,” Vander Molen added about the Highway 63 project. “There is a coalition between the county and the city (Oskaloosa), and our corporate partners are working to get those improvements done.”
Other road improvements in the future could include Highway 102. “Highway 102 is the highest trafficked county road between New Sharon and Pella,” Vander Molen said. He pointed toward those improvements in hopes of improving traffic counts and then, in turn, garnering more state dollars for the county’s roads.
The southwest connector has been a topic for many years that would bring traffic from Highway 92 to Highway 63 south of Oskaloosa. “We’re going to have to figure out funding sources and figure out how we’re going to work with the city on that project,” said Vander Molen.
“Funding is the big issue. So much money that we get for these projects and we do what we can with that money. In the future, there’s local option sales tax money that may be available for some of these projects. The county really hasn’t bonded for a whole lot. But we’re wary to do that, but we’re open to all options at this point.”
Beyond infrastructure and elections, Vander Molen spoke about the mental health redesign that is currently underway statewide. Mahaska and Marion have joined together in a 28E agreement to form a region to share mental health services.
The state had mandated that at least 3 counties come together to form a region, but after Jasper and Poweshiek opted to join other regions, that left just Marion and Mahaska. The counties have then turned towards the state to garner an exemption for them to remain a 2 county region.
“That topic (mental health regions) kept us pretty busy this last year,” Vander Molen said.
Also this year, the county switched its HAZMAT service provider from SIRG in Ottumwa to local firefighters based out of New Sharon, Oskaloosa and Fremont. This will keep the dollars spent on the service in county and provide local service. “I think that’s a great benefit,” said Vander Molen.
Budget hearings will start on Monday morning at the courthouse in Oskaloosa.
“I think we had a pretty good year at the county level, but there is a lot of work going forward,” Vander Molen said in closing.
