OSKALOOSA—The first action of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors meeting was to elect a new chairman.

Following a moment of silence and approving the agenda, it was decided that Willie Van Weelden would take over the chairman spot with Mike Vander Molen as vice chair and Mark Doland as supervisor. After some seating rearrangements, the Board of Supervisors got right to work.

The board focused its attention on the topic of homeowners being allowed to perform their own septic system installation. “I think we have to stand behind what the process is,” said Van Weelden. “There are number of counties in the region that do allow homeowners to install their own systems.”

“They double the permit fees and charge for each individual visit,” said Eric Dursky.

“I don’t have an issue allowing homeowner install as long as they go through the same inspection process anybody else does,” said Vander Molen. “If it’s your own parcel, I’m OK with somebody doing their own install. Other than that, I think we still need to have commercial licensure.”

“If we start allowing homeowners to install their own, we’re not going to have any control over what goes in the ground, because permits won’t be purchased; we know that,” said Dursky. The board decided to do further research on the matter.

The next big ticket on the agenda was the Local Option Sales Tax Special Election planning. “We at some point have to reach a consensus on what we as a board want to do,” said Van Weelden.

“I don’t want to see this tax money thrown into the general fund and buy rock with it. If we have to do that, we’ve got some serious problems that need to be addressed,” said Van Weelden. “I think it need to go to some projects. Generally, the one-cent tax has built projects since we’ve done it. Pave some roads, re-pave some roads, that kind of thing. I think we have to have some things in black and white what we intend to do with the money.”

Vander Molen stated he was OK with proceeding according to the Dec. 2 meeting, however, Doland wanted to do some more research on the subject. “From what I’ve heard from the different groups, there are people who are really for it and people who are really against it,” said Doland. “What I’m going to do in moving foward is put together a group of people who are absolutely against it and absolutely for it and get in a room and talk and see if there is any middle ground that can be worked out. If not, then we’ll proceed at that point.

“A lot of times people will come out and stand on the sidelines and scream at each other,” Doland added. “When you get together and you talk, it humanizes one another. If there is some common ground they can reach on it, then I’ll support it; if not, I won’t support it.”

Beth Danowsky, chair of the Mahaska County Development Group, gave a brief statement re-emphasizing an intent to continue to cooperate with the county in order to proceed with the Recreation and Early Childhood Education project, the Environmental Learning Center and the road infrastructure.

During Monday’s regular meeting, supervisors also approved for meetings to continue to occur on the first and third Mondays of each month, approved internal organization and appointments to various committees, the Equal Opportunity Policy Statement and approved resolutions, bills, reports and minutes. In addition, two payroll changes were approved.

Story provided by Angie Holland

The Oskaloosa City Council met for a very brief meeting to start 2016 on Monday night.

The night began with community comments, where Beth Danowsky, who is a leader of the efforts to support the Recreation and Early Childhood Education Project, spent a couple of minutes thanking the City Council for its efforts in helping move the project forward.

Next was the oaths of office, as new council member Steve Burnett was sworn in. Burnett is the new 4th Ward Council Member. 2nd Ward Council Member Tom Jiminez and At-Large Council Member Joe Caligiuri were both sworn in again as well, as both won re-election in November. Mayor David Krutzfeldt was also sworn in again after winning his own re-election contest.

The consent agenda was passed as well, with a large sum of bookkeeping items, mainly involving appointing council members to various boards and committees. This passed unanimously.

The lone item on the regular agenda was a public hearing for a resolution approving the plans, specifications, form of contract, and estimated cost for the Fire Department Renovation and Expansion Project. There was no one there to speak, and the resolution passed unanimously.

Finally, City Manager Michael Schrock reported more news regarding the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors and their thoughts on the Local Option Sales Tax for the county and their support for the Recreation and Early Childhood Education Facility. He said there are appears to be two supervisors against it, and council members and members of the public should reach out to the Board of Supervisors within the next two weeks before the Supervisors meet again to finalize the language of the tax on the ballot.

The next regular meeting of the Oskaloosa City Council is scheduled for January 18th at 6 PM in Council Chambers in City Hall.