OSKALOOSA — The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors meeting was brisk and uneventful.

The Tuesday, July meeting, which normally occurs on the first and third Monday each month, was not held on Monday due to the Independence Day holiday. Chairman Willie Van Weelden was absent.

Lasting fewer than fifteen minutes, Vice Chair Mike Vander Molen and Supervisor Mark Doland adhered to the agenda.

Following a moment of silence and approval of the agenda, minutes from the June 20 and 23 meetings were approved, as were the bills from June.

The Auditor’s fourth quarter report was accepted.

Resolution number 2016-07-13, sale of real estate, was approved. “I believe this came from the county attorney and relates to parcels formerly known as the county farm,” said Vander Molen.

Appropriations for fiscal year 2017 were approved. “They’re at 100 percent,” said Auditor Sue Brown. Doland made the motion to approve the resolution for appropriations.

The resolution to approve operating transfers for fiscal year 2017 were approved. “This is to move some money around in different funds, the general basic to secondary road fund, and rural services to secondary roads,” said Vander Molen. “We make these transfers every year to support our secondary road system, and really we max out what we can transfer. As long as I’ve known, we have had that policy.”

Salaries were approved for fiscal year 2017. “These salaries were based on what we decided at budget time,” said Vander Molen. “And probably also what we approved at the last couple of meetings for secondary roads and based on the contract with the law enforcement; so they’re all commensurate with what we have discussed before.” Mark Doland made the motion to approve.

There were a number of payroll changes to discuss. One person was removed and one was added to the Sheriff’s department. Also, there were two vacancies in the Secondary Roads department, one due to retirement, the other due to moving. The payroll changes were approved.

As far as the Secondary Road vacancies, Dave Shanahan, county Engineer, said they’ll get started advertising for the positions, in-house first.

The next item on the agenda was to certify cost allocation plan – Targeted Case Management – for fiscal year 2017. There were no changes, and the item was approved.

The board authorized the signature to bind coverage of the governmental entity crime policy. The three-year agreement was approved.

Due to Van Weelden’s absence, the consideration to approve the exception to policy to include Targeted Case Management treatment was tabled for the next Board of Supervisors meeting.

Updates were heard for the Compensation Commission. “This is for the commission that helps set compensation in the case of eminent domain,” said Vander Molen. There are several vacancies on the commission, in several categories.

“I just wanted to put it on so you guys can be working on it,” said Brown. “Like you say, a few are gone, moved, or have passed away; we just need to keep it updated.”

Finally, the floor was opened to public comments, of which there were none, and the meeting was adjourned.

The next Board of Supervisors meeting will be on Monday, July 18 at 9 a.m.

Story provided by Angie Holland

Last night at approximately 6:44 in the evening, Mahaska County 911 Center took the report of a 2 year-old female that had been found in a family pond unresponsive.

Medical and law enforcement personnel responded to northern Mahaska County, where CPR was already in progress.

The female was transported to Mahaska Health Partnership where the 2 year-old was pronounced deceased.

No other details have been released from the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office.

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to announce that they have taken the steps to become a better resource for the citizens of Jasper County when it comes to child passenger safety. At the beginning of June, the Sheriff’s office sent two deputies, Deputy Britton and Deputy Burdt, to a National Child Passenger Safety Technician certification training program in Norwalk, IA. Both deputies demonstrated the ability to educate and help caregivers with the correct selection, installation, and use of car seats, booster seats, and seat belts and are now Nationally Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians.

According to various reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), car seat, booster seat, and seat belt misuse vary from 74 to 90 percent. The Sheriff’s Office would like to help educate the public on how to properly secure the young citizens of this county by offering appointments and checkup events that will be made available at the Sheriff’s office and also around the smaller communities in the county.

If you would like to have a one on one experience with either certified CPS Technicians, an appointment can be made via the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, and typically after the 6:00pm timeframe, this will make it easier to ensure that either deputy is working and can make themselves available. Some things to have during an appointment would be your vehicle’s owner manual, your child safety seat and its owner manual, and a willingness to learn. An appointment can last anywhere from 20 minutes to one (1) hour, depending on how many questions you have or what we can do to assist you so that we can better secure your child.

In the near future, the Sheriff’s Office will be working with communities throughout the county, to try to arrange a checkup event so that we can help those that aren’t able to make it to the Sheriff’s Office in Newton. These events will be held at a location where people can bring their vehicles and child safety seats to be looked at by CPS Technicians and also raise awareness on properly restraining children.

Our first public event will take place on July 17 th , 2016 between the hours of 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM at the Jasper County Fair, in Colfax, during Public Safety Day. If you have an interest in having a checkup at the Jasper County Fair during this time period, please contact us via Facebook or call 641-792- 5912 and leave a voicemail for Deputy Burdt. He will arrange an appointment time for your safety check.

Please like the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page to stay tuned for more information about child passenger safety seats, and to make sure you are aware of upcoming events that may be coming to your community.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, AUTHORITY LT. AARON GROVES