The Story County Board of Supervisors considered several claims and recommendations during their weekly meeting Tuesday morning. 

Vice Chair Latifah Faisal, Board Member Lisa Murken and Chair Lisa Heddens met with various organizations from Story County to discuss their requests and proposals.

The meeting opened with a call to order and a reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance before providing updates on COVID-19. 

After that, Carin Forbes, executive director of the Legal Aid Society of Story County, provided an update on the organization’s finances and current work within the community. Forbes also provided a written report available in the meeting’s agenda. 

During her report, Forbes mentioned Legal Aid is experiencing decreased funding and an increase in self-generated revenues, resulting in potential staff cuts. It’s unclear how the funding issue will be resolved. 

“I’m afraid we’re not going to be able to meet the legal needs of our community,” Forbes said. 

Next, the supervisors voted and moved to approve the consideration of minutes and consideration of personnel actions.

Assistant Auditor Lisa Markley then presented a notice of public hearing for a proposed property tax levy. The proposed levy includes a countywide valuation increase of 4.2 percent.

The supervisors approved the motion to send this resolution to a public hearing, which will be March 9. At that point, any resident or lawyer can present their objections to the proposed tax levy. 

The next discussion was about the Story County Compensation Board’s recommendation for the annual compensation of the county’s elected officials: auditor, treasurer, recorder, sheriff, county attorney and supervisors.  

The Compensation Board recommendation included a 3 percent increase per year for the supervisors and a 21.4 percent pay increase per year for the auditor, the treasurer and the recorder.

Murken argued a 21 percent increase was not appropriate. 

“It’s been a difficult year, and everyone’s worked really hard,” Murken said. 

Murken introduced a motion to decrease the Compensation Board’s recommendations by 75 percent.   

Faisal then discussed decreasing the recommendations by 50 percent, citing her concern of falling behind on compensation in the next few years. 

“We’re all on the same page that everyone has worked really hard,” Faisal said. “I don’t want us to constantly be playing catch-up.” 

Heddens expressed concern about jumping to the 50 percent mark instead of staying with a 75 percent decrease, and Murken agreed. After a discussion, the motion to reduce the Compensation Board’s recommendation by 75 percent passed. 

The Board then heard from Planning and Development Director Amelia Schoeneman, who discussed the new proposal to establish fees for county departments and public entities. 

They also listened to a presentation from Planner Marcus Amman concerning the Indian Creek Farms Residential Parcel Subdivision. 

The Board approved both motions with few questions and moved on to hear from the Story County Animal Control Director Anna Henderson. 

She requested approval of the proposed changes to the Story County Animal Control and Shelter to comply with new state regulations, including a $60,000 kennel replacement and upgrade in addition to $8,000 in landscaping. 

Murken motioned to approve the request for changes, and Faisal seconded.

The Board concluded the considerations portion of their agenda with a report from the Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management Department. 

The report included an update on the department’s staffing numbers, which are now down by two. The department is looking for seasonal help and will begin interviews in March. 

Finally, the Board opened the floor up for a public forum during which viewers had the opportunity to make comments on items not on the meeting’s agenda. There were no comments about additional items during this time. 

After updating the list of committee assignments and meetings, the Board moved to adjourn and ended the meeting. 

An audio recording of the meeting will be available on the Board’s website at www.storycountyiowa.gov, and the agenda for this meeting is available here.