The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday), tabled action on amending or rescinding the County Information Technology Policy, after members of the public and Department Heads said they found the policy confusing. Until the policy is clarified and a new draft is created, Board Chair Gaylord Schelling said he would meet with the Department Heads individually to come up with the best way to incorporate the necessary changes in the wording of the policy, to make sure everyone clearly understands how it’s meant to be used.

One of those opposed to the County adopting the policy as written, was Arlene Drennan, with the Cass County Abstract Company. She thought the policy would make obtaining information from the Recorder’s Office, that’s necessary to her business, inaccessible. Shari Karns, Cass County Deputy Auditor, said the public computer used to access certain information in the Recorder’s or Treasure’s Office, would not be affected by the policy that is intended to protect the network from viruses or other types of unauthorized activities. The policy, as currently written, was adopted by the Board July 29^th.

In other business, the Board voted to terminate Audubon County’s Plan of Reimbursement to Cass County for services rendered to the Audubon County Attorney’s Office by Beverly Groves, who works for Cass County Attorney David Wiederstein. Groves had been providing services to the Audubon County Attorney’s Office while their regular attorney was away for medical reasons. The Board also approved an increase in compensation for Groves, to $48,000 from $45,000, commensurate with what she had been paid for the same services in Audubon County. The pay rate reset and termination agreement are retroactive to August 1^st.

The Board also denied a request to provide $5,000 per year for five-years, to an individual who wanted to provide dental care for underserved persons (Including Medicaid recipients and low income individuals) at a local dental office. The purpose of the request was to help the person pay back their hefty college loans. If the Board had approved the request, the State of Iowa would have chipped-in 25% and Delta Dental 50% of the funds to a maximum of $100,000, under the “Fulfilling Iowa’s Need for Dentists (or, FIND)” Project. The Board was uneasy with providing taxpayer dollars to help pay for an individual’s college expenses, and thought it would open the floodgates to other, similar requests.