(Harlan, Iowa) – The Shelby County Board of Supervisors met in a regular session, Tuesday morning. According to the meeting minutes from Auditor Mark Maxwell, Nick Preston was present at the meeting, to discuss the West Nishnabotna Water Trail memorandum of agreement. Preston informed the Supervisors that Brandon Burmeister, Shelby County Engineer, has some responsibilities regarding the agreement as well as the State department of transportation. River boat ramps are to be installed in Harlan as well as at Nishna Bend. Parkhurst introduced a motion to authorize the Chairperson to sign the memorandum. The motion received a second, and was passed. The Board also approved a Utility permit for Nishnabotna Valley REC.

A Department of Transportation resolution was then considered by the Supervisors. Brandon Burmeister presented an amendment to the current five year plan. The amendment was approved unanimously. Todd Valline was present at Tuesday’s meeting. He gave an update on a few of the holiday activities the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and Industry is involved in. The cities and volunteers in Tennant, Portsmouth, Panama and Irwin were thanked for assistance in the Santa Clause visits last weekend. The Harvestfest festivities included some filming for a promotional video being focused on the Omaha Council Bluffs area. The two videos give a chance for Shelby County to show off some of the reasons to live here or even visit. The initial stats for the videos show over 14,000 views and it is only a month old.

The Supervisors found it prudent to make Shelby County taxpayers aware and make sure that the current high pressure Liquified carbon dioxide pipeline legal matters were presented at an open meeting. Chairperson Kenkel presented a timeline of events leading up to the current date. Shelby County’s liability insurance carrier is covering most of the legal fees.

Supervisor Haake wanted to make known also, the Board intends to expand the Supervisors from three members to five members. Prerequisites must be fulfilled including a Supervisor Resolution or Petition requirements fulfilled. The Supervisors requested input from the public to see if Shelby County voter support would make the transition prerequisites of going from three to five Supervisors worth investigating further.

Auditor Maxwell presented a Building and Grounds use application for the annual Roar into Harlan events. They take place once a month on a Thursday in the summer months. Maxwell noted that there have been few issues with this event during the years these events have been held. The application was approved. Maxwell then notified the Supervisors that the due date for payroll change sheets and evaluation completion for the 2.5% merit raise are due this Friday December 9th.

Mark Maxwell notes, that in order to accommodate the county owned farm ground rent auction for the crop year 2023, the regular Board of Supervisors meeting will be on December 20th, this meeting will be held at the Therkildsen Center. A recess will be called at the end of the business session of the meeting and the meeting will reconvene at the Supervisors room at the courthouse to hold budget sessions with departments heads, to accommodate the County owned farm 2023 crop year rent auction will be held at that meeting also.

Tentative dates are December 27th and 28th at 9:00 AM in the Supervisors room at the Courthouse for the remaining budget sessions.