Tagged: Lee County

The Lee County Board of Supervisors is ready to become the latest governmental board to conduct paperless meetings.

County Auditor Anne Pedersen brought up the idea of paperless meetings during the board's most recent workshop.

The board meets at least 4 times each month.  Pedersen says it takes a lot of time, paper, and ink to print documents for each of the five supervisors for each meeting.

The supervisors supported Pedersen’s recommendation to purchase electronic readers.

Lee County has decided to help one of its unincorporated communities with a proposed sewer project.

The Board of Supervisors has entered into a new 28-E agreement with Regional Utility Service Systems (RUSS). 

RUSS is an organization based in Mount Pleasant that helps rural communities secure state and/or federal money for sewer projects.

Supervisor Ernie Schiller says this agreement will allow RUSS to start the preliminary engineering work for a potential sanitary sewer system in the Mooar/Powdertown area north of Keokuk.

Lee County will be able to take advantage of newer technology when it comes to sending alerts about emergencies or disasters.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office and the Keokuk and Fort Madison Police Departments have utilized CodeRED for several years.

The system can send a pre-recorded message to hundreds of telephone numbers in seconds.

Sheriff Jim Sholl says CodeRED is being replaced by a new system called DeltAlert.

He says DeltAlert offers more minutes for the same price and some important new features like sending the messages as emails or texts.

Lee County’s Conservation Department is getting an employment boost.

The Board of Supervisors has authorized the department to promote its part-time assistant naturalist to full-time status.

The department’s oversight board had already signed off on the promotion.

Board of Supervisors Chairperson Janet Fife-LaFrenz says this will help the department in several ways, in particular through educational programs and tourism opportunities.

Lee County wants to make sure its residents are informed of new large-scale farming operations.

The Iowa DNR requires Lee County publish a public notice in a confinement with more than 2,500 hogs is being built within the county.

If a confinement has fewer than 2,500 hogs, the county simply accepts its Manure Management plan and takes no other action.

The Board of Supervisors is changing that process.

Chairperson Janet Fife-LaFrenz says the county will still accept the plan.