Board of Supervisors Lawyer Carlton Salmons, right, having a tense back and forth with Tama County Supervisor Curt Hilmer. PHOTO BY MICHAEL D. DAVIS

On Monday, June 26, the Tama County Board of Supervisors joined a scheduled Board of Health meeting to discuss an ongoing dispute. At the Board of Health’s meeting in March, two separate payments were approved, totaling nearly $13,000. These payments were for two homeowners who had their septic systems improperly passed by Tama County’s previous Sanitarian, Todd Apfel.

The problems with the wrongfully passed septic systems didn’t come to light until recent years with the work of Tama County’s new Sanitarian, Chris Behrens, who took over after Apfel resigned. Since this screw-up would have the affected homeowners paying thousands to fix the problem, the Board of Health felt it only right to help with the payments. These payments were factored into the Board’s 2024 fiscal year budget, which was approved by the Board of Supervisors, and would have been paid on July 1.

That was until the Board of Supervisors lawyer, Carlton Salmons, read the Tama-Toledo News Chronicle article on the subject and was alerted to the payments. Board of Health members attended the June 19 Board of Supervisors meeting and spoke with Salmons on speaker phone, but no issue was resolved. The threat of the Board of Supervisors suing the Board of Health was imminent. So, before all the lawyers put on their best ties, this Monday’s sit down between the two boards was held.

Talks between the boards started with the issue of the Board of Supervisors requesting copies of all of the Board of Health’s policies. Salmons told the Board of Health members that this was so he would know that they are passing their policies according to the law.

“I brought the law with me, so we can talk about that. Copies for everybody, free. Gratis. And I’m not spoofin’,” he said.

Not long after, as the subject took a few twists and turns,

“I guess as a Supervisor, I’m talkin’, I just want to know. How the hell did we get to this point?” Supervisor Curt Hilmer asked.

Hilmer spoke about the absurd possibility of the County suing the County. As they went back and forth, Salmons walked over and handed Hilmer a copy of the law he brought with him. After Hilmer stated that everything was getting out of control, Salmons responded, “Yes, sir, it is because you don’t care about the law.”

“No, I care about what’s right,” was Hilmer’s response.

Salmons went on to explain that Iowa law has a statute of limitations. After two years of a faulty septic system being approved, the county cannot pay any claim. Since the statute of limitations on both of the homeowner’s cases has expired, It is against the law for the Tama County Board of Health to pay the $13,000 approved in March.

A motion to not pay the two homeowners on July 1 was approved by the Board of Health.

After Tama County Supervisors Bill Faircloth and Dan Anderson had sat quietly behind their lawyer for the two-and-a-half-hour meeting, Dr. Polly Hineman, the vice-chairman of the Board of Health, addressed them directly. Dr. Hineman talked about the Supervisor’s approach to the issue.

“You could have come to us as a board instead of going to your council and being very heavy handed about it because we didn’t know either. And this, in my opinion, was handled very poorly on behalf of the Board of Supervisors, and in the future, I would ask that you endeavor to work a little bit kinder with your volunteer board members,” she said.