The Tama County Board of Supervisors went through the petition to go back to three supervisors line by line at this week’s meeting. PHOTOS BY MICHAEL SIGN HERE DAVIS

After the sun woke up and slipped out of bed high into the sky, the warm morning started with a battalion of citizens heading to this week’s Tama County Supervisors meeting on Monday. Confusion seems to have been the predominant feeling in the meeting, as no one seemed to have a firm grasp on what was going on or what the proper thing to do was, especially as it pertained to the petition to return the board, which went up to five members after the 2024 election cycle, back down to three members.

The public comment time took up the lion’s share of the first meeting, as the second meeting, the meeting everyone gathered was concerned with, didn’t have a public comment time. The second, or 9:30 meeting, had a single agenda item: examine the petition to decrease the number of Supervisors from Five Members to Three Members that was submitted to the board last week and “accept or reject the petition.” Members of the public questioned why the petition needed examination by the supervisors and how they were allowed to accept or decline it at all. Citizen Barb Jordan referred to the ordeal as a conflict of interest.

The proper procedure for accepting a petition, therein lies the rub. Both supervisors and citizens alike looked to those more proficient in the Iowa Code for advice on how the petition should be handled, and no two seemed to give the same information, which led to more confusion. After the supervisors finished with their lively exchange with the public over how to proceed and what they should and shouldn’t be doing when it comes to the petition, the 9:30 meeting went forward.

The second meeting started with a slight revision to the wording of the single agenda item. Instead of “accept or reject the petition filed,” the item was amended to “accept or reject for filing the petition received on.” The main objective of this second meeting, it was stated, was for the supervisors to sift through the petition and highlight any line that did not have one of three fields filled out: name, date, address. Each supervisor was given a portion of the petition and a highlighter; they skimmed the names, counted, then ultimately approved the petition.

Just as those who brought the petition forward thought they could have a sigh of relief and wait for the voters to do their thing, a challenge was filed against the petition by Nancy Yuska.

Tama County Auditor Karen Rohrs counted up the names on the petition. PHOTOS BY MICHAEL SIGN HERE DAVIS

“I have highlighted in yellow-gold the address cell on 194 rows of the 72-page PDF, as none of these signers identified the city in which they live,” Yuska stated in her written objection.

Yuska goes on to give her argument as to why the 194 signatures should be invalid, saying, “It is not my intent that any elected official or employee of Tama County go through this list and validate the residency of those signers I’ve highlighted in the PDF, but that those signers should not be counted…period. After the petition was submitted to the Supervisors, those persons initially in control of the petition and the manner in which they obtained signatures decided it was “good to go”, and evidently did not care to review the documents to ensure all State of Iowa petition rules were adhered to. If the document does not pass the basic standards, which were readily available to anyone circulating a petition, then it should not move past the first level of scrutiny by our elected officials.”

Yuska also stated in her challenge that those signers who put their address in the signature column and the work of “3rd party intervenors” who used another color pen to legibly write the name of those with less readable handwriting should raise alarm as well.

An objection panel made up of the County Auditor, the County Attorney, and the County Treasurer formed to review the petition will meet on Friday, Aug. 21 at 2 p.m. at the Tama County Board of Supervisors Conference Room. If the challenge is unsuccessful, the measure will appear on the November ballot.

The regular, non-exciting part of the supervisors’ meeting started with the roads department report saying they mainly did maintenance due to the weather. They also approved the updated Tama County Safety Manual. A liquor license for the Traveling Tapster LLC was approved along with claims totaling $138,454.27.