Supervisor Heather Knebel (R-Traer).

Happy December! I hope everyone had a great November and Thanksgiving.

A Letter of Engagement was signed with Marshalltown Chamber of Commerce for Economic Development purposes. Supervisor Doland and I met with John Hall, President and CEO of Marshalltown Chamber of Commerce multiple times to discuss this partnership. The service provided will include one (1) person that will be hired for Tama County Economic Development who will work from Marshalltown but visit the county often. There is currently a job posting on Indeed for this position. This service also includes a team of individuals, including John, to help train the new employee and visit businesses in Tama County. There remains much work to be done in Tama County but I’m very excited to have a team that will be working on Tama County Economic Development starting early next year. It will take some time, as collaboration such as this does not happen overnight. The Board of Supervisors will be meeting again with the Advisory Board, which includes representatives from schools, cities, and businesses that are interested in helping with this initiative. A final contract will be reviewed at a Board of Supervisors meeting for approval and signatures in the coming months.

In November, two additional Moratoriums were put into place for Data Mining and Centers as well as Battery Storage. Tama County does not have ordinances regulating these facilities; thus Moratoriums were needed to allow the Zoning Commission time to research and develop them. Data Mining and Centers use a large amount of water and electricity, so it is vitally important to study these items in depth before an application might be submitted for consideration. The utmost priority must first be given to updating the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, so it could take 1-3 years before these two (2) new additional ordinances could be developed.

The Board of Supervisors approved the City/School Election Canvass for Tama County. Everything was verified and certificates and certification papers were all signed. Congratulations to everyone newly elected or re-elected! Your involvement on County Boards doesn’t go unnoticed, and I also want to thank the Auditor’s Office for their hard work in conducting a smooth election.

Interviews will be conducted in the next month for the two (2) postings for Tama County Secondary Road Foreman positions. I will provide an update once this process is complete.

A discussion was held on releasing the Salt Creek Wind Phase 1 roads from the Road Use Agreement. The agreement states that all parties will review the road conditions and then mutually agree on the roads being released once construction is completed. I want to ensure we do not release roads too early and that some rock, even if it’s used rock, is put down on the roads before winter, then have new rock spread in the Spring 2026 by contractors paid by Salt Creek. Supervisors’ Kupka and Hilmer will work with our county engineer to ensure they are part of the road release approval and will bring their findings back to the Board of Supervisors.

The Board of Supervisors approved a Closed Session Checklist for Tama County. A Resolution was approved pertaining to recommendations from IPIB (Iowa Public Information Board), regarding Closed Session Policy. This is regarding the Closed Session held when the former HR Director Tammy Wise’s employment was terminated in February 2025. With this resolution, all parties acknowledge that the Tama County Board of Supervisors denies any wrongdoing or violations of law, but has agreed to an Informal Resolution for the stated purpose of saving time and taxpayer money. All parties further acknowledge that IPIB has not made any finding of wrongdoing or violation of law against the Board in this case. The Board of Supervisors will have training on this by IPIB on December 8.

The Tama County Handbook is currently being updated with input from Department Heads. The Board of Supervisors met with HR consultant Paul Greufe to discuss the ongoing updates and changes. Thank you to everyone for their time and effort to update the Handbook for Tama County.

For the FY27 Budget Process, we will determine what percentage each Department typically spends going back to Fiscal Year 2024. Then give each department that amount as a starting point to work their budget around for Board of Supervisor review. We want to start small versus last year when we had to cut so much from departments budgets to breakeven. We also plan to hold back 10% from the majority of departments as we did this year. Property taxes are unbearable for everyone. We will continue to ask questions, make changes, and balance the budget to the best of our ability. Thank you for the patience as we build back the General Basic Fund that we realized upon coming into office.

Supervisor David Turner has been approved as acting Interim IT Director. An IT Audit was completed earlier this year, and he fully understands the areas where improvements are most needed. He is currently working through the critical items, and we thank David for helping out in this department.

I hope you have a great December and Christmas! As usual, please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Supervisor Heather Knebel (R-Traer), the first elected female supervisor in Tama County history, represents District 3, including the townships of Spring Creek, Crystal, Perry, and parts of far northern Carlton (excluding Garwin) and Howard. She can be reached at 641-481-2532 or hknebel@tamacounty.org.