Supervisor Heather Knebel (R-Traer).

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July and celebrated America’s 250th Birthday!

I want to thank everyone who voted for me in the June Primary Election. I was unopposed and will now be on the November 2026 General Election ballot. I appreciate everyone’s continued support and your trust in me.

The Board of Adjustment and the Zoning Commission each had one member whose terms expired June 30, 2026. Nancy Smith was the only applicant to the Board of Adjustment and was therefore re-appointed by the Board of Supervisors. Jim Niebergall was the only applicant for the Zoning Commission open seat, and the Board of Supervisors appointed Jim to a 5-year term beginning July 1. These are both volunteer positions. The Zoning Commission duties are related to reviews and updates to the Tama County Zoning Ordinance, and the Board of Adjustment mainly review requests for variances and conditional use requests to the Zoning Ordinance. Wade Mitchell has served on the Zoning Commission for many years and decided to end his service to the Commission. Thank you, Wade, for your wisdom, knowledge, and dedication to the Tama County Zoning Commission.

Supervisor Turner had been gathering bids for leasing or buying copy machines for each County department. During my first months serving as Supervisor, I questioned the amount of money the County was spending to lease copy machines. Through the bid process, we selected an option that saves the County around $10K per year. Thank you to Supervisor David Turner for your dedication to Tama County and all your hard work with the IT Department.

We’ve had several discussions surrounding “summer hours” for the Secondary Roads department. In past years the employees have worked four 10-hour days in lieu of five 8-hour days. Several other counties do not change during the summer and stay with the normal five 8-hour day schedule. We negotiated with the union, and they ended up proposing a hybrid option of having some employees do five days and some doing four days. After the majority of the Board approved of this option, it was found that this hybrid option would not work. Problems such as foremen working 48 hours, employees left unattended in the shop, and the difficulty of keeping track of who was working when. The Board of Supervisors decided to switch back to the normal five 8-hour days. I tried my best to let the Secondary Roads department manage how they want to proceed to allow for more work-life balance. Next year, the Secondary Roads contract is up for negotiations, and hopefully we can improve the contract to the benefit of all parties.

The Board of Supervisors selected the winner of Tama County Economic Development’s photo contest. Thank you to Berleen Wobeter for the idea and to Jake Buchanan, Tama County Economic Development director, for gathering all the picture entries and getting the winning photo framed. Bob Kienzle’s picture was selected and it was taken at the Garwin Cemetery with the sun shining through the flag making it almost translucent. There were several beautiful American Flag pictures to choose from, and the runners-up pictures will be placed in a collage. The pictures will be hung in the Tama County Annex building.

I appreciate everyone’s patience with the road detours because of the Hwy. 63 south closure. We’ve received a lot of rain in a short period of time and I know K Avenue continues to be an issue for many. Rest assured that the Secondary Roads Department are doing the best they can. If they don’t blade the road there are potholes, or if they do blade the road, it gets dusty. There is no perfect solution. The State Department of Transportation occasionally applies dust control but they don’t always notify the County ahead of time. The highway will be very nice when it’s done, and we just have a few more months to go.

The Board approved transferring funds from the Maintenance Department’s budget into a special fund for HVAC repairs and tuckpointing needed at the Tama County Courthouse. These are large dollar items that need to be budgeted in advance rather than all at one time.

During the last meeting in June, Chairman Mark Doland decided to step down as Chair and nominate me to be the new Chair. I am humbled to be the first woman elected to the Tama County Board of Supervisors, and now also the first Chairwoman in the history of Tama County. It’s an honor to represent my County and all its residents. Mark Doland will now be the Vice-Chair of the Board.

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.