T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY During Wednesday morning’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Marshall County Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson announced Our Savior Lutheran Church at 3001 S. 6th St. as the new polling location for 3rd Ward voters within the city of Marshalltown. Voting had previously been conducted at the Marshalltown Arts and Civic Center (MACC).

While Wednesday morning’s regular Marshall County Board of Supervisors was light on official agenda items, the public comment period at the end provided some newsworthy information on a trio of key topics.

After initially announcing during the previous meeting two weeks ago that the county would be moving the city of Marshalltown’s 3rd Ward polling location away from the Marshalltown Arts and Civic Center (MACC) due to MACC leadership asking for a rent of $100 per hour plus cleaning fees, Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson reported on Wednesday that they had found a new spot, Our Savior Lutheran Church, which is located at 3001 S. 6th St. across from the old Skate Town and is within the ward’s boundaries.

“They were very receptive to the idea. The pastor there, when he was up at Ellsworth, said they used the church there for a polling location, so he was very used to that process,” Benson said. “It’s probably gonna be one of our best polling locations.”

Our Savior will not be charging any rent for the use of the facility. Benson added that First Friends Church was also willing to host, and she was thankful for the hospitality from both of them. She then commented that there were “a lot of politics” involved in the change and noted that postcards informing voters of the new location can’t be sent out until May 20. She plans to utilize local media, social media and the county website to spread the word.

According to Benson, the cost of renting the MACC could run as high as $1,800 depending on how long the polls would be open. In the past, the use of the building at 709 S. Center St. had been allowed at no charge to the county, but during the 2023 legislative session, the passage of House File 718 eliminated special levies — which the MACC, previously known as the Fisher Community Center, had benefited from to the tune of $100,000 annually — and consolidated them into the general funds of municipalities.

After the change, the Marshalltown city council subsequently voted 4-3 during a March meeting to reject a $100,000 one-year funding request for the facility. Karn Gregoire, the MACC Board of Trustees president, said they would welcome the prospect of hosting the polling place for 3rd Ward residents, but the aforementioned loss of support has forced the board to reassess the situation.

“Especially with the city backing out of their financial commitment, it costs us operational expenses to have it open — not only staffing during the off hours for setup and teardown, but also for general building utilities,” she said. “There’s a cost, and we’re just not in a position to do anything else right now.”

Earlier in the public comment period, Marshall County Emergency Management Coordinator Kim Elder provided a major update on the long-awaited siren project, which was expected to be wrapped up Wednesday with the installation of the final new units. She did warn, however, that there would be a gap from the time they finished installing the sirens themselves and when the rest of the communication backbone will be completed — Elder guessed about two weeks.

“That gives them time to work through the electricity being hooked up to the poles that are out there now, testing those poles, making sure the sirens and the digipeaters work,” she said.

The sirens won’t be activated until the backbone work is finished, she added. Supervisors Steve Salasek and Carol Hibbs had a few questions about how the process is coming along and how the sirens will operate.

Elder said they all have battery backups, and the Liscomb siren is generator driven instead of electrical. In response to a question from Hibbs, she noted that the battery backups would last through “several cycles” of warnings if the power does happen to go out during a severe weather incident. There is also a “quick push” button to activate the sirens if the Communications Center would happen to be down, and Elder, 911 Director Rhonda Braudis, Sheriff Joel Phillips and Chief Deputy Ben Veren will have access to it.

“(There are) a lot of backups, a lot of redundancies. I like that, and we’re able to still set them off individually or combined,” Elder said.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the appointment of Kaelee Keesee as an assistant county attorney effective Aug. 1. Keesee is currently finishing her law degree at the University of Kansas and will still need to pass the Iowa Bar Exam upon returning to the state. In response to a question from Hibbs, County Attorney Jordan Gaffney said his office is still short two attorneys at the present time, and there will be one more vacancy to fill once Keesee joins the staff. Sheriff Joel Phillips told Hibbs that all of the MCSO’s sworn positions are filled, but one deputy plans to retire in July along with two who are planning to do so in January of 2025. He said the current civil service list includes one eligible applicant, who is currently employed as a jailer, and there are currently two open positions for female jailers.

• Recognized Joseph Paige for five years of service to the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office.

• Approved a resolution for moving permits adding new Assistant to the County Engineer Bruce Dieken’s name to the list of employees who are authorized to sign them.

• Approved the abatement of $497 in real estate taxes for a property at 919 S. Center St. in Marshalltown.

——

Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

maharry@timesrepublican.com.