T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Marshall County Veterans Affairs Director Kevin Huseboe addressed the board of supervisors during a brief regular meeting on Wednesday morning.

During a brief meeting that lasted all of eight minutes Wednesday morning, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved veterans relocation assistance incentives for fiscal year 2025 and heard an update from County VA Director Kevin Huseboe on a monthly meeting he plans to launch in August.

As he stepped forward to the speaking podium, Huseboe noted that one veteran who applied for the program, which provides up to $2,000 per eligible veteran, has already found employment with Lennox, and another is coming from South Dakota while working to establish his housing situation in Marshall County. Last year, the incentives were approved for one veteran who ultimately didn’t end up coming after employment fell through and ultimately stayed in Florida.

“Thank you for your work on this and all the paperwork you’ve got to do to shuffle through to make it happen, so we appreciate that,” Board Chairman Jarret Heil said.

Huseboe also took the opportunity to plug “Coffee and Camaraderie,” a monthly event for veterans that will be held at the VFW Post 839 on the first Tuesday from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. beginning Aug. 6. He and his colleague Shari Coughenour will be on hand for each gathering, and Huseboe plans to bring in a variety of guest speakers.

“It’s just veterans coming in, talking about their likes (and) dislikes, if they’re struggling with the VA… Just for them to visit with other veterans and just talk about what’s going on,” he said. “If they’re not happy and they’re coming from other counties, having issues, whatever, we see that a lot already, and we take care of them and get them through the system. That’s basically what Coffee and Camaraderie is gonna be — just veterans talking about issues, complaints, how we can fix it (and) how we can help them get better served.”

As Huseboe put it, it takes a village to get everyone taken care of, but he’s excited to roll out the county’s Home Base Iowa initiatives and show off the state-of-the-art new VA clinic on East Merle Hibbs Boulevard near McFarland, which is set to open by late July or early August.

Supervisor Steve Salasek asked whether the event would be a public forum, to which Huseboe said it would be an open forum for veterans with the county VA supplying the donuts, coffee and cookies. Fellow Supervisor Carol Hibbs wondered how he was getting the word out, and he said he had been distributing flyers and working with local media to share the message.

A motion to approve the veteran relocation assistance program through Home Base Iowa with up to $2,000 per eligible veteran and $16,000 total for the fiscal year passed unanimously. The money will be pulled from the county’s budgeted economic development funds.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Approved the hire of Taylor Appelgate as a part-time PRN nurse in the public health department at a pay rate of $33.48 per hour to start on or after July 8.

• Approved the hire of Amanda Mach as a full-time nurse in the sheriff’s office at a pay rate of $31.93 per hour to start on or after July 8.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.