Kelley

It was another quick regular meeting for the Marshall County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday morning as they moved through a light agenda at a brisk pace and filled a key vacancy in the process.

Last week, the board conducted several closed session interviews with candidates for the combined planning and zoning director/sanitarian/weed commissioner position after Taveis Stevens submitted his resignation. Stevens had held the position since last August, and it was shared with Tama County in a 60-40 split until April, when Marshall County notified Tama County of its intent to terminate the 28E agreement.

Board Chairman Jarret Heil and fellow Supervisor Steve Salasek mentioned that the county has received valuable assistance from Stevens’ predecessor Todd Apfel during the transition period as Apfel worked on a contract basis. The supervisors agreed that Kelley, a 2006 Marshalltown High School graduate who calls Albion home and currently serves as a vegetation management specialist and weed commissioner for Story County, had emerged as the top candidate.

“We were all part of the interview process with Tyler, and I’m very impressed with him,” Salasek said.

Supervisor Carol Hibbs added that Kelley had “good and relevant” previous experience. A motion to formally approve his hiring passed unanimously. Kelley will be paid $70,000 annually, which is the same salary Stevens started at last year, and he is set to begin on Aug. 14.

During a brief subsequent interview, Kelley shared a bit of his professional background, noting that he has spent the last 17 years with Story County, including 12 of them in his current position.

While he has enjoyed his time there, Kelley is excited to finally be working where he lives.

“It’s nice to be able to come back to my home county and be able to affect change if it’s needed,” he said.

One goal in the new job, Kelley added, is to emphasize the effects of zoning on the future of Marshall County, which currently has a much higher percentage of agricultural land than Story County. He has served on the executive committee of the Iowa Weed Commissioners Association for the last eight years in various roles and believes his experience in conservation will translate well to the new job.

“Here in Story County, we worked hand in hand with planning and zoning and various municipalities on planning projects, after construction permitting, etc.,” he said. “My main specialty would be noxious weed and invasive plant control. We did a lot of that in Story County, and there’s a lot more invasive plants coming into the state that I think could be a problem to ag, commercial and natural areas in the future.”

In other business, the board:

• Approved the purchase of a 2024 Kubota Z781KWi60 Mower from Central Iowa Farm Store of Marshalltown for $13,369.89.

• Approved the purchase of a 2024 WRT PT13 Roller from Swanston Equipment of Fargo, N.D. for $21,000.

• Approved the hiring of Matthew McMillen as a jailer at an hourly pay rate of $23.42.

• Presented five-year service awards to Public Health RNs Tina Nelson and Paula Rutherford, 10-year service awards to County Treasurer Deann Tomlinson and Treasurer Account Supervisor Danielle Fleming, and a 40-year service award to Secondary Roads Assistant Maintenance Supervisor James Caster.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.