The Marshall County and Marshall County Conservation Board websites will soon be receiving major overhauls as the board of supervisors unanimously approved development proposals from Neapolitan Labs during Wednesday morning’s regular meeting.

County Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson explained that the current website has its share of shortcomings and also mentioned the need to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by 2027. She said the Conservation website redesign will allow for online reservations in hopes of drawing more visitors from outside of Marshall County.

Benson noted that if the county signs its contract with Neapolitan before the next bill comes due from the current vendor in June, they could save about $8,500 in maintenance costs. She expects Phase 1 of the redesign to take around six months, and Benson added that the Sheriff’s Office and Elections website are already run through Neapolitan Labs, whose owner lives in Des Moines while the primary programmer resides in Hudson. Marshall County Information Technology Director James Nehring told the board he felt it was time for a change after about a decade with CivicPlus, and Benson said the annual costs will be slightly less than those under the current contracts.

Board Chairman Jarret Heil remarked that it was time to bring the county website out of “the stone age,” and the first motion to move forward with Neapolitan for the general county website passed unanimously. From there, the conversation moved to “Phase 2” of the project, which will involve the redesign of the conservation website.

Marshall County Conservation Maintenance Supervisor/Park Ranger Jeremiah Manken told the board the new system would streamline operations and allow for online payments and reservations.

“I think it’ll be great, especially with the new campgrounds, improvements at Timmons Grove and Green Castle, I think it’ll be a great step in that direction,” he said.

Supervisor Carol Hibbs commented that the online reservation system would likely bring more visitors from outside of Marshall County, and Manken agreed. Nehring said the county had inquired about a module upgrade to the conservation website through ÇivicPlus, and the cost was “very prohibitive.” A motion to move forward with Neapolitan for the Conservation site also passed unanimously.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Approved the FY27 proposed property tax levy hearing for Wednesday, March 25 at 5 p.m. at the courthouse BOS meeting room.

• Approved a change order in the total amount of $17,114.29 with OPN and Garling Construction for two items related to the Sheriff’s Office/Jail renovation project.

• Approved the compensation agreements for the Highway 14 bridge replacement over Wolf Creek and the pipe culvert north of E63.

• Approved the purchase of a Ford F550 SuperCrew Cab Chassis from Stivers Ford in Waukee for $58,253.

• Approved the purchase of a John Deere R240 — Disc Mower from Van Wall Equipment in Marshalltown for $16,500.

• Approved the purchase of a Land Pride RCPM3760 — Hydraulic Parallel Arm Rotary Cutter from Central Iowa Farm Store at a cost of $33,900.

• Approved two zoning variance requests.

• Approved an amended resolution with the preliminary and final plats for the Chiroptera subdivision.

• Approved an interagency transfer of $2,552.64 in opioid settlement funds to the Mid-Iowa Drug Task Force to allow officers to attend a national conference.

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

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.