T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Marshall County Buildings and Grounds Director Lucas Baedke addresses the Board of Supervisors about a series of change orders for the sheriff’s office/jail renovation project during Wednesday morning’s regular meeting.

Wednesday morning’s regular Marshall County Board of Supervisors meeting was a quick one as business was wrapped up in less than 20 minutes after a series of brief discussions and approvals.

First up was the approval of the employee health and prescription drug benefit plans along with dental and vision. According to Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson, dental and vision rates are remaining flat — $42.30 for a single individual for dental, $84.60 for an employee plus one and $96.46 for a family; $8.66 single for vision, $16.50 for employee plus one and $23.10 for family — while the employee contribution for health benefits will go up 10 percent. The rates for health and prescription drug benefits are as follows: $1,142.42 single; $1,831.42 for employee plus one and $2,444.68 for a family.

Benson said the stop loss coverage has also been increased from $50,000 to $70,000.

“It really has given us a big advantage and really a good cost savings for that additional exposure,” she said. “I think the employees are pretty invested too. I think this year, everyone was on the wellness program.”

A motion from Supervisor Christian Goodman to approve the rates passed unanimously, and Board Chairman Jarret Heil commented that the county offers very competitive benefits and is a great place to work.

From there, the board moved on to a trio of agenda items related to change order requests for the sheriff’s office/jail renovations, and Buildings and Grounds Director Lucas Baedke said the first item actually covered four total change orders already approved by the board being added to the contract at a cost of $7,149.89.

After a quick unanimous approval, the next change order covered an extension of exterior brake metal to seal in a portion of it at a cost of $16,765.43, which was also quickly approved. The last of the three agenda items covered adding additional interior brake metal in the amount of $30,630.60.

“Some windows have drywall around them. Some have plaster. Some are brick, and this would just kind of finish off the interior of the building and make everything consistent and look nice,” Baedke said.

He noted that it would clean up a four-inch gap around the windows which “looks funky,” and it still allows for future improvements. Supervisor Carol Hibbs asked Baedke for an update on where the project stands overall, to which he replied that it was â…” to ¾ done.

“I still think we’ll be done, kind of, mid to late June. There’s things that have been kind of backed up, but everything’s pushing up behind it. And there’s just gonna be a lot of stuff that’s gonna happen really fast,” he said.

He originally hoped to move toward completing punch list items by mid-May, but now he thinks that will most likely happen in June.

“Things are going well. There’s always progress, but these window change orders are holding up that a little and the structural steel and one of the rooftop units has held up that, some,” Baedke said. “But the welders should be in. They’re supposed to be in today or tomorrow.”

That motion was also approved unanimously.

In other business, the board:

• Approved the consent agenda as listed.

• Approved temporary non-limited accrual of vacation time for Melanie Ewalt until March of 2027.

• Approved an engagement letter for real estate matters and authorized the chair to sign.

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

or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.