The first meeting of the Wright County Board of Supervisors on Monday was mostly organizational in purpose and functioned as the yearly re-set of county and board duties and policies.
First, various newly elected positions were sworn in. This included supervisors Karl Helgevold and Rick Rasmussen, Auditor Betty Ellis, and Sheriff Jason Schluttenhofer. The board then voted on the new Chairman for the year, Helgevold. 2020 Chairman Dean Kluss will serve as chairman pro tem. County reimbursable mileage was raised to 56 cents
/mile to mirror the federal rate, while drainage warrant interest was kept at the same rate as last year of 6 percent. The board discussed county employee holidays and voted to give employees a full day off for President’s Day in 2021; the Christmas Day and New Year’s Day holidays will be observed on the preceding Friday since the holidays are on Saturday.
Petty cash funds for various courthouse departments were authorized at the same amounts as previous years. The treasurer’s end-of-year count of cash was also approved.
Various appointments were discussed. Some new appointments to the eminent domain compensation commission were reviewed since some previous members may no longer qualify. The supervisors’ appointments to regional committees and boards stayed mostly the same with Rasmussen added as the member for Homeward, Inc. and Helgevold for the EMS board.
Dave Johnson was re-appointed county drainage attorney. Adam Clemons was re-appointed county engineer. The Wright County Monitor, Eagle Grove Eagle, and Belmond Independent were re-appointed as official county newspapers. Che Hanson was added to the Board of Adjustments and Kevin Pals was added as a Pleasant Township trustee. Dr. Jon Ahrendsen was again appointed as county medical examiner, along with various deputies and investigators.
The board approved six resolutions to put in place regular policies for the year: attendance at meetings, payment of claims, treasurer naming depositories, the construction evaluation master matrix, sheriff naming depositories, and recorder naming depositories.
