In their Monday meeting, the Wright County Board of Supervisors heard from county medical examiner Dr. Jon Ahrendsen. Ahrendsen explained that the county sends out medical examiners and investigators in cases of death from accident, suicide, homicide, and other unintended causes. He noted that he has been in the position since 1987, and the work has become more time-consuming since the state converted to an electronic system to report information. Ahrendsen also said that finding help has also become difficult due to physicians retiring and not wanting to be involved as examiners. He states that they have responded to 32 cases in the county so far this year. With the extra work due to the electronic system, Ahrendsen asked that the compensation per case be increased from $150 to $225 starting in 2020. The supervisors agreed to that.
Andy Flagge, Director of Wright County IT, came before the board to propose updates to the county network system. Flagge presented them with a plan to overhaul the network entirely. He noted that the county has aged network infrastructure plus the secretary of state will require upgrades for security soon. The work will create a better-walled network and help prevent attacks, malicious traffic and more. The upgrades will cost $50,000. Flagge said that he has $40,000 in his department’s budget that can be used for this and also thinks he can rework his remaining budget to cover the $10,000. The board did not need to approve the plan since the money already exists in the budget but they were happy to hear that the county will be better protected.
John Torbert, Executive Director of the Iowa Drainage District Association, gave an annual update. He explained that the potential impact of proposed legislation is still a concern from their perspective. For instance, new rules proposed by the EPA earlier this year may impact the state’s drainage. Torbert added that the association made the effort to issue public comments on the rules since they are concerned that some changes would slow down drainage work significantly. He also talked about other legislation concerning sales tax that may effect drainage.
Finally, the board heard from Marie Boyd, Executive Director of Healthy Harvest of North Iowa. The organization connects and educates in support of the local food system. Boyd said the group operates in 9 counties and has been very active in Wright County this past year. Healthy Harvest puts on the Meal on Main in Clarion that has been successful over the past two years. They also held some field days that highlighted the local food system from farm to table. Boyd thanked the county for their past financial contributions and asked for a slight increase as the board considers next year’s budget. She asked for $1,278. The board noted they will consider this.
