T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY The Marshall County Board of Supervisors, now comprised of Kevin Goodman, Vice Chair Jarret Heil and Chairwoman Carol Hibbs, is pictured alongside Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson during the first meeting of 2025 held Thursday morning.

The turn of the calendar meant it was time for the Marshall County Board of Supervisors to hold their annual organizational meeting on Thursday before proceeding to regular business.

It was a historic day as Carol Hibbs was named the chairwoman of the board, and she is believed to be the first female chair in the county’s history. It was also the first meeting for new Supervisor Kevin Goodman, who emerged from a three-way Republican primary before defeating Libertarian Jonathon Remster in the 2024 general election.

Jarret Heil, who served as chairman of the board for the last two years, will now serve as vice chair. Otherwise, the supervisors approved a host of committee assignments, reappointed Tyler Kelley as the planning and zoning director, sanitarian and weed commissioner and reapproved the Times-Republican and the Mid-Iowa Enterprise as the two official newspapers as part of the consent agenda.

The board then moved onto approving a construction evaluation resolution for large scale feeding operations, an authorization for who will be able to issue moving permits, road closures, sign off on certificates of completion, and erect embargo signs. Last but not least, the board approved the annual Title VI non-discrimination agreement and the Marshall County discrimination disclaimer.

From there, the board conducted a brief regular meeting with a relatively light agenda, which included the purchase of a 2025 New Holland T7.190 tractor from Central Iowa Farm Store at a cost of $244,979. County Engineer Paul Geilenfeldt said it is a similar model to one they already have and has great speed in case they need to get somewhere quickly.

In a series of related motions, the board voted unanimously to purchase 0.15 Emergent Wetland Credits from Central Indiana Mitigation Providers for $9,000 in relation to an upcoming bridge replacement project on 140th Street over Minerva Creek near Clemons and St. Anthony.

“It’s the federal way. It’s a very small impact, but what we can do instead of having to produce wetlands somewhere, we can purchase credits in a bank that are banked somewhere else,” Geilenfeldt said.

After unanimously approving that motion, the board OKed the purchase of temporary and permanent easements from Davis Farms LTD in relation to the same project — the permanent acquisition is 0.32 acres, while the temporary easement is 0.66 acres. The total cost to the county is $4,720, which includes a $200 allowance for updating the abstract.

Geilenfeldt expects the project to go out to bid in April with hopes that it will be completed in Fiscal Year 2026. He also noted the presence of Lamprey in Minerva Creek that they have been instructed not to disturb.

The board then approved the purchase of a total of 0.58 acres in temporary and permanent easements from Mike J. McDonald for the same project at a cost of $2,880. Geilenfeldt added that there would be one more small easement acquisition still to come at the next meeting.

The final item of regular business on the agenda was approving a property tax exemption application for a natural conservation and wildlife area from the Mark Hopp and Fonda Hopp Family Revocable Trust. As the board prepared to approve it, County Assessor Blaze Wurr expressed concern about the land, which is currently classified as residential, needing to be agricultural to qualify for the exemption, and he suggested seeking a legal opinion from County Attorney Jordan Gaffney, who was not in attendance Thursday, before proceeding further.

Alas, the board voted down the original motion and opted to wait for Gaffney’s opinion on the matter.

In other business, the board:

• Approved filing the receipt of the cost allocation plan report and authorizing the chair to sign.

——

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

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.