By: Donovan W. Mann – [email protected]
Dakota City, IA – The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors is holding a public hearing to discuss entering a bonding agreement.
On Monday, Aug. 24 the board of supervisors continued the ongoing discussions of bonding the county’s lease agreement with Motorola for the new Law Enforcement Center radio equipment. Along with bonding the lease they also received request three groups in the county to add expenses to the bonds for improvements.
The first group that requested the supervisors for bonding assistance was the Humboldt County Conservation Board. The purpose would be to make improvements to the Reasoner Damn in Humboldt. The conservation board hopes to acquire money from FEMA to fund the majority of the project but because the applications for grants require a matching portion they asked for $500,000 that the supervisors would bond.
The second group that asked the supervisors for money through their bonds was fire departments from around the county. They requested assistance in acquiring new truck and hand held radios along with pagers for the crews. These new equipment are needed after the radio upgrades at the dispatch center. The city fire departments have all applied for grants to assist in payment and are asking for a maximum of $337,000 from the supervisors in bonding.
The third asking group was the Humboldt County Sheriff and City Police. The law enforcement hopes asked for the county to bond $180,000 to help obtain body cameras, new car cameras and updated laptops.
The supervisors also discussed how repayment for the bonds would work. Supervisor Bruce Reimers asked if the county would be required to shoulder all the costs or if those who requested the money be bonded reimbursing the county. Auditor Peggy Rice says that it will be up to the supervisors to set the language on how the agreement would work with the conservation board, fire departments and law enforcement.
The county supervisors motioned to hold the public hearing during their meeting on Sept. 14 at 9 am. During this time they will official decide if they will go forward with bonding, their final “not to exceed” amount and what costs to apply to the bond.