By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette
The Guthrie County Board of Supervisors met on April 1 with Supervisor Mike Dickson absent. Denise Ballard (representing Iowa Governmental Health Care) discussed the county’s Fiscal Year 2026 Health Insurance Renewal. She shared options for the supervisors to consider. No action was taken at this time.
Human Resources Coordinator Jamie Lindsay updated the supervisors on possible changes to the county’s employee handbook in the areas of call out/overtime pay, bereavement pay, sick leave, and personal leave.
Lindsay explained that currently, only fulltime employees qualify for bereavement pay, and she suggested adding some bereavement leave for part-time staff.
“I’d like to table this until we have a full board. I’d like to have everybody there to discuss this; I think this is a big change,” Supervisor Brian Johnson said.
The supervisors voted to table the bereavement pay issue.
Board Chair Maggie Armstrong described the draft ordinance “Providing for Animal Protection and Control.” She suggested removing the wording about “bite” and replacing it with wording of “incident” so that non-bite incidents would also be covered by the ordinance.
Health Director Jotham Arber stressed that the county’s aim is not to take animals away but to have a system to address dangerous behavior of animals as needed. Consideration of the proposed ordinance was tabled. No formal action was taken at this time.
The supervisors voted unanimously to accept the resignation of Bill McDermott from the Guthrie County Board of Health. Andrew Knorr was unanimously approved to fill the vacancy.
The Board of Supervisors meets regularly Tuesdays at 9 a.m. The next meeting will be Tuesday, April 8. The public is welcome to attend in person or via remote technology. To join remotely, call 323-792-6123, then use meeting code 547029216#.