WASHINGTON

Major business for the Washington County supervisors Tuesday was the individual approving of Law Enforcement services contracts between the Washington County Sheriff’s Department and the seven rural municipalities in the county. The contracts are all for fiscal 2024-25, starting July 1, 2024, and ending June 30, 2025.

Specifically, the services provided follow Chapter 28E in the 2024 Code of Iowa with costs determined by a long-time established formula that also allows for contract termination via written notice 60 days prior to the current contract’s expiration date. Payment will be made by the seven cities on a quarterly basis as follows:

Ainsworth, $39,433 (quarterly, $8,858.25); Brighton, $50,400 ($12,615); Crawfordsville, $20,1834 ($5,026); Kalona, $296,568 ($74,142); Riverside, S258,572, which includes an $80,000 addition for services involving the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort ($64,643); Wellman, $141,830 ($35,487.50); West Chester, $12,541 ($3,135.25). The City of Washington has its own police force.

The board also received, briefly reviewed, and acknowledged a report on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIDA) and the East Central Iowa Local Plan to develop, align and integrate services aimed at providing, training, determining employment opportunities and retaining workers in the county. Funding, among other sources, is from the federal Department of Labor through its Title 1 program. It often includes job shadowing programs for students.

As explained by Workforce representative Liz Rodriquez, placement in jobs is linked to determining what is most reeded in the county, as well as employee interest, which currently is health care, educational services, most of the building trades, and anything that helps with installing broadband and information services, especially in all aspects of telecommunications from installation to operation. An important aspect is creating jobs with a long-term, livable wage and a possible long-term, experienced employee.

Rodriquez stressed that the local implementation of Workforce is to be “customer centered, not program centered,” which means less emphasis on structure and more on the jobs and employees themselves.

Workforce also partners with the county WEDG service and contracts with Kirkwood Community College (which has a local regional center) for information about meeting local needs and the training needed to meet them.

In other business, the board approved a special Class C retail liquor license for the Kalona Golf Course, from April 1,2024 to March 31, 2025, and the change in individual owners.