Public Health director: air monitoring, QTS data center plans and state changes to early‑childhood funding under review

Pramod Dviti, Linn County Public Health Director, briefed the board on air quality monitoring, a proposed data center, and state‑level program changes.

Dviti said the ozone season began March 1 and that the department continues to monitor PM2.5 and sulfur dioxide. He reported QTS — a company that owns and manages data centers nationwide — had indicated it would revise a previously expected application for “more than 800 emergency generators” down to “between 150 to 200.” He added that the company has told the county it uses waterless cooling at other data centers and that “no cooling towers are expected here as far as we know,” but said final project details remained to be seen.

Dviti said Senate File 558 will require a change to the Linn County Code governing ambient air quality because local rules “cannot be more strict than Iowa Administrative Code,” and the department has begun revisions. He said the department submitted its budget to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in January and expects to complete that review by March 31.

Public Health staff also reported on screening and clinic demand: Dviti said the county has asked Iowa Health and Human Services for additional slots for breast and cervical cancer screening and expects about 200 spots if approved; the county currently has “a little over 100” spots. He provided disease‑reporting numbers, saying staff followed up on about 116 reportable infections in the period under review and that six cases of syphilis were included in that total.

Ending

Dviti recognized two staff members honored recently and noted ongoing public communication around a measles outbreak elsewhere in the country. He also thanked Supervisor Rogers and offered appreciation for Rogers’s leadership.