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Sustainability staff brief supervisors on grants, watershed funding and pilot projects
Summary
The county sustainability office updated supervisors on pending grants, pilot biodiversity and native-planting projects, watershed management authority contributions and potential reallocation of an AmeriCorps budget line to support a Middle Cedar watershed coordinator.
Kara, a county sustainability representative, told the Linn County Board of Supervisors on March 6 that two grants remain pending and that the department is pursuing pilot projects and partnerships to advance county sustainability goals.
The nut graf: sustainability’s report covered grant status, pilot projects on county properties, collaborative watershed efforts across multiple WMAs (watershed management authorities) and a proposal to temporarily repurpose funds originally earmarked for AmeriCorps to support the Middle Cedar WMA coordinator for the current fiscal year.
Kara said a Brownfields grant through EC COG is pending and a separate tree grant was approved but is awaiting action tied to an executive order. She described a pilot beehive placed at the CSB building and plans to identify sites for native-planting projects, while noting one county-owned facility is listed for sale and the timing of planting should account for potential sale activity.
On watershed management, Kara reviewed several WMAs: the Lower Cedar, Bridal Iowa (a regional collaboration), Maquoketa (where Linn County’s population exposure is a “tiny corner” of the county), Middle Cedar and others. She listed Linn County’s current contributions: $1,000 to Lower Cedar; $15,030 to Indian Creek; and $2,905 to Maquoketa — total $16,325 — and said an additional request of $4,035 for Middle Cedar would raise county contributions to a little over $20,000 if approved.
Kara proposed using unspent AmeriCorps funds for the Middle Cedar coordinator for fiscal year 2025 and said she had discussed the idea with the budget office; she recommended additional conversations with budget and finance before any formal action. Supervisors asked for more transparency and requested the Maquoketa coordinator make a presentation because the county contributes funds there.
Kara also described regional partnership work with ECCOG (East Central Iowa Council of Governments) on a climate action plan and said the county will receive a greenhouse gas inventory as part of that regional planning effort.
Ending: supervisors asked follow-ups on the watershed funding overlaps, requested more detail about contributions and welcomed further discussions with budget staff before reallocating funds.
