Public commenters urge sale of Mount Pleasant facility and raise constitutional concerns about charging by information

Several members of the public used the meeting’s public comment period to raise two distinct issues: a request that the county consider selling its Mount Pleasant facility (a county-owned asset acquired in 2022), and a verbal legal notice alleging that Iowa charging practices that permit prosecution by information rather than grand jury indictment violate the U.S. Constitution.

Jason Wiley, a Council Bluffs resident, urged the board to “take the win” and consider selling the Mount Pleasant property, saying the county’s 2022 intervention saved the facility but that a private buyer could relieve the county of potential liability and operating costs. Wiley said the county rescue had been likened to an economic FEMA action and asked supervisors to “offload” the property if a potential buyer arises.

Jessica Saxon, a civil rights advocate and litigator, and Daniel Wade Downey, a national civil-rights litigator, presented a formal public notice to the board. Saxon asserted that the Fifth Amendment’s grand-jury requirement limits prosecutions by information and that state procedures allowing charging by information are unconstitutional. Downey expanded the legal argument, citing federal statutes on deprivation of rights under color of law (Title 18) and warning the board that continuing to fund or pay officials who rely on state procedures that he says conflict with the U.S. Constitution could expose local officials to legal risk.

Both speakers said they had compiled affidavits and evidence nationwide and that they would press related legal arguments further. Board members responded by noting they would go into a closed session for personnel matters and that the speakers could remain nearby for follow-up; no formal action or legal response was taken at the meeting.