Board approves multiple road contracts, adopts new financial policies and names public safety communications task force; interim engineer appointment approved

The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors approved multiple infrastructure contracts, adopted new county financial policies by resolution, confirmed appointments to a public safety communications task force and appointed an interim engineer for secondary roads during the meeting.

Brandon Burmeister, assistant engineer, presented bid results for several Project L-2025 items. The board awarded multiple contracts to Odin Enterprises and another contractor for bridge, piling and deck work. Supervisors moved and seconded motions to approve the bids; each motion was called and recorded as carried by voice vote.

During the meeting, the board also considered a slate of new financial policies recommended by county finance staff. Mitch Kaye, chief financial officer, and Becky Linehan, tax and finance officer, presented three resolutions:

- Resolution No. 29-2025: Adopt fixed-asset policy (amended by removing a requirement that department heads designate a departmental fixed-asset administrator). The board approved the policy as amended.

- Resolution No. 30-2025: Adopt charge-account policy to formalize existing practices governing departmental credit accounts, delivery to county facilities and prohibition on using tax-exempt status for personal purchases. The board approved the resolution by roll call.

- Resolution No. 31-2025: Adopt subscription-based information-technology agreements policy to address multi-year cloud or subscription contracts and accounting requirements for subscriptions exceeding specified thresholds. The board approved the resolution.

County supervisors also approved appointments to a public safety communications task force (previously referred to as the Motorola task force) to study communications-system improvements across the county. The task force membership as described in the packet includes two supervisors, representatives from the sheriff’s office, technical advisors, the county chief financial officer, emergency management staff, fire chiefs and a representative from Avoca; the board approved the appointments and confirmed the group will study tower upgrades, 9-1-1 council updates and funding options for an estimated multi-million-dollar investment.

Finally, the board appointed Brandon (last name transcribed as Burmeister) as interim engineer for secondary roads until a permanent hire is made and approved out-of-class pay for the interim appointment. The exact out-of-class pay amount reported in the meeting transcript was not clearly specified.

All motions described above were approved by the board; several roll-call votes were recorded as “Aye” for each supervisor present, and motions were announced as carried.