Cass County commissioners accept space-needs study, appoint emergency manager and approve cyber grant; Board of Equalization finalizes appeals

The Cass County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a series of administrative items: it received and filed a 15-year space-needs assessment from JLG, appointed Michael Cole Hunter Baker as the new emergency manager, adopted a Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee charter, accepted a State-Local Cybersecurity Grant award, and reconvened the Board of Equalization to finalize property valuation appeals.

Robert Wilson, county staff, introduced the JLG space-needs assessment, which the consultant prepared after interviewing department heads and the courts. The study recommends three primary priorities over a 15-year planning horizon: identify a permanent location for the county's information-technology office, reconfigure the first floor of the annex for higher public traffic human-services work, and create more efficient office space for the state's attorney. "This report is a phased concept of how we can accomplish the various needs,"…