Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Government topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Webster County supervisors elect leadership, approve roundabout contract and routine appointments
Summary
At its first 2026 meeting the Webster County Board of Supervisors elected new chair and vice-chair, approved a $2.2 million roundabout contract with Caster Construction and a package of routine appointments and purchases, and authorized standard annual resolutions and local projects.
The Webster County Board of Supervisors opened its first meeting of 2026 by electing new leadership and approving a slate of routine appointments, contracts and project agreements.
Auditor Shawna Abrams called the roll and the board approved Austin Hike as chair and Bob Thode as vice chair after nominations and seconding motions. After the pledge of allegiance, the board approved the Dec. 16, 2025 minutes and an amended agenda before moving through a consent agenda of routine items.
Why it matters: The board’s action sets the county’s leadership and clears a number of administrative and capital items that affect county operations, including road work, emergency preparedness and planning appointments. The most consequential item approved was Resolution 2026-01, a contract award for a roundabout project that includes significant county, city and state funding components.
The board approved Resolution 2026-01 to award a contract to Caster Construction LLC for project FMTSF 94142-5B-94, which county engineer Jamie Joel described as “the contract documents for the roundabout at D 14 and P 56.” Joel said the bidder was the low bidder and that the job “they’re about 2,200,000.0.” He added the city will be responsible for roughly $300,000 for water-main relocation and that the DOT provided a safety grant of about $500,000 that will be reimbursed after project completion.
In votes that were moved, seconded and carried by voice or roll call, the board: - Designated the Messenger, Gallery News and the Dayton Leader as official county newspapers for 2026 (Dayton Leader was added as a late applicant). - Appointed Ryan Kim as county drainage attorney, Andy Samberg as weed commissioner and Jeffrey Johnson as planning and zoning administrator for 2026. - Approved payment of $4,180 to McClure for professional services related to county rail work. - Approved a $71,000 quote from Ty Watt Wyatt Electric LLC to install two emergency generators at the Otho shed (one at Building A and one at Building B); staff noted this would raise the number of county sheds with generators to four of eight. - Approved a professional services agreement with Snyder and Associate for design of the 160th Street paving/trail connector project not to exceed $65,175; Conservation Director Matt Cosgrove said the project will serve as both a paved roadway and trail connector, with Fort Dodge sharing about 30% of the roadway cost. - Authorized a support letter for voluntary annexation of Parcel 1807300003 into the city of Gowrie, noting any future zoning changes would be decided by Gowrie’s city council.
On the road-closure item, Jamie Joel noted that Iowa Code requires temporary road closures be entered into the board minutes and described Resolution 2026-02 as the standard annual resolution for that requirement; the board approved the resolution.
During supervisor reports, the regional landfill indicated a proposed tonnage increase that would still keep Webster County among the bottom three in the region; other reports covered CICS (no meeting), Midas staffing adjustments and an AgPark update scheduled for the 8th. No members of the public addressed the board during the citizens’ opportunity period.
The meeting closed after the board allowed claims and moved to adjourn. The board did not set specific new deadlines for follow-up items during this session.
Votes at a glance: All formal motions recorded on the agenda were adopted (elections, appointments, contracts and resolutions) by voice or roll-call vote as noted in the meeting minutes.
