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Jackson County sanitarian urges caution on wastewater rewrite, seeks public feedback on animal-control survey
Summary
County sanitarian reported a $20,000 private-well grant reallocation for water testing, said a draft wastewater ordinance (No. 250) is on hold pending state legislative changes, and announced a countywide animal-control survey to be open to the public for about four months.
Jackson County—s county sanitarian updated the Board of Supervisors Feb. 24 on public-health and environmental initiatives, saying staff will push for more local clarity while state-level changes remain under review.
"We plan to send [the animal-control survey] out to a group of leaders in the county government, veterinarians, our local hospitals," the sanitarian said, adding the county will open the survey to the public for roughly four months to gather broader input. The survey is intended to inform whether and how a county animal-control program might be structured and paid for by participating municipalities.
The sanitarian told the board she requested a $20,000 reallocation for the private-well grant and plans to spend the money on additional water testing. "We went through most of the money for the grant year already ... I requested a $20,000 reallocation," she said.
She also described a draft rewrite of wastewater ordinance No. 250, which staff presented to the board in November but later tabled because proposed state legislation could shift more responsibilities to counties. "We had to kind of completely table it for now because there's more stuff going on with legislature ... that would change what I'm doing," she said, and pledged to track changes and report back.
The sanitarian said she was recently invited to serve on the Iowa Onsite Wastewater Association board and is representing Jackson County in broader discussions about compliance and training for smaller counties.
Board members asked the sanitarian to follow up about whether county-level public-health roles have been altered by state decisions and to report findings to the Board of Health and the supervisors. The sanitarian said she will bring more information to the next board of health meeting and report to the supervisors once clarifications are available.
