Board approves package of policy updates, IT contract and benefit addendum

Black Hawk County’s Board of Supervisors on June 23 approved a package of administrative policy revisions and several vendor agreements recommended by staff and the policy review committee.

Policy actions: The board adopted a set of policy updates effective July 1, 2026, including revisions to the autopsy transportation-fee policy (brought into alignment with Iowa Code §331.82), the county change-order policy (raising the board-approval threshold to $25,000 to match bidding rules), updates to tax-sale acquired-properties procedures, a roadside-ditch policy clarifying disposal of soils, vacating/right-of-way procedures, an information-security policy (code citation updates), and confirmation that the dishonored-check policy required no substantive changes. The board also rescinded an outdated solid-waste funds allocation policy that county staff said had not been used in roughly 15 years.

IT and facilities contracts: The board approved a three-year subscription for a Splunk security information and event management platform after a staff presentation from Clint Hardman, assistant IT director, who described the product as required for daily logging and compliance and said it compresses up to about 10,000 daily events into usable dashboards and reports. Hardman said Splunk was the most robust and cost-effective option after trialing three products; the board asked staff to correct the billing-start date in the contract paperwork.

Separately, the board approved the lowest responsible bid from Communications Engineering Company for upgrades to the basement conference-room audiovisual system; staff said the vendor was the original installer and proposed a 4–6 week completion timetable.

Employee benefit program: The board approved an addendum with Navatus, the county’s pharmacy benefit manager, designed to capture a portion of manufacturer coupon savings on specialty medications back into the county’s self-insured plan without changing member copays. Human resources staff said there is no direct cost to the county for the program and requested periodic reporting so the board can evaluate realized savings.

Votes at a glance: Each resolution was approved by roll call during the June 23 meeting. No item failed; several items had only brief staff presentations. For legislative or legal references, staff cited Iowa Code §331.82 and internal bidding and change-order policies.

What’s next: IT will finalize Splunk contract dates and begin implementation; facilities will finalize the AV contract schedule; HR and the benefits consultant will provide follow-up reporting on actual savings realized by the Navatus program.