Resident Dale Allison rebukes supervisors and sheriff over comments about youth-shelter effort

Dale Allison told the Des Moines County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 27 that recent public remarks by a supervisor and the sheriff misrepresented a local nonprofit—Transitions—and harmed the group's effort to explore a youth shelter.

Allison read a detailed letter addressing comments made at prior board meetings and in a radio interview. He said Transitions and CEO Joseph Meyer had inquired about remodeling the former public health building at 522 North Third Street as a possible shelter for unaccompanied minors and that neither Meyer nor Transitions had claimed the county's endorsement. "He did not say he had the county's blessing, and never did he come close to implying there was an endorsement," Allison said, reading from the correspondence.

The letter recounts a May 20 request about the building, follow-up conversations with county staff, and a town-hall presentation by Transitions on Aug. 19. Allison said Supervisor Tom Broker later read a statement at a supervisors meeting that Allison described as "misinformed," and that a Hawkeye article repeated claims Allison says were inaccurate. "Those accusations — outlined in a subsequent news story and front page headline in the Hawkeye — were untrue and did harms to Mister Myers' reputation and that of Transitions DMC," Allison read.

Allison disputed figures offered by Supervisor Broker and the sheriff during the board meeting and radio coverage, saying school officials and Transitions' own experience show a substantially larger local homeless-youth population than the numbers cited by board critics. He urged supervisors to review meeting minutes and to visit the shelter, saying direct observation would help inform the board. "Perhaps a visit to the shelter would open the supervisors' and the sheriff's eyes," he said.

The correspondence, which Allison asked be included in the board's record, referenced attached materials: the May 20 board minutes, a KCPS radio interview with Joseph Meyer, two Hawkeye stories and a video of a recent supervisors meeting. Board members acknowledged receipt and asked Allison to email the attachments for distribution to supervisors and staff.

The board did not take formal action on the letter during the meeting. Speaker requests about how to submit large-file attachments and where to post the correspondence were handled by staff after Allison finished reading.

What happens next: Allison asked that the attachments be added to the official correspondence file and encouraged supervisors to engage directly with Transitions and to consider the organization's case in future discussions about county properties and services for unhoused youth.