County Supervisors approve railroad work
The Iowa Interstate Railroad crossing on Highway T12 northeast of Newton is slated for repairs, and the highway will be closed while those repairs are being made.
The Jasper County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with the railroad and the Iowa Department of Transportation to make repairs on the crossing. Iowa Interstate will make the repairs, and Highway T12 will be closed for five days during the work. The railroad has 18 months to complete the repairs.
Jasper County and Iowa Interstate Railroad will share 40 percent, evenly split, of the total cost of approximately $60,552.96, or about $12,111 each, with the Iowa DOT picking up the remaining 60 percent of the cost.
In other items Tuesday, the supervisors discussed the need for a second pick-up with a blade for clearing snow. Currently, the county’s maintenance department has only one pick-up with a blade, a 2001 Ford 2WD with approximately 80,000 miles on the odometer. Now, with the Annex Building, the Community Center and the Law Enforcement Center requiring snow removal, the supervisors have been mulling the idea of purchasing another four-wheel drive pick-up to keep up with snow removal duties. Maintenance Department Director Adam Sparks obtained three quotes, however the item was for discussion only on this week’s agenda, and no decision was made.
The supervisors will revisit the issue at next week’s meeting.
In other action, the supervisors approved the hiring of Sharon Gilbert as a home care aide on an as-needed basis, at a pay rate of $13.21 per hour, effective Jan. 27.
John Parsons, Craig Hamilton and Brian Hauser were appointed to the Mid-Iowa Development Fund Board.
John Jennings can be contacted at 792-3121 ext. 425 or via e-mail at jjennings@newtondailynews.com.
