The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Friday) approved extending a joint Engineer agreement between Cass and Montgomery Counties. The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors have been looking for a full-time Engineer ever since their Engineer left in mid-April. Cass County Board Chair Steve Baier explained the predicament Montgomery County is in. He says their Board thinks they have a candidate, but he can’t start until Sept. 1st due to his current employment status.

The agreement means Cass County Engineer Charles Bechtold, who has served as the interim Engineer for Montgomery County since mid-April, will continue to serve in what is essentially an Administrative capacity, which includes signing-off on necessary paperwork and more. The original agreement between the counties was for 60-days. The Board will leave it up to Bechtold to work out the finer details of his compensation and related matters.

In other business, the Cass County Supervisors approved the closure or limiting  access to a roadway through Marne, for the RAGBRAI weekend. The route into Marne is on the west side of town and comes out on the pavement. Marne Fire Chief Josh Krause said they’re expecting several thousand people coming through town, which necessitates keeping vehicle traffic off M-56 into town until the event is over. The details about where detour signs will be placed is being left up to the Cass County Engineers Office in coordination with the Iowa DOT.

The Board also discussed and acted on the compensation of “Other employees” in the Secondary Roads Department, and agreed to provide those certain personnel with an increase in pay.

Their meeting became heated when it came to discussing the adoption of a new employee handbook. One such instance occurred between County Engineer Charles Bechtold and Supervisor John Hartkopf.

In the end, Board Chair Baier suggested the Department Heads take time to review the handbook, make changes as needed, and come back at the end of July or early August with their revisions. In other business, the Board approved by a vote of 4-to-1, a $40 per month cell phone policy, when personal phones are used for County business.