The Cass County Board of Supervisors met for their regular meeting on Tuesday morning at the Cass County Courthouse Boardroom. One of the first items that was acted upon was an appointment to the Cass County Compensation Board to fill a vacancy. The board voted to appoint Jennifer Saathoff to the board for a 4-year term.

The Board is still searching for individuals to fill vacancies for a trustee and clerk for Lincoln Township, a vacancy on the Condemnation in Eminent Domain board, multiple vacancies on the Board of Adjustment, and a vacancy on the County Conservation Board. The Supervisors are working to contact a number of individuals to fill out application paperwork for those vacancies.

The board also received an update on road projects from County Engineer Trent Wolken. He showed the board some images and video of progress on the Olive Street bridge replacement. The project is moving along with deck pouring actually taking place today. He also updated a few other projects that are underway including a bridge on Indian Creek.

The board also approved a request from Cass County EMA to purchase a supply trailer for use in moving supplies during emergency situations and to also use to move voting equipment for the Auditor’s office. The board approved using up to $7,500 of American Rescue Plan funding to purchase the trailer.

Another action item was approving a bid to digitize real estate and vital records in the county. The process would enable the county to have a digital backup of hard copy records and aid in times of disaster or limited courthouse access for the public. The board had already discussed the project and are now approving bids for the contract. The process will involve two separate projects with Cott Systems. The first approval was for $47,400 for the Auditor land transfer online book system. The second project approval was for $153,565 to create a hosted online index for all vital records the county has in the Recorders Office. Both projects are being funded through American Rescue Plan funding the county has received.

The board also talked about a recent presentation that County employees sat through in regards to a potential county wide payroll system. They are in the beginning stages of evaluating what type of system could work for all county departments and how it could integrate with current procedures.