Webster County government will soon have a new web address.

During its Tuesday morning meeting, the Webster County Board of Supervisors approved a web domain agreement with Verisign Inc. to transition the county’s website to a new domain address.

“Right now we’re a .org, and the Secretary of State’s office is asking everyone in the state to go to a .gov domain for more security,” said Webster County Auditor Doreen Pliner.

The annual domain fee will be $400. Pliner noted that county employees’ and county officials’ email addresses will also change with the move to the new domain.

Pliner said that the Iowa Secretary of State has given the county until July to change to a .gov domain.

The Board of Supervisors also approved the first pay estimate to Neumann Brothers Inc., of Des Moines, which is working on the county courthouse roof and clock tower restoration project. The first pay estimate is for $171,621.30.

In a letter sent to Neumann Brothers Inc., Webster County Supervisors Chairman Mark Campbell noted the challenges that the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic may pose to the project and those working on the project.

In the initial contract with Neumann Brothers, the county gave the contractor a set number of days the project is required to be completed in, Campbell said. But with the COVID-19 crisis, Campbell said the county is working with the contractor to adjust those time requirements if the project gets halted due to the virus outbreak.

The supervisors passed a resolution to enter into a development agreement with Agri Trading and Snyder & Associates to write a U.S. Department of Transportation Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development, or BUILD, grant to fund a transload facility in the Iowa’s Crossroads of Global Innovation, which is the ag industrial park west of Fort Dodge.

The supervisors received a report from Webster County Veterans Affairs Board Director Dan Lewandowski on those served by the VA in the first quarter of 2020.

Between Jan. 1 and March 31, the county VA served five local veterans in services varying from a funeral and burial to prescription medication help and rent assistance, for a total of $2,878.85.

A public hearing for an amendment to the Webster County Urban Renewal Plan has been scheduled for 7 a.m. on May 12.