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Board of Health appointments approved

Recorder’s office details fees collected

After being tabled at the previous three meetings, the Webster County Board of Supervisors approved appointments to the Webster County Board of Health as requested by Health Department Director Jen Sumpter.

Erika Hout, an advanced registered nurse practitioner, was named medical director with Supervisor Austin Hayek, Mitch Lewis, and Nici George being named to the Board of Health. Lewis is the director of finance at Iowa Central Community College, and George is the executive director of the YWCA.

“My previous Board of Health did ask me to recruit additional Board of Health members and to make sure I had somebody with a financial background on the board,” said Sumpter. “That is the direction that I went with these appointments. … Mitch obviously has experience with finance, and I believe grant writing as well which is important for us.”

According to Webster County Attorney Darren Driscoll, a question had been raised about a residency requirement of Lewis and current board member Stacy Kraft who both live in Manson but are employed in Webster County. Driscoll said he did not see county residency as a requirement per the given code.

Kraft, a registered nurse, has served on the board for the past year. Her term runs through September 2026.

According to Sumpter, a majority of the board lives in Webster County and a majority of the Health Department’s contracts with the State of Iowa are regional and do include Calhoun County in the scope of work.

Driscoll said he also was asked whether an ARNP had the classifications to be a medical director, and he said that the title was qualified.

Two applications for medical director were received by the Auditor’s Office as well as an online application received shortly before Tuesday’s board meeting. Sumpter told the board she was comfortable with her choice for the medical director position given that Hout has worked with the Health Department for the past two years.

“Erika Hout has come through for us many times as an interim medical director, contingent medical director, and essentially the only one with the ability to write and sign orders and prescriptions due to some of the restrictions of our previous medical director,” said Sumpter. “Erika has always been available, even when she’s been on vacation she has always responded back to me and in a timely manner, asked appropriate questions, and has been available to us at the Health Department. I trust Erika and she’s filled the position well.”

The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to appoint Hout, Lewis, and George to the Board of Health. Supervisors Bob Thode and John Cochrane both voted against the appointments.

The Board also approved the reappointments of Rich Lennon as Veterans Affairs commissioner, Nick Carlson as Conservation Board member, and Jon Flattery to the Board of Adjustment.

Tiffany Bingham was appointed as a Duncombe Public Library Trustee.

Webster County Recorder Lindsay Laufersweiler explained the fourth quarter fees collected by the Recorder’s Office including transfer taxes, vital records, surcharges, recording, and more which totaled more than $56,000.

“That is just the county portion that we retain here at the county level of fees that were collected,” said Laufersweiler. “So for a grand total for the quarter, we brought in $170, 278.19. Of that $56,301.60 stayed in the county. $113,976.59 went to the state.”

The supervisors approved a final payment of $206,224.02 for the courthouse’s HVAC retrofit to be paid to Woodruff Construction, of Fort Dodge.

A date of Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. was also set for a meeting to authorize a loan agreement and issuance of urban renewal tax increment revenue capital loan notes not to exceed $7 million to provide funds for urban renewal projects.

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