Partnership with Western Iowa Tourism declined by supervisors

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors declined to renew a partnership with Western Iowa Tourism region at its Jan. 17 meeting.
The organization was requesting a partnership amount of $500. Among the statistics were that the organization provided a 36 county Freedom Rock guide in Iowa Welcome Centers and was active on social media.
Supervisor Charla Schmid asked if the amount requested had changed from requests in previous years. Supervisor Mark Peterson said the amount was the same. The organization was located out of Sac City and published tourism periodicals.
Supervisor Donna Robinson questioned renewing the partnership, even though the amount requested was not large.
“My feeling is that Red Oak promotes themselves, Stanton promotes themselves, and there’s an entity in Villisca that promotes itself. I’m not sure if it’s necessary,” Robinson said.
Supervisor Randy Cooper was in agreement with Robinson, saying that the county departments had been requested to look for any items they could cut, and this was something that would potentially save some money for the county.
The supervisors declined to make a motion to renew the partnership with the Western Iowa Tourism Region.
The supervisors also agreed to close out the Gardner Road Bridge project. Work was started on the project in November of last year, and only a small portion of the project remained to be completed. The bridge is located on 140th St, less than a mile west of T Avenue.
Robinson also advised the supervisors that they would need to appoint two new trustees in townships due to the trustees passing away.
“I’ve been in conversations with the clerks in the Douglas and Scott Townships, so we’ll have to determine their replacements at an upcoming meeting,” Robinson advised.
In other business, the supervisors:
• Approved a tax transfer from rural services basic to secondary roads, in the amount of $14,783.
• Approved a tax transfer from general basic to secondary roads, in the amount of $1,044.
• Approved the treasurer’s ending fund balance for November, 2022, in the amount of $12,450,400.