By Mari Radtke
The O’Brien County Conservation Board heard an update from the Paullina Trail Committee. Attending to update the Conservation were Cindy Richter and Rita Kruger. They explained to OCCB that the narrative portion of the IDOT grant application was complete and that the engineering office was completing the costs and engineering portion. As of Monday afternoon, some modifications were still being made to the route for phase 1 trails on both sides of the proposed bridge and the bridge. The idea is to add additional trail east in a phase II construction. The grant application is expected to be submitted to IDOT timely for consideration for the COVID recovery grant that ranges from $500,000 to $1.25 million for a trail award.
OCCB also considered the request by Eric Brown to lease available space at Mill Creek to rent and to house canoes, kayaks and other large water toys. The board decided after discussion with the county attorney to put the space out for bid. Brown will have to submit a bid to lease the space and describe its use.
Dave Stoll was present on behalf of Little Sioux Valley Conservation Association (LSVCA). He was asking what, if any relationship will remain between LSVCA and OCCB/Prairie Heritage Center (PHC) going forward. Board Chair Royd Chambers explained that they would love to continue a relationship but the audit prohibited it.
In early April, OCCB Director Brian Schimmer formally requested a “donations account” for O’Brien County Conservation. According to Auditor Barb Rohwer Schimmer requested the donations account. An off-handed comment that OCCB was tired of asking LSVCA for its money led to more questions. According to Rohwer, Schimmer explained that all money received at PHC went into the LSVCA account.
Rohwer investigated with the State Auditor’s office how a donations account worked and how to establish the account. The effort also led to the probability of an audit of the fundraising organization. Rohwer was clear that no one believes there was nefarious activity. The audit is to determine if donations being held by LSVCA are held by the charitable organization in accordance with donor wishes.
LSCVA was the sponsoring organization for the annual Bison Feed picnic and lawn concert.
On September 11, 2021, two days following the infamous OCCB meeting attended by all of the county’s rangers fully armed and wearing their armor the newly named Assistant Director Amber Wetherell produced and distributed to all OCCB members and all LSCVA board members a manifesto titled “A Call for an Investigation into the proceedings of the Little Sioux Valley Conservation Association:” (Wetherell’s manifesto can be read in it’s entirety on our website: www.belltimescourier.com). This document was part of the original public records request OCCB paid $5000 to Sheldon Attorney Micah Schreurs to provide assistance.
Opening Prairie Heritage Center on weekends and the difficulty OCCB is having finding or accepting volunteers was an agenda item that brought much discussion, including differing views on which people from the volunteer list had been contacted. It is clear that OCCB employees do not want to work at PHC on Sundays. This is evidenced by Wetherell’s first response when asked about a rotation for employees that would have 1 staff member working one Sunday every 7 weeks, although Schimmer expressed a willingness to take a turn on such a rotation. The discussion of opening on Saturday and/or Sundays was long and proposed a wide variety of solutions. Visitor numbers in 2019 showed fewer visitors on Sunday then on Saturday except July. The board decided to remain closed on Sundays until at least 10 “reliable” volunteers can be recruited.
Board Chair Royd Chambers submitted his resignation in early April. Chambers taught in the Sheldon School District for 30-ish years. He served and retired from the Iowa National Guard, including overseas deployment. He and his wife are moving closer to children and grand children in Missouri. Chambers says the acreage he and his wife are moving to is about a 90 minute drive northeast of Kansas City.