Page County Board approves plan to expand from three to five supervisors

The Page County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to accept the redistricting commission's plan to increase the number of county supervisors from three to five and directed staff to forward the plan to the Iowa secretary of state.

The measure received no public opposition at the commission's public hearing, and the board approved the commission's submission after a motion at the meeting. "My name is Jeff Clark. I was, chairperson for the redistricting committee," Jeff Clark said when he presented the plan and the packets that include maps and the required county redistricting worksheet.

The plan will be sent to the secretary of state for formal acceptance and implementation. The board did not decide at the meeting how to set the initial, staggered terms for the five seats or whether to divide the current supervisor wages among five positions or keep the current pay level for each seat. "Next step, we're gonna send it to [the] secretary of state. And then one thing you guys need to think about is you will decide if the wages for the five are gonna be the same as what you make now or if you're gonna split what you make now into five," a staff member identified as Kristen told the board.

Board members discussed options for initial term lengths to produce staggered elections. Jeff Clark said the commission did not set term lengths; the board will choose which seats will be two- or four-year terms at a later date. "I would suggest that you do three that have a 4-year term and two that have a 2-year term," one meeting participant said as a suggestion during the discussion.

The commission reported that the plan was posted publicly and that a public hearing was held on Aug. 25 with attendance but no substantive public comment. "The maps were there. People were able to come. I think we had about a dozen people here that night, but nobody commented or said anything," a county official said.

The board thanked the commission members for their work and acknowledged the process will require additional administrative steps before the first five-seat elections.

The board's action at the meeting was a formal approval to accept the redistricting commission's supervisor plan and forward it for the required state review; no changes to the maps or the commission's submission were made at the meeting.