Muscatine County supervisors approve road-fund transfer, OK grant MOU and utility permits

The Muscatine County Board of Supervisors on April 6 approved a transfer of funds to the county’s Secondary Road Fund, authorized an agreement with the City of Muscatine for a Justice Assistance Grant and cleared a set of utility permits and quarterly fee reports.

The board approved Resolution 040626-01, transferring funds from the Rural Services Fund to the Secondary Road Fund, by roll-call vote. The chair called the vote and the board recorded five affirmative votes; the motion carried.

The supervisors also authorized the chair to sign a memorandum of understanding with the City of Muscatine relating to the FY2025 Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) that involves the sheriff’s office. A county representative said the JAG is a recurring joint grant with the City of Muscatine Police Department and stated the county’s award for the year was $10,294. The MOU would formalize the shared equipment and funding arrangements.

County Engineer Brian Harowski presented three utility-permit requests and described their routes and purposes: Eastern Iowa Light and Power’s bore along Cranston Road to replace an overhead line; Interstate Power and Light/Alliant Energy’s bore along Veil A pending city/county approvals; and Lumen Technologies’ (CenturyLink) fiber installation that mainly runs through Wilton and Cedar County with a short stretch in Muscatine County. The board approved the permits on a motion and second.

The board accepted several quarterly fee reports as read at the meeting: the county recorder’s report for the quarter ending March 31, 2026 (amount read aloud in the transcript as “51,2529 cents” — the transcript appears to garble the figure), the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office Civil Department report ($24,482.92), the county auditor’s report (amount read as “14,71925” in the transcript) and the county treasurer’s quarterly report (amount read as “595,41941526” in the transcript). Each report was moved, seconded and carried by voice vote; a dissenting voice was recorded during some motions.

Supervisors also approved the minutes of the March 30, 2026 regular meeting and heard routine correspondence. One supervisor noted regional outreach by the Ports of Eastern Iowa about a workforce development program for port-related careers. A resident, identified in the record as Chad Healey, had contacted the county about a fallen tree on Old Burlington Road; county staff reported it had been cleared. Supervisors reported continued follow-up on storm-siren outages in West Liberty and a constructive meeting with the Iowa DOT Southeast District about a prior SAP study.

County staff member Kayla announced the auditor’s office will be closed April 8 for election training and said notices will be posted on the county website and at the office.

The board opened the public-comment period but recorded that no members of the public were present to speak and then adjourned.