Supervisors move to refinance jail bonds; Also will allow ATVs on county roads.
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At the public hearing Tuesday, September 3, the Ringgold County board of supervisors approved two motions.
The first motion approved a resolution expressing intent to enter into a loan agreement and approving preliminary official statement for general obligation local option sales tax refunding bonds, series 2019A, which deals with the current bonds for the Ringgold County Law Enforcement Center.
The resolution, however, does not immediately enter an agreement to refinance the current bonds. After hearing objections from Kevin Kilgore of Diagonal, the supervisors decided to move forward with the intent, with the understanding that they would look into Kilgore’s concerns and make a decision at a special meeting to be held Friday.
Kilgore had cited various Iowa codes which dealt with the amount to be refinanced exceeded current thresholds of $600,000.
Northland Securities, the company through which the supervisors are working to refinance, had a representative in attendance as well. Heidi Kuhl stated the current loan language keeps the supervisors within Iowa code.
The refinancing of the current loan has the potential to save county tax payers $99,848.81.
Paul Dykstra spoke at the meeting, asking if the board had sought out three bids. Supervisor chair Craig Pennington stated that in this instance they had not.
After approval of the resolution, the board closed the meeting and moved forward with opening the second public hearing of the night, this time involving ATVs on county roads.
Kevin Kilgore spoke in objection of the proposed ordinance, stating ATVs aren’t safe on gravel roads, considering semis travel his gravel road at a high rate of speed making it dangerous.
With no one else speaking, the board motioned to approve the ordinance regulating the operation of all-terrain and off-road vehicles in the county.
The ordinance is strictly for county roads, not state highways or roads in incorporated cities.
In order to be legal to operate an ATV or UTV on a county road, operators must purchase a $10 decal from the Ringgold County recorder.
Recorder Kisha Martin will be ordering the decals on Wednesday, September 4, and hopes they will arrive promptly. Owners of those vehicles may purchase the decals along with new registration and renewals for 2020. Registrations can be purchased for a year and a half so that their vehicles will be legal on county roads.
