The Adams County Free Press
Thursday, January 19 th, 2006

Legislators agree to assist with bill

By Rita Miller

Efforts by Adams county officials to consolidate and make more efficient the operation of city and county government got a boost from two legislators Monday.

Iowa Sen. Jeff Angelo and Rep. Cecil Dolecheck visited with city and county government representatives at Corning City Hall, and agreed to sponsor legislation designed to provide funding of countywide law enforcement.

“We asked the legislators to sponsor a bill to allow us to continue to levy if we contract with the county for law enforcement,” said Corning Major Guy Brace.

Angelo and Dolecheck also will seek additional funding to hire an outside individual or group and local citizen to continue working on government sharing.

“The legislators were very positive, very interested in helping,” said Brace.

While recent discussions between city and county officials about countywide law enforcement have garnered no agreement, the concept is part of a long range plan begun in 2005.

The State Public Policy Group was retained by Adams County with a grant from the State of Iowa, and spent several months meeting with local officials to gather ideas and suggest methods of implementing those suggestions.

Funding is a key issue, however, and one of the major obstacles as the city and county try to find common ground in a countywide law enforcement agreement.

Along with Angelo and Dolecheck, others discussing the requested legislation Monday were Mayor Guy Brace; Adams County Board of Supervisors Mark Olive and Linda England; Adams County Auditor Nicci Tucker; and Southern Iowa Council of Governments Executive Director Tim Ostroski.