From left, Jamie Norton, Director of Veteran Workforce Services; Tama County Supervisor Mark Doland; Auditor Karen Rohrs; Tama County Supervisor Heather Knebel; and Veteran James Stout with Home Base Iowa. PHOTO BY MICHAEL D. DAVIS

TOLEDO – The Tama County Board of Supervisors started the Monday, Jan. 26 meeting with the official canvass of the drainage election, but the real meat of the morning came later via a ceremony to officially designate Tama County a Home Base County with the Home Base Iowa (HBI) initiative.

Supervisors Heather Knebel (R-Traer) and Mark Doland (R-Toledo) spearheaded this project with the help of Auditor Karen Rohrs. Chairman Doland spoke a few words at the beginning of the ceremony before James Stout, a US Army Veteran with HBI, spoke.

“It’s my honor to announce that Tama County is officially a Home Base Iowa County. This designation reflects your commitment to supporting veterans and their families as they transition to civilian life,” Stout said.

Jamie Norton, Director of Veteran Workforce Services at Iowa Workforce Development, read the dedication on behalf of the governor. With the designation, Tama County becomes Iowa’s 85th Home Base County.

Tama County Sheriff Investigator and United States Army Command Sergeant Major Trevor Killian was selected to be the HBI Liaison for the southern half of the county. Killian gave a brief speech talking about all the good that the program does.

Sheriff Casey Schmidt got up next to speak and started out by jokingly saying, “Yeah, what Trevor said.” Sheriff Schmidt and Logan Seye, representatives of Frontlines United, were chosen as the Home Base Iowa Liaisons for the northern half of Tama County.

Supervisor David Turner, an Air Force Veteran, expressed his gratitude and admiration to the program.

“I think it’s important that we take care of our vets because they’re taking care of us,” he said.

Other business

Prior to the HBI ceremony, the meeting started as usual with Tama County Engineer Ben Daleske giving his report saying that they’ve done some brush cutting with the tractor mowers. A fuel tank was moved and hooked up in Garwin to replace an old one. A chloride pump in Toledo needs some fittings and will be running again, also a few days last week the trucks were plowing snow.

The supervisors approved a tax sale on the condition that the Tama City Council approved the abatement of the specials.

The supervisors approved voting for the single candidate on the USDA representative election ballot.

Claims totaling $410,385.71 were approved.