Five-member Board Of Supervisors Initiative Is Focus Of Pre-election Forum

Around three dozen people showed up in Malvern Monday night to hear arguments in favor of and opposition to Mills County increasing the size of its board of supervisors from three members to five. An initiative to increase the size of the board from three to five is on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

Current county supervisors Jack Sayers and Richard Crouch answered questions for nearly 90 minutes at the forum hosted by the Mills County Matters Working Group. Sayers participated in the forum as a proponent for increasing the board to five members, while Crouch spoke to the advantages of keeping the number at three. Crouch was a late replacement on the panel for fellow county supervisor Lonnie Mayberry, who could not attend the forum because of a family matter.

Sayers said he is among hundreds of Mills County residents who share “some pretty deep frustration” about the current structure of the board.   

“Many of us don’t believe that three supervisors can adequately represent a county of 15,000 people,” he said. “A county of 15,000 people that are very different, very diverse – agriculture producers, small business owners, young families, commuters, senior citizens. I believe, by and large, that five supervisors will benefit Mills County by increasing representation for residents in Mills County.

“The reason why I say that is although the membership of the board is increasing, the power of the board isn’t increasing. The power of the board stays the same, but you’re dividing the power by five instead of by three So, our power individually goes down, but the people’s power, the residents of Mills County, their power goes up.”

Sayers noted that in addition to their weekly meetings, the supervisors represent the county on 39 regional and state boards  or committees.”

“That’s an average of 13 per supervisor,” he said. “If we’re able to split those by five, instead of by three, we’ll be able to come subject matter experts in our required areas and we’ll be able to serve Mills County in a much more productive way.”

“In addition to that, having five members means that it’s going to be a lot slower to get things done in the county. Personally, I think that government is best when it  is slow, when it is deliverative – when all the issues and all the topics get brought up and are discussed evenly. I think that’s a benefit for Mills County to slow down the process. and have a few more eyes on the budget, a few more different life experiences to add to the conversation and just a lot more constructive dialogue that you’ll have with five members instead of three.”

All seats on the county board are chosen at large, but Crouch noted that under the current make up, he represents the central portion of Mills County, Sayers represents the eastern edge and Mayberry the western side. He questioned how well the entire county would be represented with five members on the board.

“Until you get into districting, all the people that could run could come from the Glenwood area,” Crouch said. “That’s a problem that I could see. Then, do you appoint these people to districts?  Do you appoint someone to take over the Malvern area, the Pacific Junction area?”

Crouch also questioned if there would even be enough qualified people in Mills County to run for five seats.

“Folks, I’ve been at this for 24 years,” he said. “I’ve watched many counties go from three members to five members and the two other members that ran for the position were not sufficient, they were not qualified, they didn’t care for training. They did it just for either the insurance or the money aspect of it.”

Crouch, who is retiring at the end of this year, said there are a lot of reasons to consider keeping the board at three members.

“No. 1, raising our taxes to pay for two more people – employees,” he said. “I’ve heard some stories about how they would pay for this – maybe letting some people go or cutting services. If that’s what you’re looking at, I think that needs to be brought out and discussed thoroughly, you know. I think we take very good care of our people here in Mills County, from the roads department, the health department, the V.A.”

Later in the forum, Sayers addressed some of the issues brought up by Crouch, most notably the impact a five-member board would have on county expenses and property taxes.

Sayers said county supervisors are the county’s only part-time employees that receive full-time benefits. He said even with the meetings they’re required to attend on behalf of the county, none of the supervisors put in a 40-hour week and they should not be compensated as full-time employees in salary or benefits

Sayers said when it comes to adding two additional supervisors, one of the biggest concerns he’s heard from Mills County residents is the potential cost of adding two more supervisors. Sayers said he has worked out a solution to adding two supervisors without creating a cost burden to taxpayers. Costs would actually go down, he said.

“If the board of supervisors lowers our salary – if we take $44,300, which is what we currently each make – times three and divided by five, you get $26,580. That would be the salary of each individual supervisor. In addition to that, if we unenroll ourselves and recognize the fact that we are not full-time employees and we do not deserve full-time benefits, then adding two supervisors, even with the mileage costs and the office supplies cost, is a net negative of $70,000 compared to what we’re spending now with three supervisors.”

Sayers said if the board size increases to five, the change won’t go into effect until January 2029 and the salaries for supervisors will be determined by the existing three-member board that will be made up of Sayers, Mayberry and Dave Farmer, who is likely to be elected as Crouch’s replacement in the general election.

“I know that Dave Farmer has given a statement to Mills County Matters Working Group saying that he agrees to lower the board of supervisors salary to $26,580 and to pursue unenrolling us from the health insurance program,” said Sayers. “So, don’t be confused, if we get five supervisors, it will be a reduction.”

Sayers noted that according to ratings from the Iowa Association Of Counties, Mills County is paying its supervisors a higher salary than suggested. The ratings are based on county population. He added that the board of supervisors is the only county-related board and governing body of any kind made up of only three members.

Crouch said he feels the $44,300 salary is warranted.

“I put in my time. I may not be at the courthouse, but I have 13 committees, Jack has 13 committees,” he said. “I feel if you’re going to take care of those 13 committees, you earn your $44,000. I have one week that has four meetings in it. I make every one of those meetings that I can. If I can’t, I can go on zoom or something.”

Sayers and Crouch were both asked what is the single strongest reason voters should support their position on  the size of the board.

“I’ve never said that I’m totally against five members,” Crouch said in response to the question. “I would say what bothers me more than anything is finding qualified people.

“If you think it’s simple to have anybody come in and be a supervisor, let me tell you folks the first two years – and Jack can attest to this – what a learning curve it is to be a supervisor. There’s so much stuff that comes down from the state that we cannot change or overlook. We have to do it according to what the state codes say and so on. Another thing is a lot of people are going to do a part-time job for $26,500, no benefits or anything. A lot of people that are looking for retirement are looking for a job that pays something with some benefits. I think that’s an important issue.”

Sayers also answered the question.

“Government works best when it is different and when it is reflective of the population,” he said. “The strongest reason I would tell you to approve and vote yes for five supervisors is to recognize the fact that you’re going to get two additional eyes on a $28 million budget. You’re going to get two additional eyes on ordinances that we have 29 or 28 chapters of. You’re going to get two additional eyes and two additional mouths to speak on their life experiences that they have had, their cost-saving ideas, their ordinance ideas. That is the strongest reason to vote yes to increasing the board of supervisors because it makes county government more reflective of the population and it ensures a greater deliberative process with more ideas at the table.”

As noted at the forum, if voters pass the initiative to increase the size of the county board from three to five, the change would go into effect in January 2029. All five seats would be up for election in 2028 and staggered after that. All five seats would be at-large. A separate vote would have to take place at a later date if the county wanted to look at having county supervisor districts.