Members of the Marion County Board of Supervisors joined County Engineer Tyler Christian in commending the staff for the time they’ve put in during this difficult winter.

During Tuesday morning’s board meeting, Christian reported on the demands this winter has put on the county’s plow drivers; he says there was a six-week period during January and February where his drivers only had five days off…and the rest of the time, they were putting in fourteen hours or more per day behind the wheel.

The ensuing overtime and other expenses put the engineering department over its budget for the year, but Board of Supervisors Chair Mark Raymie tells KNIA/KRLS News the county can absorb the cost, and the crews have made it worth it.

“Obviously this winter has been extremely hard, and our road crews have done an outstanding job staying on top of all the different events that we’ve had,” Raymie says. “As Tyler noted in his presentation, we’ve had 21 events this year; winter is not officially over yet, so we don’t expect this to have a major budgetary impact.”

The Board held a public hearing on the Fiscal Year 20 budget, and afterwards voted in favor of the spending plan; and a report from Kim Dorn of the Marion County Public Health Department says the first stage of the new senior meal plan has rolled out almost perfectly in Pella.

The county is almost finished with an inventory list of kitchen items they’ll leave at the Knoxville Senior Center, and which items the county will retain; the Senior Center staff has been assured the county won’t take anything which would hinder their meal preparation work.