LE MARS — Plymouth County Attorney Darin J. Raymond will remain the highest-paid employee in Plymouth County.
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors approved 2.5 percent pay raises for the county’s elected officials at the board’s Tuesday, April 22, meeting. It also authorized pay increases for deputies in the county offices.
Raymond will be paid $168,629.65, which includes a $600 longevity payment. That’s up from his current salary of $163,931.37 along with the longevity payment.
Sheriff Jeff TeBrink’s salary for the upcoming fiscal year will be $134,267.55 plus the $600 bonus, an increase from his current salary of $130,992.73. He will also receive the bonus.
The salary for Auditor Stacey Feldman, who also serves as commissioner of elections and budget director, will rise to $95,034.97 plus a $480 longevity bonus. Her current salary is $92,717.04. She will receive the longevity bonus.
Recorder Jolynn Goodchild’s salary will climb from the current $88,498.29 to $90,720.75 plus a $600 bonus.
Treasurer Shelly Sitzmann will be paid the same base amount as Goodchild at $90,720.75 with a $240 bonus, up from $88,498.29 plus a $240 longevity payment.
Supervisors Don Kass, Craig Anderson, John Meis, Mike Van Otterloo and Doug Manley, will be paid $39,300.13 with no bonus, up from $38,370.86.
The Iowa Legislature ended a mandate for a county compensation board in counties, making it an option. The board makes salary recommendations to the supervisors.
But this year, the supervisors assumed that responsibility.
They also approved salaries for deputy officials, including Assistant County Attorney Jason Bring, who will be paid $134,423, with a $120 bonus. Chief Deputy Sheriff Rick Singer will be paid $114,127.41, with a $600 bonus; Lt. Jacob Wingert will be paid $111,442.06 with a $360 bonus; and Sgt. Matt Struve will be paid $108.756.71 with a $240 bonus.
Salaries for eight other Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office staffers, two staff members in the auditor’s office, two in the treasurer’s office and one in the recorder’s office also were approved.
The supervisors also approved appropriations for the officers and departments as they wrapped up work on the 2025-26 budget.
LE MARS — A $400,000 EPA Brownfields grant from the federal government will allow the City of Le Mars to be proactive in its future redevelopment efforts, according to a city official.
Mark Gaul, community development director for the City of Le Mars, said the funding will provide the city with the ability to conduct 18 Phase I and seven Phase II environmental site assessments.
“The reason this came about is if you go to the northwest part of town in an area, we used to call Erdmanville, we redeveloped about a city block and half and if you go up there now there’s apartments being built, the Overlook Apartments,” Gaul said. “And when the Development Corporation and the city partnered to purchase that site and redevelop it there was a lot of structures on that site. And those structures had to be removed. Once we removed those structures prior to a developer [purchasing that ground to redevelop they wanted some assurance there was no problem with the ground or any contamination.”
Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments were conducted. The city also checked the structures for asbestos, then removed the asbestos prior to being able to tear down those structures.
“What we decided after that was, we found there was no contamination there. We removed the structures and then we sold the ground to a developer so that it took some time. So rather than wait for a project to come along for redevelopment, we identified some properties along Business 75 that could potentially be redeveloped over time and we went to the owners of those properties and suggested that maybe we could do some of those assessments now if we could get a grant in order to do that,” Gaul said.
“That way once the owners if and when they ever want to redevelop them the work has already been done and that redevelopment can occur.”
The target area for this grant is the Business 75 Corridor in the City of Le Mars. Priority sites include an 8.2-acre former Walmart; a 6.14-acre, former meat-packing plant; a 0.2-acre, vacant landscaping company; and a 2.33-acre unused hotel.
“That’s the reason we applied for that grant. We targeted properties along Business 75 that could be redeveloped someday.”
Several of the targeted properties are located in the 400-block of Fifth Avenue SW, directly south of Kwik Star. One is a bare lot, one used to be Fedders Marine and the third was Campbells Lawn and landscaping.
“Those are empty buildings that sit there so if you go and look at these properties you will see three prime examples of why we want to do this,” Gaul explained.
“It shows a developer, number one, that we are prepared we’ve done the due diligence on that property and number two, a developer looks at the property, it speeds up the process. They can make a decision and have comfort that they are developing on a site that is ready to go. We’ve done the homework to make sure there is no contamination.”