Board of Supervisors focus on collaboration, community to move Linn County forward

CEDAR RAPIDS — Each Wednesday at 10 a.m., Brandy Meisheid issues a variation of the same greeting.

“Good morning everyone. It’s 10 a.m. and we’re here at the Jean Oxley Public Service Center, so I’ll go ahead and call this meeting to order,” Meisheid states with a smile, kicking off the weekly Linn County Board of Supervisors regular meeting.

Without fail, the call to order is followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and public comment. Supervisors approve the board’s latest meeting minutes and review county claims.

But that’s where the week-to-week similarities end.

The three-member board — composed of Meisheid and fellow supervisors Kirsten Running-Marquardt and Sami Scheetz — acts as Linn County’s legislative, policymaking and administrative branch.

The trio guide the county’s strategic direction, champion county initiatives and give final approval to everything from the establishment of new ordinances to setting the county’s levy rate and certifying the annual budget.

Given that scope, the board’s meetings can vary substantially: Last week, the board greenlit changes to the county’s employee recognition and promotion policies. The week prior, they approved a contract to transition the county to the state’s new district-based mental health system.

The board in many ways is a lesser known cog in the local government machine with a broad purview over issues affecting Linn County residents. And for the first time in over a decade, it’s made up entirely of first-term members.

While the fresh faces bring new perspectives and ideas, each of the members have expressed a concerted and continued commitment to honor the work of prior board members to help Linn County succeed.

“Local government — county government — provides an opportunity to have a very direct, personal impact on people,” Scheetz surmised during a recent interview with The Gazette. “It’s on a smaller scale (than state or federal office), but it can be a much more personal impact.”

Three members, one board

Linn County’s three supervisors are elected by district to serve staggered, four-year terms. The chair position — currently held by Meisheid — rotates annually between districts to ensure equal opportunity for board leadership.

The positions are full-time jobs, and this year, each supervisors is paid an annual salary of $140,706.21.

Despite being in her first term, Running-Marquardt, of Cedar Rapids, is the board’s senior member. She was elected in late 2022 to represent District 1, which encompasses the west side of Cedar Rapids as well as Ely, Fairfax and Walford.

With strong ties to southwest Cedar Rapids, she represented southern Linn County as a Democrat in the Iowa Legislature for 14 years before running for the Board of Supervisors in hopes of having a positive impact “closer to home.”

Some of her priorities on the board include ensuring the fiscally responsible use of county funds, fostering economic development pathways and identifying opportunities for a more participatory government.

Whether it’s “working with the state or different cities and counties, collaboration and partnerships are really important to me,” Running-Marquardt said. “Those are the things that move us toward making government work for people in the best way possible.”

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Meisheid similarly espoused a desire to steer the county in the direction of fiscal responsibility, noting that the county’s fiscal year 2026 budget saw a year-over-year decrease of one penny in the county’s portion of the property tax rate.

The county portion accounts for roughly 16 percent of the overall property tax bill for residents living in one of Linn County’s cities. The remainder is set by municipalities, school districts and other taxing entities with their own budgeting processes.

Meisheid was elected to the board last fall, and she officially assumed her role in January. She replaced her father, Louie Zumbach, who held the District 3 position immediately prior to Meisheid’s election.

The primarily rural district represents Marion, Robins, Lisbon, Mount Vernon, Springville, Bertram, Prairieburg, Coggon, Central City, Alburnett, Center Point and Walker, as well as most unincorporated rural areas of Linn County.

Meisheid — who lives in rural Coggon — said she strives to bring a rural perspective to the Board of Supervisors. She is the board’s sole Republican, and the only supervisor to live in unincorporated Linn County.

“I hate to make an overarching statement that one thing is more important than another because I serve all the people of Linn County and their priorities,” she said. “That being said, it is very important to me that I brought a voice that allowed the board to have (more varied) opinions” on rural and/or conservative issues.

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District 2 Supervisor Sami Scheetz rounds out the board after being appointed to the position in early April. The seat was previously held by longtime Supervisor Ben Rogers, who in February announced his intent to step down for another professional opportunity.

Scheetz, of Cedar Rapids, was ultimately selected from a candidate pool of 17 applicants to serve out the remainder of Rogers’ unexpired term, which runs through the end of 2026. His district encompasses much of eastern Cedar Rapids, as well as Hiawatha.

Despite prior experience as a state lawmaker, Scheetz said the past few months as supervisor have been “like drinking from a fire hose” as he acclimates to his new role and learns the intricacies and realities of county government.

But as he begins to learn the ropes, he’s excited to see what comes next.

“Just understanding the different programs we do that do so much good and that so many people really rely on in this community has been really eye-opening for me,” Scheetz said. “It’s something that I’m very excited to get involved with.”

In his role as supervisor, Scheetz said he intends to bring a strong focus on the social services offered by the county and how those services can best serve residents to handle everything from food insecurity to health care access and more.

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Board action informed by staff experience, community input

Linn County Director of Policy and Administration Darrin Gage said each supervisor tends to come to the board with their own set of goals and priorities united under a shared goal of seeing the county succeed.

“I’ve served with at least a dozen different supervisors, but regardless of their party or background, everyone comes in wanting to help,” said Gage, who has held his policy and administration role for 16 years.

Gage explained that the board’s work is a mix of bottom-up work that begins with county staff and top-down direction from supervisors with particular interest in a specific topic or initiative.

Linn County employs more than 700 people across nearly two dozen departments, each of which reports up to the Board of Supervisors. The work and research of those employees guides the board’s decision making and helps enact board priorities.

The breadth and depth of knowledge across those departments is immense, Gage noted, and employees’ work and research helps to guide board decision-making and later enact board priorities or directives.

That expertise is particularly useful for newer board members with less county government experience and historical background. In those situations, Gage said county staff can use their tenure and experience to help supervisors “see around corners” that could otherwise act as blind spots.

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As such, county staff recently have made additional presentations at board meetings to explain a concept or program that would be routine to a more experienced board. Those presentations help introduce supervisors to unfamiliar information that is useful for routine and ongoing board business.

“The elected officials and the rest of county staff that we have here … exhibit just a level of excellence that is far and above the average,” Running-Marquardt said. “Time and time again, I’ve felt very fortunate to work with this staff to really serve the people of Linn County.”

Board members are apt to engage with staff at one of their three weekly board meetings held each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as separate meetings for the more than 30 county committees and boards upon which at least one supervisor sits.

The remainder of supervisors’ time is spent meeting with staff individually, connecting with constituents or attending municipal meetings and other community events, among other board business.

“I always joke that there’s no days off when you’re an elected official,” Meisheid said. “I’ve been asked how my work-life balance is, and I either say I must not believe in that or I don’t have one. If the phone rings and a constituent needs something, it’s my job to answer it.”

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If You Go

The Linn County Board of Supervisors has three public meetings each week. Those meetings — held Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Jean Oxley Public Services Center, 935 Second St. SW, Cedar Rapids — are open to the public and can be watched online at the Linn County website. Those meetings include:

– Board of Supervisors Work Session: Held Monday at 10 a.m., the work session is a slightly less formal board meeting where members can gain information on certain topics, vote on routine business and/or have preliminary conversations on various initiatives. Public comment is allowed.

– Department Head Updates: Held Tuesday at 9 a.m., the Board of Supervisors hears updates from Linn County’s department heads on a rotating basis. Typically, four or five department heads speak at each meeting.

– Board of Supervisors Regular Session: Held Wednesday at 10 a.m., the regular session is when the board conducts most of its formal voting. It’s also a time for continued conversation and to expand on topics covered at work sessions. Time is set aside for public comment.

Agendas must be posted at least 24 hours before each meeting to give residents an idea of what the board will discuss at the upcoming meeting. To find those agendas or to watch the meeting recordings, visit linncountyiowa.gov/161/Agendas-Minutes.

Collaboration, community connections key

In addition to frequent collaborations with one another and other members of county staff, county supervisors often find themselves engaging with leaders from Linn County’s various municipalities, as well as those from surrounding counties and those elected to state and federal office.

The county partners with the city of Cedar Rapids, for example, to jointly fund a homeless systems manager position — now held by J’Nae Peterman — and to operate a winter weather shelter in partnership with Willis Dady Homeless Services.

Other collaborations include ongoing efforts with Center Point to create a fringe area action plan to guide development in the unincorporated areas around the city, for example, and the board also approves and monitors several grant allocations to projects countywide.

In Marion, City Manager Ryan Waller said the county has been a frequent collaborator on several past and present projects — including conversations around the future of the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency landfill.

The current landfill, located in Marion at 1954 County Home Rd., is projected to reach capacity by 2036, and area leaders are in ongoing conversations about potential next steps around how best to meet area residents’ solid waste demands.

The county is one leading partner in those conversations, alongside the cities of Marion and Cedar Rapids.

“In my three and a half years in Marion, we’ve worked with the county on a number of different things, and it’s been a very positive relationship,” Waller said. “We’ve collaborated on things like the landfill, the area ambulance agency board … and regional development.”

Get Involved

Linn County relies on citizen participation for its two dozen advisory boards and commissions. Those boards give citizens a voice in their government and provide a means of influencing decisions that shape the quality of life for the residents of Linn County.

To view current vacancies and/or submit application information, visit linncountyiowa.gov/205/Advisory-Boards-Commissions.

As the board turns its focus toward the future, it’s those collaborations and others that will keep the supervisors busy in the weeks and months to come — along with other board business across the supervisors’ broad purview.

Despite having just approved the fiscal year 2026 budget in April, for example, it won’t be long before the process will begin again for fiscal year 2027. Simultaneously, county staff will work with supervisors to apprise them of new state and federal regulations and potential impacts on county operations.

It’s a mix of routine business punctuated by the more unpredictable county happenings, all done in the name of moving the county forward.

“Counties were originally founded for the purpose of providing necessary services to people in the community, … and in my mind, that’s still our main purpose (today),” Scheetz said. “Being in government so close to the people you serve can really give you a chance to shape people’s lives.”

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Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com