By SUSAN BERG

Staff writer

Marion County taxpayers have another way to pay their annual property taxes.

At Monday’s Marion County Commission meeting, the commission approved a program through Central National Bank of Marion where taxpayers can open a tax escrow account which would be used to pay the county.

Program participants can make monthly payments to the account which will be held in escrow until the day before taxes are due to the county. The bank then would make the payment to the county.

The program was introduced to county treasurer Jeannine Bateman by bank president Todd Heitschmidt.

In other business:

• The purchase of a printer was approved for the treasurer’s office. Three bids were received with the lowest bid being $2,256 from Infinitec was approved by the commission. Other bids were received from Great Plains Computers and Networking of Marion and CDW-G.
• Robert Sawyer of Hillsboro was hired by the road and bridge department as a truck driver. His starting salary is $1,854 per month.
• Road and bridge superintendent John Summerville reported the oil burner stove in the county shop needed to be repaired. He was told to have it repaired.
• It was determined the county was OK with property owners filling potholes on county roads but does not want individuals scraping or redistributing gravel.
• County emergency management director Michele Abbott-Becker reported the state wanted her to exchange the administering of one grant for another. To compensate her for doing that, the county could receive $100,000 in communications equipment instead of an administrator’s fee. She will attend a meeting and negotiate.
• County household hazardous waste director Rollin Schmidt was advised to obtain estimates to repair a trailer used for picking up mobile household hazardous waste. It appeared that the June hail storm had caused damage to the trailer.
• Commissioner Dan Holub requested and received a 10-minute executive session to discuss personnel. The meeting reconvened with no decisions.
• Scot Loyd of Swindoll, Janzen, Hawk & Loyd met with the commission to discuss financial consulting options.
• The commission met with architect Tony Rangle of Law Kingdon Architects via telephone conference to finalize a PowerPoint presentation regarding a new jail project. Public meetings were held this week to provide additional information to the public.
• The next commission meeting is at 9 a.m. Monday at the courthouse.