The Webster County Attorney’s Office was approved Tuesday to provide assistance once a week to the Hamilton County Attorney’s Office as part of a new sharing agreement.

The agreement was approved by the Webster County Board of Supervisors at its regular board meeting. This is the first time the two county attorney’s offices have shared duties.

According to Webster County Attorney Darren Driscoll, he was contacted by the current Hamilton County Assistant Attorney Jonathan Beaty in February. Beaty indicated that he was looking at transitioning out of the role as he is also the full-time Humboldt County attorney. In the part-time assistant attorney role, Beaty has been assisting County Attorney Pat Chambers.

“He wanted to see if Webster County could assist on a part-time basis handling some of the duties in their district associate court,” said Driscoll. “It would be roughly one attorney day per week on average.”

The Hamilton County Attorney’s Office will pay Webster County $60,000 annually in $15,000 quarterly payments as part of the agreement.

“I spoke with my attorneys and we determined that we could handle it by re-shifting some duties,” said Driscoll. “With that $60,000, that gave us an opportunity, because as the board is aware of budget constraints, that would allow my office to increase salaries for the attorneys because we’re taking on additional work to get us closer to being competitive for what my highly skilled attorney pool is valued at.”

The agreement was passed by the Hamilton County Supervisors two weeks ago. With the Webster County Board of Supervisors’ vote of approval, the sharing agreement will begin on April 28.

“It’s a good way to solve a problem that we had and a problem that they had,” said Driscoll. “This may very well be the way of the future because attorney numbers are dwindling in rural communities so it’s quite possible Webster County could be a hub when smaller communities are looking for lawyers and can’t find them for their prosecutors offices.”

The supervisors approved a bid from Iowa Fire Control, of Fort Dodge, for $22,560 to install panic alarms in Webster County buildings including the courthouse, attorney’s office, and public health buildings.

The supervisors also authorized a detour agreement with the Iowa Department of Transportation to use Webster County Road P29 as a temporary detour route when U.S. Highway 169 from west of Dayton through Harcourt and north to U.S. Highway 20 is paved in the fall.

Webster County Engineer Jamie Johll briefed the supervisors on the FY26 Secondary Road Budget and County Five Year Program.

Webster County Conservation Director Matt Cosgrove also presented his five year strategic plan to the board.

Webster County Recorder Lindsay Laufersweiler provided a report of fees collected by the Recorder’s Office for the quarter ending March 31. The Recorder’s Office reported income of $49,746.52.

“I do want to take a moment to let you all know that that’s just the county’s portion of fees collected,” said Laufersweiler. “We brought in a total of $159,893.84, so of those funds, $110,147.32 went to the state.”

Laufersweiler also noted that boat registrations are due April 30. The renewals are for a three-year period ending April 30, 2028. Renewals can be mailed to the Webster County Recorder’s office or be processed in the office or over the phone. Renewal notices will not be sent in the mail. A penalty will be added to registrations beginning July 1.