Supervisors Approve Allowing Health Director Access To Funds

A split Dubuque County Board of Supervisors approved the director of the county health department authority to spend up to $10,000 of allocated funds to fight the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday. Supervisors Dave Baker and Ann McDonough voted in favor of the measure, which had been recommended by staff. Supervisor Jay Wickham voted against. This differed from the two supervisors’ position at the beginning of the pandemic, which — until now — required that any expenditure from the pot of $850,000 supervisors had allocated for general pandemic relief return to them before spending. But Ed Raber, interim executive director for the Board of Supervisors, explained that giving county health director Patrice Lambert access to some would allow her to use that money in emergencies.