Doug Bailey, who has served as a Hamilton County Supervisor for the past 16 years and as chairman this past year, chaired his last regular meeting of the board Tuesday morning.

Bailey decided not to seek re-election to the office and will conclude his duties with the county at the end of the calendar year.

Several of the county office holders offered words of thanks to Bailey.

“With a grateful heart, I want to thank you, Doug. You’ve been a champion in my corner of the world since I started here. We’ve served on many committees together and working towards making life better for the most vulnerable in our county,” said Patti Treibel-Leeds, director of county social services.

County Auditor Kim Schaa thanked Bailey for his year’s of service and leadership.

Supervisor Dan Campidilli said his fellow board member was patient and answered the many questions he had as a new office holder.

“It was so comfortable working with him. I’m going to miss our conversations,” Campidilli said.

Bailey also offered some thoughts on his years in office. He talked about former Supervisors Wes Sweedler and David Young, two men that he said had mentored him as he joined the board.

“‘Fair is where you take a pig to earn a ribbon.’ That scolding and warning was shared often by Wes Sweedler, one of the most fair human beings I’ve ever met,” he said.

Bailey said David Young often reminded him that the chairman always has the last word.

“He would tell me that in the years that I served as chair, especially when he thought I needed to say something that I wasn’t going to say.”

Bailey said he took some time last week to look at some of the old supervisors’ minute books and turned to the December 1918 board meeting.

“One-hundred two years ago, Hamilton County along with the rest of the country, had just suffered through the 1918 flu epidemic and World War I which had ended the month before,” Bailey said.

He was looking for a nugget of inspiration or a bit of hope from those days that might translate as encouragement for the current conditions of the world.

Back in 1918, the Board of Supervisors met once a month over the course of several days. Bailey said on that December agenda were issues that county officials still deal with.

“The first day was spent all on drainage,” he said. “The late 1800s through the early 1920s was the glory days of the massive agricultural drainage system we have in this county.”

The second day, the meeting opened with a drainage request. There was a resolution to reimburse the Webster City Chamber of Commerce for handling the county food administration in the amount of $50 per month.

“Also on at the meeting, refund bonds were authorized for the purpose of redeeming outstanding warrants in the county road and bridge funds, with a $4 premium per $1,000 for bonds rimmomg 5 years and bearing a 5 percent interest rate,” Bailey noted.

The 1918 board also paid the county’s claims, including $25.80 for shoes for the county home, $24.45 for gravel for the county road between Webster City and Duncombe, and a lumber company was issued $3.40 for bridge repair.

In those minutes, the supervisor said he found nothing about the Spanish Flu or the end of World War I. “There was no nugget of inspiration or one-liner on hope for the future,” he said. “But what I discovered was what I already knew. While the dollars are greater and some of the tasks are different, local government continues to provide the mundane, day-to-day, paperwork, physical labor, process and systems by which our residents go about living their lives.”

Bailey said it was in the continuity and stability through the decades that he found hope for the future.

“Local government provides the ground-level framework for our residents to secure their unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” he said.

Regardless of the leadership displayed at the state and federal levels, Bailey said local government carries on.

He pointed to the various office holders in attendance at the meeting, ticking off the many ways the elected officials would help county residents.

“Shelby (Kroona) is going to make sure that every resident in the county who wants a COVID-19 vaccine is going to get one. Ryan (Weidemann, county engineer) is going to make sure the snow gets plowed off the roads. Doug (Timmons, sheriff) is going to make sure travelers on those roads are safe and secure,” he said.

He also thanked his two fellow supervisors, Dan Campidilli and Rick Young.

“I’m going to miss their day-to-day banter, humor and counsel more than I’m sure I realize right now,” he said.

Bailey said that Jerry Kloberdanz of Webster City, who was elected to fill his seat, will “fit in perfectly.”

“It has been my honor and pleasure to serve on the board and to work with some very dedicated public servants who are spread throughout our county government who have made me proud each and every day,” Bailey said.

He closed by thanking the residents of Hamilton County for giving him the opportunity to serve.