State Representative Jarad Klein (R) has a bill ready to be reviewed by a subcommittee at the Iowa Legislature that would give rural cities in more populous counties the ability to change to a more suitable county. Klein explains, “So counties over 130,000 people giving townships the ability to join their neighbor county. If they have a vote of the people, probably a super majority, and then if the county neighboring them approves to accept them.” The legislation would allow a city such as Hills in Johnson County to transfer to a neighboring county such as Washington or Louisa, and they would have the opportunity to be represented by county supervisors.

To prevent smaller counties from dissolving completely with this legislation, Klein set the county population minimum at 130,000 people. This would be to prevent a city such as Keota from leaving Keokuk County and joining Washington County. Klein feels keeping the smaller counties in tact is important for the overall well being of their citizens. However, since Johnson County has one of the larger populations in the state, cities and townships such as Hills, Frytown, or Oxford could be represented in Louisa, Washington, or Iowa Counties, respectively, which more closely represent their population. To hear more about Klein’s work in the current legislative session, listen to the two-part In Touch with Southeast Iowa interview with him at KCIIRadio.com.