1. As used in this section, “contract” means a claim, account, or demand against or agreement with a county, express or implied, other than a contract to serve as an officer or employee of the county. However, contracts subject to section 314.2 are not subject to this section.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 331.342

  • Administrative agency: means an agency established by a city for any city purpose or for the administration of any city facility, as provided in chapter 392, except a board established to administer a municipal utility, a zoning commission and zoning board of adjustment, or any other agency which is controlled by state law. See Iowa Code 362.2
  • Board: means the board of supervisors of a county. See Iowa Code 331.101
  • Commission: means a body of eligible electors authorized to study, review, analyze, and recommend an alternative form of county government. See Iowa Code 331.101
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Officer: means a natural person elected or appointed to a fixed term and exercising some portion of the power of a city. See Iowa Code 362.2
  • Treasurer: means the county treasurer or a deputy treasurer or employee designated by the county treasurer. See Iowa Code 331.101
 2. An officer or employee of a county shall not have an interest, direct or indirect, in a contract with that county. A contract entered into in violation of this section is void. The provisions of this section do not apply to:

 a. The designation of a bank or trust company as a depository, paying agent, or for investment of funds.
 b. An employee of a bank or trust company, who serves as treasurer of a county.
 c. Contracts made by a county upon competitive bid in writing, publicly invited and opened.
 d. Contracts in which a county officer or employee has an interest solely by reason of employment, or a stock interest of the kind described in paragraph “h”, or both, if the contracts are made by competitive bid, publicly invited and opened, or if the remuneration of employment will not be directly affected as a result of the contract and the duties of employment do not directly involve the procurement or preparation of any part of the contract. The competitive bid qualification of this paragraph does not apply to a contract for professional services not customarily awarded by competitive bid.
 e. The designation of official newspapers.
 f. A contract in which a county officer or employee has an interest if the contract was made before the time the officer or employee was elected or appointed, but the contract shall not be renewed.
 g. A contract with volunteer fire fighters or civil defense volunteers.
 h. A contract with a corporation in which a county officer or employee has an interest by reason of stockholdings when less than five percent of the outstanding stock of the corporation is owned or controlled directly or indirectly by the officer or employee or the spouse or immediate family of the officer or employee.
 i. A contract made by competitive bid, publicly invited and opened, in which a member of a county board, commission, or administrative agency has an interest, if the member is not authorized by law to participate in the awarding of the contract. The competitive bid qualification of this paragraph does not apply to a contract for professional services not customarily awarded by competitive bid.
 j. Contracts not otherwise permitted by this section, for the purchase of goods or services by a county, which benefit a county officer or employee, if the purchases benefiting that officer or employee do not exceed a cumulative total purchase price of six thousand dollars in a fiscal year.
 k. A contract that is a bond, note, or other obligation of the county and the contract is not acquired directly from the county, but is acquired in a transaction with a third party, who may or may not be the original underwriter, purchaser, or obligee of the contract.
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