35B.6  Qualification — training — offices.
  1.  a.  The members of the commission shall qualify by taking the usual oath of office. The commission shall organize by selecting one of the commission members as chairperson and one as secretary. The commission, subject to the annual approval of the board of supervisors, shall employ an executive director or administrator who shall have the power to employ other necessary employees to carry out the provisions of this chapter, including administrative or clerical assistants, but no member of the commission shall be so employed. The state department of veterans affairs shall recognize the executive director or administrator as a county veterans service officer of a veterans’ service organization recognized pursuant to 38 C.F.R. §14.628(c) for the purposes of assisting veterans and their dependents in obtaining federal and state benefits. The commission shall recommend the compensation of the executive director or administrator and all employees of the county veteran affairs office to the board of supervisors. The board of supervisors shall consider the recommendation and shall determine and approve the compensation of the executive director or administrator and all employees of the county veteran affairs office. The executive director must possess the same qualifications as provided in section 35B.3 for commission members. However, this qualification requirement shall not apply to a person employed as an executive director prior to July 1, 1989.
  b.  The commission may employ an administrator in lieu of an executive director. Administrators shall not be required to meet all the qualifications provided in section 35B.3 for commissioners. An administrator may hold another position within the county or other government entity while serving as an administrator only if such position does not adversely affect the administrator’s duties under this chapter.
  c.  (1)  Upon the employment of an executive director or administrator, the executive director or administrator shall complete a course for the purpose of obtaining certification federally required for the person’s position and a personal identification verification card necessary to access the veterans benefits management system. If an executive director or administrator fails to obtain certification or a personal identification verification card within one year of being employed, the executive director or administrator shall be removed from office. Upon a request from a county commission of veteran affairs and based on extenuating circumstances, the commandant of the Iowa department of veterans affairs may extend the time frame for an executive director or administrator to obtain a personal identification verification card. 
  (2)  An executive director or administrator shall satisfy the continuing education requirements established by the national association of county veterans service officers and the United States department of veterans affairs. Failure of an executive director or administrator to maintain certification shall be cause for removal from office. The expenses of training the executive director or administrator shall be paid from the appropriation authorized in section 35B.14.
  (3)  An executive director or administrator shall satisfy the continuing education requirements necessary to maintain an active personal identification verification card and access to the veterans benefits management system. Failure of an executive director or administrator to maintain certification and access to the veterans benefits management system shall be cause for removal from office.
  d.  The duties of the executive director, administrator, and employees shall include all of the following:
  (1)  Inform members of the armed forces, veterans, and their dependents of all federal, state, and local laws enacted for their benefit.
  (2)  Assist all residents of the state who served in the armed forces of the United States and their relatives, beneficiaries, and dependents in receiving from the United States and this state any and all compensation, pensions, hospitalization, insurance, education, employment pay and gratuities, loan guarantees, or any other aid or benefit to which they may be entitled under any law.
  (3)  Complete and submit all forms required for federal, state, and county benefits.
  e.  The department of veterans affairs or county veteran affairs offices shall not charge for any service provided to any individual.
  f.  An executive director or administrator shall only be removed from office by the commission, subject to the approval of the board of supervisors. 
  2.  a.  Two or more boards of supervisors may agree, pursuant to chapter 28E, to share the services of an executive director or administrator. The agreement shall provide for the establishment of a commission of veteran affairs office in each of the counties participating in the agreement.
  b.  Neither a county board of supervisors nor a county commission of veteran affairs shall publish the names of the veterans or their families who receive benefits under the provisions of this chapter.
  c.  Neither a county board of supervisors nor a county commission of veteran affairs shall place the administration of the duties of the county commission of veteran affairs under any other agency of any county.
  3.  a.  Each county commission of veteran affairs shall maintain an office in a public building owned, operated, or leased by the county.
  b.  An executive director or administrator employed pursuant to subsection 1 shall provide veterans services for the following minimum number of hours each week:
  (1)  For a county with a population of thirty thousand or less, no fewer than twenty hours per week.
  (2)  For a county with a population of more than thirty thousand and less than sixty thousand, no fewer than thirty hours per week.
  (3)  For a county with a population of sixty thousand or more, no fewer than forty hours per week.
  c.  Counties sharing the services of an executive director or administrator shall provide the number of hours of service required under paragraph “b” for each county.
  d.  The hours that the office established under paragraph “a” is open shall be posted in a prominent position outside the office.
[C97, §431; C24, 27, 31, 35, §5389; C39, §3828.056; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §250.6; 81 Acts, ch 33, §5]
89 Acts, ch 248, §1; 92 Acts, ch 1075, §2
C93, §35B.6
94 Acts, ch 1107, §4; 2005 Acts, ch 115, §17, 40; 2008 Acts, ch 1130, §4 – 6, 10; 2009 Acts, ch 4, §2; 2009 Acts, ch 133, §188; 2014 Acts, ch 1116, §39 – 43; 2015 Acts, ch 29, §7; 2017 Acts, ch 47, §1; 2019 Acts, ch 104, §1; 2024 Acts, ch 1047, §9
Referred to in §35A.5, 35A.16, 35B.14
Oath, §63.10
Subsection 1, paragraph c amended