County Commission Update

Hi Folks,

At last week’s meeting we reviewed claims and then met with Road Supervisor, Rory Parsons. The Road crews are cleaning up things from the winter. The crew is going back to working four tens for the remainder of the spring, summer, and fall. They will be working from 6:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday through Thursday.

We also met with Candice Bell, our Solid Waste Manager. We are still discussing what options might be available for Solid Waste moving forward. We would like to come up with two or three different options and then present them to the Public at a series of Public meetings throughout the County this spring. Most of the options we have discussed so far include some type of rate increase. One of our problems is that the volume of waste and the tipping fees to get rid of it is increasing at a much faster rate than new properties coming on the tax rolls.

Another issue is the site at Montana City is just not big enough to handle the volume of traffic coming through. Over the past year, we have laid off one truck driver and unmanned the site at Basin. There will be more to come, so I hope everyone can try to attend the meetings when they are in this area.

We approved the final Plat for the Tomaski Minor Subdivision at Montana City. We also approved a one year extension to the Amended Palmer Minor Tract A-1-A near Montana City. We also agreed to an Amended Plat for the Jefferson Acres Subdivision near Whitehall.

We signed a whole slew of documents related to the Sugar Beet Row Sewer Project. That project is supposed to be started around the 10th of April.

The bridge across Pipestone Creek on Kountz Road is moving along. Right at the start, they dug up some concrete and then some wood pilings, apparently from a couple of previous bridges.

FYI: “The House of Representatives, can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as the great mass of society. This has always been deemed one of the strongest bonds by which human policy can connect the rulers and the people together. It creates between them that communion of interest, and sympathy of sentiments, of which few governments have furnished examples; but without which every government degenerates into tyranny.” James Madison, 4th US President