Lincoln County Board approves watershed plan
IVANHOE — The Lincoln County Board approved several resolutions during the course of its Tuesday meeting.
Dale Sterzinger of the Lincoln County Soil and Water Conservation District asked for the board to approve the four-part One Watershed, One Plan. No. 12-2017 Resolution to Adopt and Implement the Yellow Medicine River Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan was that comprehensive that it was broken down into four parts. The board approved it unanimously after Sterzinger led it through a summary of each part.
Sterzinger then asked the board to approve Resolution No. 11-2017 — Resolution for Adoption and Implementation of the Lincoln County Comprehensive Local Water Management Plan Amendment.
The amendment was a detailed plan to alter the hydrology and preserve water quality through measurable goals over the course of the next 25 years. Sterzinger said that the plan will identify stressors, and that everything will be accounted for.
“It’s my guess,” he said, “that the local one will be gone in 10 years.”
Vince Robinson of the Lincoln County Enterprise Development Corporation appeared before the board with an update on the broadband issue.
He reported that the broadband task force met with Woodstock Telephone Company and Finley Engineering to look at broadening the coverage area. He said that Yellow Medicine County and Chippewa County were already meeting with a company, and that Pipestone County may also be interested.
“Lyon County is the furthest behind,” Robinson said. “Their board hasn’t had a formal discussion, yet. Monday, January 23 at 9 a.m., in the Lyon County Commissioner’s room, six county board members and the task force of one lead and two commissioners from each county will meet.”
Robinson asked the board to appoint a commissioner or two to the broadband committee. Commissioners volunteering were Mic VanDeVere and Joe Drietz, with Rick Hamer as the alternate. Hamer will be attending the meeting on Monday with Drietz as VanDeVere has two other meetings to attend.
Another announcement that Robinson shared was that Hole-in-the-Mountain Park was up for Regional Park designation. The plan should be in place by the end of this month, he said, with public meetings in February and March and then “move on it in April.” The plan is to apply for Legacy funding.
Sheriff Chad Meester invited the commissioners to visit the Nobles County Sheriff’s Office in Worthington on Tuesday, Jan. 24, along with members of his staff and the fire chief to learn more about the Zuercher Computer Aided Dispatch system. VanDeVere was encouraging the new board members to attend, telling Jack Vizecky he could get all his questions answered.
“There are a lot more parts to this system than just addresses, or just saving time by being able to do the paperwork out in the field,” VanDeVere said. “And, being able to see the system in person should answer a lot of your questions.”
Worthington has a different mapping system, Meester said, but the C.A.D. it has requested would be the same as Meester has requested that the county board purchase for Lincoln County Sheriff’s office. If Tuesday wasn’t good, the sheriff said, they could work out a different date.
Engineers Dave Halbersma and Dustin Hauschild also appeared before the board at Tuesday’s meeting. Their request was to purchase 115 acres from a farmer where they were able to test for good gravel for county usage. The commissioners voted to spend $604,528, beginning with $90,000 in earnest money to purchase the property. The board chose to go into a closed session and approved the purchase when it came back to the open meeting.
Environmental Administrator Robert Olsen received approval from the board to set a public hearing date for County Ditch 40 to share the findings of a Viewer Report he had recently received. The date of the hearing will be March 7, beginning at 1 p.m.
Olsen also reported 35 septic tanks were updated last year. Each permit costs $100, and the final inspection costs $100. The county brought in $10,000 on the permits last year plus $157,493 on loan payments for a total income of $167,493.
“Our main goal is to keep the septic systems compliant,” Olsen said.