MARSHALL - Now that the Marshall City Council has weighed in on possible options for a new Marshall library building, the Lyon County Board decided to follow suit.
At its regular meeting Tuesday, the board discussed straw votes taken by the city council at its Aug. 11 meeting, and what they would be willing to support in a new library construction project. conducted its own straw votes to establish what commissioners would be willing to support on the project. The votes said a majority of the board would support the library moving ahead with a smaller $5 million construction plan and contributing additional funds or a loan to the library to help pay for construction. However, the commissioners were more divided on the latter proposal, splitting 3-2 in favor of additional funding.
The straw votes weren't official resolutions, but did give commissioners a chance to give their opinion on the library.
In the results of the city council votes, council members had said they would support a $5 million construction plan, but split over bonding for additional funds.
"If Marshall isn't willing to bond for it (the new library), I don't see why we should," said commissioner Phil Nelson.
County board chairman Rodney Stensrud said he thought the library board might still be looking for the county to put extra funding into the construction project. A possible option commissioners discussed was giving the library additional funding or a loan. Some said they would be alright with a temporary boost in contributions to the library, for example, an additional $144,000 spread over 12 years.
Commissioner Bob Fenske said he thought proceeds from the sale of the old library building could be used to help reimburse such a contribution. However, he said, "I don't think we can make a motion yet."
In the straw vote, commissioners were unanimously in favor of the $5 million library. Commissioners Fenske, Steve Ritter and Mark Goodenow were in favor of giving additional funding to the library for construction, and Stensrud and Nelson were against.
In other business, the board discussed the possibility of increased safety measures at stop signs at county intersections. Lyon County public works director Suhail Kanwar asked for feedback on the idea of placing rumble strips in front of stop signs on more county roads. The measure might be one way of preventing people from running stop signs. However, Kanwar and county board chairman Rodney Stensrud said doing so means the county would have to identify all possible placements for the strips, instead of just picking one or two "problem intersections."
Kanwar said he "would advise against" a full threat assessment, since there are more than 500 stop signs on paved roads in the county. It would cost about $25,000 to engrave rumble strips and an additional $5,000 to $10,000 each year to maintain them.
The strips also have noise drawbacks, Kanwar said. The sound of a vehicle going over the strips can be heard up to a mile away.
Lyon County Sheriff Mark Mather said when the sheriff's department receives safety complaints about a stop sign, they will usually send officers to wait near the sign and ticket stopping violations.
"I believe enforcement is good," Mather said. However, he said, "There are problem intersections," including the intersections of County Road 6 and County Road 9, County Road 24 and Highway 59, County Road 10 in Cottonwood, and County Road 7 and Highway 14.
"I'm okay with the idea" of rumble strips, Mather said, "but there are other factors we should look at." He suggested that the sheriff's department could do some stop sign enforcement studies in September.