County shop blanketed with snow requests

In another short agenda, the Foster County Commission discussed the plethora of calls the road department is receiving concerning snow plowing.

During the meeting held on Thursday, January 20, Road Superintendent Nate Monson said he is fiending many calls from residents.

After learning about this, the commission said they would like residents to contact their district supervisor or commissioner if there are concerns about snow plowing in their particular area, and not call the county shop or Monson.

Commissioner Becky Hagel made a motion directing the road crew not to go out and plow in blizzard conditions. Motion passed.

Some board members said they have also been getting calls from residents saying they need their roads plowed.

The Board in unison agreed that the road department is doing the best they can to clear roads, but it has been difficult with all the days of high winds the area has seen.

Commissioner David Utke suggested they publish the road plowing policy for residents to read so they know the rules the road crew is expected to follow.

The Board also agreed that Utke should meet with Monson about setting up an emergency system on the current phone system for residents to call in the event they need to be plowed out for an emergency.

In other business:

• Foster County Public Health Nurse Lisa Hilbert stated that there are currently 34 positive cases of COVID-19 in Foster County alone, but it is decreasing nationwide.

She said as of January 18th or 19th there are over 100 cases in Foster County. She also said that doesn’t count people who have COVID and are not getting tested.

• Hilbert and Utke talked about the Living Local Web App that Hilbert presented to the board at the last meeting.

Utke told the board that he can see the advantages in using the app.

The app is basically free for the first two years of use.

A motion was passed to go ahead with the app and see if it is a good fit for the county.

• Finally, Utke talked about the new GIS system being implemented in the county.

Foster County Auditor Brad Solberg said it can be used for so many things and that most every department in the county will likely use the system.

Utke said it is a costly system and will take someone months to input data, as well as having someone maintain the data over time.