Emergency declaration shelved

A special meeting was called by the Foster County Commission to handle year-end business and discuss declaring an emergency.

During the meeting held on Thursday, December 29, year-end bills were approved for payment along with a lost check affidavit, a joint powers agreement for South Central Dakota Regional Council and the liquor license for Cork and Barrel HiWay Off Sale.

In other business:

• The board discussed issuing an emergency declaration due to the amount of snow the county has seen over the past two weeks.

An emergency declaration will allot state funds as well as county emergency funds to help with snow removal and overtime hours, but the board decided to wait to see what the next storm brings before they take any action.

• The board also discussed a request from a private contractor who wants to dump snow at the fairgrounds as room within the city is running low.

The board agreed to reserve the fairgrounds for the city and county to dump snow.

• The board discussed the county fee schedule once again.

Apparently there are two townships with non-certified assessors and one township with a certified assessor.

It was stated at the meeting that the township with the certified assessor is behind and the assessor is not doing their work, therefore Foster County Tax Equalization Director Karen Evans has to take up the slack, which creates more work for her.

Commissioner Becky Hagel said the statute in the North Dakota Century Code states that a county can contract with townships for assessing property and charge them a fee for the work.

The board agreed to wait until 2024 to enact that statute and charge a fee for assessing so townships and the smaller cities can put the expense in their budget. The fee was approved for the amount of $150 annually.

• Talking about snow removal, commissioner Alan Scanson reported that county road superintendent Nate Monson fielded 89 calls in one day during the last storm.

The board believe residents of the county should contact their district commissioners and/or township officers to discuss snow removal, instead of contacting the county road department as they are very busy.

Commissioner David Utke talked about having an automated phone system for the road department to cut down the time they spend fielding phone calls, but no action was taken.

• Scanson asked the board what they thought about getting a snow pusher for the road dept.

He said he found a 14 foot snow pusher they can purchase for $4,600. Motion passed.