The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday), approved a $10 hourly rate of pay for township trustees serving in an official capacity as “Fence Viewers.” Victoria Township officials had asked the Board to consider establishing a fee for the service, which covers those rare occasions when fence maintenance and/or construction issues are in question. Prior to their decision, the hourly rate for “fence viewing” was $7.50, and attendance for scheduled meeting of trustees was at flat rate of $35.

Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman said ISU staff Attorney Erin Herbold noted with regard to written fence agreements, for an agreement that details the allocation of fence maintenance and/or construction, two options exist. One is  for adjacent owners to enter into a written agreement, or Two, those same owners can request an order from the fence viewers (township trustees), allocating responsibility between the parties.

Iowa Code, according to Sunderman, says the County shall pay except when the trustee is acting as a fence viewer in a case where a provision is made for payment from a source other than the General Fund of the County. The Code does not address the issue of fees, except to say township trustees while engaged in official business shall be compensated at an hourly rate by the Board of Supervisors. The Board may elect also to establish a minimum daily pay rate for time spent by a trustee attending a scheduled meeting of the township.

In other business, County Engineer Charles Marker updated the Board on current road maintenance activities. Marker said two bids were received Tuesday for maintenance projects. One is the German Lutheran Church road, which will be ground up, compacted and reshaped. There were two bids. One from Sta-bilt Construction in Harlan, which bid $29,140. The other was from Blacktop Service Company, out of Corning, which bid $98, 425. Marker says they will accept the bid from Sta-bilt.

The other maintenance project is for a seal coat on 745^th Street, which goes north out of Anita two-miles, then east to Highway 48. The project was bid on square yardage. Sta-bilt bid $1.88 per square yard for the work, which covers 30,333 square yards, or about $57,026. Blacktop Service bid $1.95 per square yard, of about $59,149. Marker says once again they chose Stabilt to handle work on the project. The project has a completion date of October 1^st. Marker said also, work is underway on bridge #166 two-miles east of Cumberland.