The Cass County Board of Supervisors this (Friday) morning, approved the recommended re-appointment of Roger Barbero to the County Veterans Affairs Commission. His three-year term will expires June 30, 2022. Barbero has served on the Commission for the past two terms. The Board also approved nominations and resignations for the Cass County Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). The Committee meets twice each year. Four names are coming off the list provided to the State Homeland Security/LEPC, including some members who have passed away or moved away, and four names are coming on the list. Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman read the list of names nominated for the Committee…Ryan Archibald, Virginia Coughlin, Dave Erickson, and Mark O’Brien.

Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon explained the role of the Committee. He said they maintain physical copies of hazardous materials sites in the County in the event someone needs to know. The LEPC is made-up of a cross-section the community in Cass County, including media, law enforcement, elected officials and site facility members, to name a few.

In other business, the Cass County Supervisors rejected bids for a bridge project because of a lack of competitive bidders at this time, and because it was over the engineer’s estimate. Contractors, it was noted, are very busy this year with flood damaged road and other projects. County Engineer Charles Bechtold said if no new competitive bids are received by July 16th, in a worst case scenario, they would try again next year. Bechtold said crews are blading the roads when and where possible, but since they do more damage than good right now, they are staying off the most sloppy roads due to flooding and heavy rain. Supervisor John O’Brien told Bechtold he’s received complaints about the rural, unpaved roads being rough and rutted, in-part caused by semi’s hauling grain.

He said it’s not just the semi’s. It’s the manure and feed haulers. Bechtold said it would be nice if they could stay-off the roads a little longer, but he understands the need to get feed to the animals and fertilizer laid. Bechtold said they could order a 90-day embargo on those roads, but he doesn’t want to have to do that, because they want to help the farmers out as much as possible. The Supervisors today (Friday) approved a 2.8% increase in the Secondary Roads Employee wages as part of a bargaining agreement, which amounts to 60-cents per hour per employee. They also approved renewing the lease agreement for Willow Heights for one-year (June 30 2019-June 30, 2020), and a Cass County Procurement Policy, which is a formality associated with FEMA funds.