The Cass County Board of Supervisors met on Tuesday morning in the courthouse board room and had much discussion in regards to the new rock quarry south of Atlantic. The Board had decided last week to put an item on the agenda this week to establish a 40mph speed limit on roadways designated as hauling routes to the quarry and to place additional signage. The board approved the resolution on Tuesday to establish a 40mph speed limit on 620th Street from Oxford Road north to the Atlantic City Limits, Lansing Road from US Highway 6 to 620th Street, and Jasper Road from 620th Street to US Highway 71. Supervisor Steve Green put the motion forward to approve and it was seconded by Supervisor John Hartkopf.

Further discussion on the situation was held early in the meeting as a local farm operator voiced his concern about a blind hill near Lansing Road and 595th Street. Both Supervisors Green and Mark O’Brien said they went out to research the location and agreed that a stop sign placed at that intersection would be needed to make the increased truck travel safe. They also discussed with County Engineer Trent Wolken about possibly cutting down that hill in the future and regrading the roadway to improve two-way travel. They decided to add an item to next week’s agenda to act on putting a stop sign up at that location along with stop ahead warnings. They also took into consideration the need to try to limit dust in the area due to the increased traffic.

Another discussion item at the meeting was the possible closing of the 570th Street I-80 underpass per a request from the Iowa DOT. Supervisor Green expressed concern he had received from area farm owners that the closure could possibly impact their land value with the separation of access. He also expressed concern about a homeowner just south of the underpass that has a creek bridge south of their property. They stated that the creek bridge has flooded twice in the past 13 years during large rain events and the underpass closure would leave them stranded if that situation arose again. The board discussed possibly doing some work in that area to prevent future flooding. That work they said could be funded by the money the Iowa DOT would give the county to close the underpass. Ultimately no decision on the closure was made and Engineer Wolken will look into some of the possibilities to address the concerns that were raised.

The Board finished their meeting by entering into closed session to evaluate the performance of County Engineer Trent Wolken. The Board is set to meet again next Tuesday, September 29th at 9:00 a.m. in the board room at the Cass County Courthouse. They plan to have all end of the month business addressed that day since the following day will be the last day of the month.