The Decatur County Commissioners met on Monday.
Todd Houk gave an update on the highway department. A person in the community would like to donate an antique grader for display at the highway department. This is the first grader that was ever used in Decatur County. This was approved. They are continuing to work on mowing and patching. They are currently trying to maintain CR 350 W during the railroad project and are finished with work on trees out at the park. There is a chance of snow this weekend and they are fully prepped with salt and sand. A plaque was presented to Mark Mohr who is retiring from highway department superintendent. Todd Houk was officially made the superintendent.
Kenny Buening gave an update. There have been 28 building inspections, 8 new building permits, and 3 red tags- all of which have been corrected. There was a second call on a nuisance property that a letter has been sent to. There was an inspection on the county highway department project.
Rick Nobbe came to the board requesting use of an old mower and tractor. These items are about to be up for sale and instead of selling them Nobbe was requesting he be allowed to use them for the upkeep and maintenance of the old landfill. This will be considered. Nobbe gave an update on the REMC broadband meeting. They are looking to add fiber optics to their service area, however this would cost $42 million. The holdup on the decision is the REMC ensuring that this is a good business decision for the community. Nobbe believes putting together a committee of qualified community members to help the REMC with the decision would speed the process along. This would also allow for the community to become broadband ready.
The board reappointed members to the following boards: health department, animal control, APC, Lake Santee water regulation, tourism, and redevelopment commission. The public defender spot was tabled.
There was a change order for the water main project. This is for $15,300 which takes the project cost up to a total of $386,019. This was approved. The board approved pay application 3.
The contract sale for the jail pods was approved. This is for a non refundable $25,000 down payment to go towards the total $1 million.
The CenterStone invoice was discussed. This claim was not approved in July because they never received information on what they do for the community or what the funds are going toward. This invoice is for the second half of 2022. The board approved to encumber the funds.
The board approved for Mark Koors to be the Commissioner President in 2023.
There was a plaque given to Jerome Buening who is completing 20 years of service to the commissioners. This was Buening’s final year on the board and thanks the entire community for a chance to help lead them.
Morgan Schofield
WTRE News
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