(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson county board of supervisors Tuesday approved a transfer of funds from the General Fund to the Debt Service Fund. County Auditor Nancy Reiman says the transfer of 22,500-dollars is needed to meet a shortfall on bond payments. She says it stems from 788-thousand dollars in delinquent property taxes in the county. Reiman says the transferred money will be replenished when the delinquent taxes are collected.
In other business, the supervisors voted three-to-two to approve a joint Tax Increment Finance Agreement with the city of Spirit Lake to assist in the relocation of Ferguson Manufacturing. Supervisors Mardi Allen and David Gottsche voted against the proposal.
They approved Worker’s Compensation policies dealing with seatbelt use, accident procedures and pre-employment physicals; and once again discussed but took no action on the Milford Maintenance Building. The county is considering buying some land owned by the city of Milford for 40-thousand dollars. It’s adjacent to the county shop near the elevator in Milford. The county would use the land to expand its maintenance facility at an estimated cost of 245-thousand dollars. Supervisor Paul Johnson wonders if that’s the right move to best serve the county’s long-term needs. Fellow supervisor Mardi Allen is concerned over a Groundwater Protection Act the city of of Milford has enacted on that site and what impact it may have if the county would sell the land in the future. County Engineer Dan Eckert was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting. The supervisors decided to research the matter further and bring it back May 17th when Eckert will be on hand.
The county is once again revisiting its recycling contract. The current one with H & H Recycling of Spirit Lake expires at the end of June. Mike Hawn of H & H told the supervisors Tuesday he’s proposing a new contract at a cost of four thousand dollars a month. The county is currently paying 2,900-dollars a month. Hawn says the increase is needed to cover the increased cost of gas. The supervisors took no action on the contract proposal, saying they want to reassess some options such as establishing a drop-off site and reducing the pick-up to once-a-month.
There was also more discussion with the Dickinson County Historical Museum and Qwestors over what to do with historic artifacts in the existing courthouse. The county has a very limited time in which to remove the items prior to a contract being let to abate asbestos and demolish the existing courthouse. The groups have identified numerous items they want saved, including an old water cooler from the Westport School; old oak captain’s chairs; hardware off the doors in the 1891 portion of the courthouse, the original courthouse cupola; a piece of the tin ceiling in the courtroom; and some antique book cases. There’s still a question on what to do with hundreds of items in the courthouse attic. Supervisors said today it’s important that legal channels be followed in deciding what to do with most of the items. A committee has been established to further refine the list of items they feel are of historic significance.
