(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors voted five to nothing late this (Tues.) morning to authorize Assistant County Attorney Lonnie Saunders to execute a settlement with Dutch Creek Custom Farms preventing the construction of a four-thousand head hoglot southwest of Milford.
The company will be paid 52,500-dollars. Of that, 7,500-dollars will come from the county’s insurance carrier; 27,500 from the county itself, and 17,500-dollars from Save Dickinson County’s Environment.
The county or its designee will assume control of the land and be responsible for converting it to its original state…estimated to cost between 1,000 and 1,500-dollars. Saunders says it’s his understanding some volunteers have offered to do that, reducing the cost.
Under the agreement, Dutch Creek also agrees not to own or operate any other operations in the county in the future, and all parties are released of any litigation.
Saunders again Tuesday said getting the issue settled was in the best interest for all parties involved.
But one person at the meeting says the issue is far from settled. Valerie Koppert Welle says she and seven others are thinking about suing the county in a class action suit in federal court. She says they’ve hired a Des Moines lawyer to look into the matter. Koppert Welle says they feel the county has violated their constitutional rights by telling producers they can’t do business with companies such as Dutch Creek Custom Farms.
Saunders disagrees. He says it’s never been the county’s intent to do away with agriculture, adding that each construction permit for confined animal feeding operations will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
The supervisors took the action to sign off on the settlement without hearing any public comment. Supervisor Chair David Gottsche says that was the purpose of an earlier public hearing.
