(Spirit Lake)– Old Highway 71 through West Okoboji was a topic of discussion at Tuesday’s Dickinson county board of supervisors meeting.
Representatives with the city of West Okoboji were on hand asking the county to turn jurisdiction of the road over to the city…saying they want to re-surface it in the very near future. The county was given jurisdiction of the road by the state. A provision in state law makes towns with less than 500 in population immune from having roads transferred to them by the state. Instead those roads are given to the county. In exchange, the state in this case is paying Dickinson county nearly 4,700-dollars a year the next 10 years to help cover maintenance costs.
West Okoboji officials say that if the road was to remain under the county’s jurisdiction, they would have to wait much longer before it could be resurfaced. The road was not included in the county’s five-year road improvement program.
In exhchange for taking the road off the county’s hands, the city is requesting the county help pay for improving the road. The city has received quotes ranging from 85-thousand to 90-thousand dollars. Under a proposal discussed Tuesday, the county would give the city of West Okoboji the nearly 4,700-dollars a year for 10 years…or about 47-thousand dollars…up-front. The transfer would be accomplished through a 28E agreement. The supervisors instructed Assistant County Attorney Lonnie Saunders to draw up such an agreement to be considered at a future meeting.
West Okoboji officials say they want to resurface the road this coming spring or summer.
It was pointed out the county would also save about 2,200-dollars year it currently spends on snow removal and other maintenance on the road.
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