Highway Dept. preparing for winter months
News | Published on October 10, 2022 at 11:28am CDT
By Melanie Stegner
The Pope County Highway Department has been busy preparing roads for the winter months after the storm events of last spring. They’re adding shouldering material on some paved highways and are removing silt and debris caused by the storms. Workers are preparing equipment by mounting plows for the winter season.
“The engineering staff has been very busy lately and we expect the workload to continue. We are developing plans for next year’s construction projects,” said Brian Giese, Pope County Engineer. The paving work is complete on the bike trail project and the shoulder work is what remains. Bids are coming in for the tree removal plan on County Highway 17 with the deadline for bids set for October 11. “We’re working on completing bridge inspections and we’re preparing to meet with landowners regarding the County Highway 15 preliminary construction plans and right-of-way acquisition,” said Giese.
Commissioners voted in favor of continuing an agreement with North Dakota State University for the geographic roadway inventory tool. The asset management program was developed for county road managers as an easy-to-use tool for planning and managing data in regard to roadways. “Just the data entry time and pavement data collection alone more than pays for itself,” mentioned Giese.
Pope County Board of Water and Soil Resources was awarded a grant for $18,600 for septic treatment systems. These are funds that the county receives annually to manage the septic program.
Several conditional-use permits were discussed at the meeting including one for property owners in Gilchrist Township that were seeking permission to perform grading and fill activities to relocate an access road to their property. The current road is a minimally maintained eight-foot path. The property owners want to widen the path to allow space for emergency vehicles access and give room for traffic to meet from different directions and pass one another. The total road length will be between 400-500 feet and the total excavation yards are estimated to be around 400. Several culverts will be installed along the route. The board unanimously approved the permit.
Nicolas and Terese Houle applied for a conditional-use permit to alter their shoreline in an attempt to mitigate erosion and further degradation of the bluff feature on their property in Glenwood Township. The Houle’s are working with SWCD and West Central Technical Services on the project to ensure things are done correctly. The CUP was approved unanimously.
A conditional use permit was approved for Francis Thompson and Elaine Thole to relocate a used accessory structure to their property in Gilchrist Township. The structure is a 14 by 24-foot garage.
Michael and Cindy Roggeman were approved for a conditional use permit to construct a non-farm residence on land that is located in Lake Johanna Township. It was determined by Planning and Zoning that the non-farm residence will not have a negative impact on any agricultural operations.
The commissioners then went into closed session for a confidential briefing and communication on labor negotiation strategy.
