Antelope County officials urged to adopt pipeline zoning regs

The Antelope County Commissioners approved preliminary levy allocation requests from political subdivisions, when they met at the courthouse in Neligh on Aug. 6.

Regina Krebs addressed the commissioners regarding annual levy allocations for the subdivisions, including rural fire districts, the Antelope County Ag Society and the Antelope County Airport Authority.

In past years, the board had sometimes denied the subdivision levy requests, in order to allow the county general budget to levy the entire 45 cents allowed by law. The denial forced the subdivisions to take their levies to an override vote. However in recent years, as the county valuation has increased and the levy decreased, that action is no longer necessary, according to Krebs.

Lisa Payne, county clerk, said the county levy is at 21 cents, "so there is plenty of room."

Krebs said the fire districts are all required to have equal levies, proposed at two cents; the ag society, at one-half cent; and the airport authority, one-fourth cent.

The commissioners voted to allow the preliminary subdivision levies and to draft a resolution for same. Payne said she would notify the subdivisions so they can proceed with their budget process.

The resolution and review of preliminary department budgets was included on the Aug. 13 meeting agenda. However neither was addressed at that meeting.

Board chair, Tom Borer, announced the Finance Committee would review department budgets and bring to the full board, which drew resistance from several county officials, including Kelly Mueller, assessor; Deb Branstiter, treasurer; and Bob Moore, sheriff.

Moore said it would be redundant to go through the documents with the committee, then "regurgitate" it with the whole board.

After considerable discussion, a special budget meeting was set for 8 a.m. Aug. 22.

"What are we doing about the (county) budget?" she asked the commissioners. "Are we changing a whole lot?"

Commissioner Allan Bentley answered, "We better have that discussion."

Brian McDonald, county engineer, addressed the Oakdale South, aka Poor Farm Bridge, project.

A contract for bridge repair was awarded to Thiesen Construction at the July 23 meeting, pending McDoanld's review. Road superintendent, Casey Dittrich, informed the commissioners at that meeting that he had discovered more damage to the structure after bids were let.

Indicating it is a "harvest road," Dittrich voiced concern for having work completed prior to harvest if bids were relet.

McDonald said the west side can be repaired by change order to Thiesen's original $180,000 bid. He said Thiesen was on board. Thiesen's was the only bid submitted.

McDonald also offered a list of bridge projects that qualified for EWP funding. He said funding for the six projects approved would total $400,000, with the county kicking in about $100,000. Approval was postponed until the Aug. 13 meeting, to allow placement on the agenda.

The Emergency Watershed Protection Program is a federal emergency recovery program through the Natural Resource Conservation Service, which helps relieve threats to life and property caused by floods and other natural disasters that impair a watershed.

"They've got their own nationwide permit through the Corp (of Engineers), so there's stuff we can do with them, that if we had to go out and try and do, we couldn't," McDonald said.

He had submitted eight projects, with six approved for funding. The engineer recommended "going after" five of the six, with a bridge north of Orchard, being the exception. That project has already been completed by A&R Construction, recommended for FEMA funds.

One of the EWP projects, a bridge on the Knox County line, may involve an interlocal agreement, with the local share being split with Knox County. McDonald said Knox County road superintendent, Kevin Barta, is aware.

"There (are) two pieces to this," McDonald said. "One of them is to fix the bridge, the damage repair is FEMA. This (EWP project) is actually going beyond what was damaged and trying to restore channel banks and protect channel banks."

McDonald and Dittrich also updated the officials on the status of a road located west of Ashfall in Sherman Township that has been closed since the March flooding. McDonald said they plan to decommission the damaged truss bridge, asking FEMA for permission to use granted funds for an alternate project - relocating the road "closer to the original roadbed." They are negotiating with a landowner for placement of the roadway.

"If it ever goes south, we go back to fixing the bridge," Dittrich said.

McDonald said he would meet with FEMA engineers later this month.

The commissioners gave Dittrich guidance on completing road projects within villages.

The road superintendent asked for direction on a road that runs through Clearwater. Village officials had contacted him regarding repair work to the road that lies between Highway 275 and the east side of the village. Prior to visiting the issue with the county leaders, Dittrich consulted county assessor Kelly Mueller, determining "Clearwater owns that road." Dittrich said the county has maintained the road, oiled it and filled holes, "forever."

"Is the county going to overlay that for the city?" he asked. "We asked Neligh to pay for their portion of Cemetery Road. I don't want to be the one that says, 'That's not ours to do.'"

He was directed to advise Clearwater officials that the village is responsible for the road.

Smith said an Orchard village official had contacted him, asking the county to grade two gravel streets, totaling about one and one-half miles.

"They were told we were no longer allowing that to be done," Smith said, adding that he was not aware such policy.

Dittrich indicated he understood that commissioner approval was needed for any non-county road work.

Commissioner Charlie Henery raised a concern regarding taking construction work away from private contractors if any were interested, but wasn't against it otherwise.

Dittrich said there is a fee schedule in effect to recover costs - not to make a profit, should village work be undertaken. He said the fees may need to be updated and offered to compare fees to a current price list from FEMA. An update of fees will be addressed as an agenda item at a future meeting.

Smith said he would let the Orchard official know the work can be done, at a cost.

Discussion ensued about requests to mix oil patch windrows for villages. Dittrich said his department does not have time this year, and he would like to be allowed to make the call in the future, dependent on work timelines.

Smith, who presided over the meeting in the absence of chairman Tom Borer, reported on a road groom demonstration he and Dittrich had observed.

Smith and Dittrich met with a sales' representative at a site east of Neligh to observe the machine that features several angled cutting blades that cut clumps left along gravel roads after grading, scattering residue across the road. Smith said it retrieves gravel from shoulders as well, but does not "cut shoulders." The equipment can be pulled by a truck, at 15-18 miles per hour.

Smith said the demo of an eight-foot machine was conducted during ideal conditions, on a hot, dry day, and the windrow was not the largest seen in the county.

"I think it's maybe worth a try," Smith said. "I think it would be a huge benefit."

Dittrich preferred an 11-ft. machine, but said he would like to try it out. He also told the commissioners a township in Holt County has one.

"I kind of put a hold on any big purchases until we talk on budget," he said.

Henery suggested asking the company to allow the road department to try the machine for a couple of days, before making a decision. With a price tag of about $20,000, the equipment would be used countywide.

"We get a lot of complaints on the windrows," Commissioner Eli Jacob said.

Smith and Bentley volunteered to be form a committee to investigate potential enactment of zoning regulations pertaining to oil pipelines, after a 45-minute presentation by Art Tanderup and Bob Krutz.

Tanderup and Krutz urged the commissioners to direct the county planning commission to come up with zoning regulations similar to those enacted for wind turbines, including setbacks from homes, sufficient depth of pipeline burial to prevent accidental contact by farm machinery and decommissioning guidelines.

They said, contrary to what most people believe, local zoning regulations can be effective.

"There are policies out there, they are legal and can be enacted," Tandersup said. "We have a model that is very well researched."

He said Brookings County in South Dakota has zoning regulations that are easily researched online.

"The zoning board has told us they won't do anything until you guys help, until directed," Tanderup said.

According to Tanderup, the Keystone XL pipeline route has been tied up in the Supreme Court since last fall, and will likely remain so for some time.

"We are going to plant several crops of corn and beans before they even think about laying that pipeline," he said.

"Some members of the zoning board don't want to deal with it," Smith said. "There is a zoning meeting next Tuesday. I wonder if we should send direction to the zoning administrator."

Liz Doerr, zoning administrator, who was in the room, offered to put it on the agenda, but she cautioned regarding difficulty "defending" any regulations.

"I am more concerned about defending the residents in the county when and if there is a leak," Smith said.