County Commissioners review annual budget

The Eddy County Commission has started reviewing its departments annual budgets which need to be completed early again this year and the commission will continue to review budgets at the next meeting. They approved a two percent cost of living adjustment at their special meeting held June 6. The following budgets were reviewed and all budgets reflect the wage adjustment. They will be considered unchanged if the wage adjustment is the only change.

Eddy County Commissioners budget: Unchanged and approved.

Eddy County Auditor: Noted a $2,000 item for additional help if needed, which has also been included on previous budgets and has not been used but agreed that it should remain in the budget. Budget unchanged and approved.

District Court: Unchanged and approved.

Eddy County Treasurer: Travel, meals and lodging reduced slightly, otherwise unchanged and approved.

Superintendent of Schools: Increased the budget for Spelling Bee and Mathcounts. Decreased travel, meals and lodging, otherwise unchanged and approved.

Tax Equalization: unchanged and approved.

Veterans Services: Increase in Office Expense budget for VetraSpec software. VetraSpec is a secure, online, Veteran claims management software solution built for Veteran Service Officers (VSO) and state departments. It allows the VSO to search individual veterans to determine which services are available to them and to research the status of any claim, saving time for both the VSO and the veteran. Travel, meals and lodging will be reduced substantially as the VSO will not be traveling for training. Budget approved.

Soil Board: Approved.

Commissioner Glenda Collier informed the other commissioners that Eddy County Agent Donna Anderson is currently working on suggestions for the Eddy County Extension Advisory Board that had been suggested by NDSU. Anderson has already implemented the same type of board in Foster County, so Collier expects the implementation will go smoothly.

Todd Weber, Eddy County Road Superintendent, reported that they are checking the Eddy County bridges at this time, noting that there are still issues with the bridge by Munster. The bridge itself is safe, but the approach to it is rough and in need of patching again. He said the patching so far has not held, as the patching materials continue to crumble. Weber will be checking on a solution using some other kind of patching material that would hold together better.

Weber also said that they are preparing to start graveling roads and hope to have them completed by the end of July. Some of the roads are in dire need of gravel while others are in need of a clay mixture to help the gravel stick to the roads. He will be prioritizing the roads to make sure the worst roads get finished first, specifically citing county roads 3 and 8.

They also discussed signage, spraying small trees and removing larger trees in ditches. Weber informed the commissioners that the road department could use a larger trailer that they could use for transporting equipment. The commission will discuss at a later time.

State’s Attorney Ashley Lies provided the commissioners with an update about the Quiet Title Action that was served to all 13 lienholders of the Mill Pump and Cheers property. She has not received any responses to the action as of yet.

New business

A letter received by the North Dakota Department of Transportation regarding a Special Road Fund Project Application. Since this special project is related to recreational projects, the commission will forward the letter to either the city or to the New Rockford Area Betterment Corporation.

Approved the closure of the courthouse on Friday, July 5 following the Fourth of July celebration.

Have tentatively set July 16 to hold a County Employee Appreciation picnic.

Collier reported that several Wells County officials had taken the NACo High Performance Leadership Academy and had recommended it for other counties. The academy is an online 12-week program that empowers frontline county government officials with leadership skills to deliver results for their home county and community. Without travel or additional travel expenses, the participants can engage in live events, video sessions and breakout group discussions. The commission will continue to discuss the Leadership Academy.

The next Eddy County Commission meeting will be held July 2 at 8:30 a.m.