08-03-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

Comm. Minutes--August 3, 1992 895 15. Discussion: Mr. Risher asked the State's Attorney if Cass County Government is exempt from liability on this project, and Mr. Goff said his initial opinion is that there is some contradiction in language but he believes there is some liability on the part of the County. Mr. Wieland thinks this action will put Cass County Government in a better position than it was before. Mr. Shannon questioned the fact that a governmental entity owns a religious-based organization because of separation of church and state. On roll call vote, motion carried unanimously. SOIL SURVEY CORRELATION, Request by Soil Conservation Service Regarding a proposal to update the Tri-County Soil Survey, Mr. Eckert said the total cost would be $225,000 to upgrade it to correspond with Cass County's Survey. The cost of the project would include printing an addendum to the Cass County Survey, digitizing all of Cass County for use with computers, and spot checking the Cass County Survey where needed. A land-use overlay would be optional at an additional cost. Mr. Eckert also said the cost to Cass County was suggested at 25%, or about $50,000, and it could be spread over a period of up to five years. The survey could be beneficial to certain departments and the general public. Use by the Road Department and the County Planning Department would be very limited, use by the Director of Tax Equalization would be limited, and use by the Water Resource Districts would be very limited, he said. A limited number from the private sector would use it, if available. Commissioners received a memo from Frank Klein, Director of Equalization, saying an updated survey and the digitized information will be needed sometime in the future but the need is not immediate. Mr. Eckert proposed that Cass County Government sign an agreement with the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) to correlate the Tri-County Survey with the Cass County Survey, to digitize the entire Cass County Soil Survey and to print an addendum to the Cass County Survey; the SCS to provide Cass County Government with a computer diskette of the digitized information and additional copies of the addendum, as requested; and further, that Cass County Government would agree to budget $20,000 over a 2-year period, $10,000 in 1993 and $10,000 in 1994. Mr. Shannon thinks this item should be placed in the 1993 county budget for consideration in context with other budgetary requests. Carl Grindberg and Marvin Melander were present from the Soil Conservation Service (SCS). Mr. Grindberg said the SCS will pay 75% of the cost of the survey and they are requesting 25% from Cass County Government, or $56,250. Me said some of county government's share could be in-kind, such as providing clerical services. He also said the county share could be pro-rated over three years, which is about how long it will take to complete the survey. Mr. Grindberg said digitizing wasn't included in the figure of $178,000 which was quoted to Cass County Government three or four years ago.