01-19-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

Commission Minutes--January 19, 1999 1927 School District, and $100,000 in Cass County funds. On roll call vote, motion carried unanimously. 15. ROAD DESIGNATION, Petitions to change County Road 26 to a State Highway Robert Thompson, Page, North Dakota, appeared before the Board and presented copies of petitions containing some 460 signatures asking to designate Cass County Highway 26 as a State Highway, from its intersection with State Highway 38 at Page to the intersection of Interstate 29, and make it part of the State highway system. Highway #26 is a State highway from the west but it stops at the most densely populated area of the State, Mr. Thompson said. According to Mr. Thompson, the traffic count on this road is high, including truck traffic from the Dakota Growers Pasta Plant at Carrington, transportation of agricultural products, and road construction materials from Pillsbury and nearby areas. Also, he said there is no east-west State highway between Interstate 94 and State Highway 200 through Mayville and Finley. Mr. Koenig said he would favor requesting the State designation east to the Red River instead of stopping at Interstate 29. Mike Heinze, Sibley, North Dakota, also collected signatures in support ofthe Highway 26 State designation and was present at today's meeting. Also present was Grant Levi, District Engineer for the Fargo District of the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT). Mr. Levi said he is not here to dispute the request but said DOT is concerned about adding roads to the State highway system for budgetary reasons. He said they will take a comprehensive look at the request, and he is willing to participate in any future discussions. Mrs. Quick said she informed Mr. Thompson that the County Commission would not take action on his request today, however, Mr. Thompson said he will be presenting the petitions to DOT this week and wanted to inform the Commission of his actions. Keith Berndt, County Engineer, thanked Mr. Levi and Mr. Thompson for their work and consideration on this project. A suggestion was made to refer the matter to the Road Advisory Committee for their review. MOTION, passed Mr. Meyer moved and Mr. Koenig seconded to refer the subject of designating County Highway 26 as a State highway to the County Road Advisory Committee for further discussions. Motion carried. 16. JAIL UPDATE, Report by County Coordinator/Jail Project Coordinator Bonnie Johnson, County Coordinator and Jail Project Coordinator, reported on the various jail committee meetings in the past month and provided copies of the first draft of program materials, as well as information dealing with jail capacity and how those numbers were calculated, a map of the possible jail sites, and estimated costs. She said these hand-outs will be the basis for the meetings being held tomorrow and Thursday. The County hopes to finalize the data and have a ballot question ready for a special election on April 20, 1999. Ms. Johnson expressed concern about two bills being considered by the State legislature. It appears one of the bills would eliminate the possibility of adopting a county sales tax under the Home Rule Charter to fund the Cass County jail project; and the other one would exempt non- county residents from paying the county sales tax. She will continue to monitor these proposed legislative bills.