City and county at odds over road paving

The Wright County Supervisors decided Monday to again delay the paving of 700 feet of 150th Street leading to the MaxYield fertilizer plant on the south edge of Belmond.

Belmond City Manager Lee Ann Waltzing appeared at the weekly board meeting to check on the status of the blacktop project. In May of 2012, before the fertilizer plant was built, the city and county discussed sharing the cost of improving the gravel road on a 50-50 basis, with the county doing the engineering work. The county engineer said at that time he would draw the plans in 2013 so the paving could be done in 2014.

The city and the county both signed an official 28E agreement to share the work 50-50, but at the insistence of the supervisors, the document did not include a timeline.

So over the past 30 months, nothing has happened. The Belmond City Council set aside $150,000 for its share of the work in the 2013-14 city budget. The plant opened in July 2013. And in January 2014, city officials asked why the county was dragging its feet.

But the city and the county made a commitment to MaxYield, said Waltzing. When are we going to follow through on it?

Board members acknowledged that in the past couple of years the county paid for paving roads to the ADS plant in Eagle Grove, Sparboe near Eagle Grove, and Clarion Packaging. But they claim that those three projects created more jobs than MaxYield.

County Engineer Adam Clemons said Monday, I am looking for some direction on where to go with this.

Boardmembers asked Clemons about engineering the project now but not doing the paving until a later date.

Clemons said the problem with that is, there could be changes in the law, codes, or specifications of the project between now and then, so it might have to be re-engineered. That would cost the county additional time and money. He also mentioned that money is tight, and showed photographs of several culverts in the county that need replacement.

The supervisors decided to contact MaxYield and find out if the co-op has any expansion planned. From there they will decide whether or not to move forward with the project.

Here is the original post:
City and county at odds over road paving