MC board backs off petition

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors chose to withdraw support of a controversial petition among county farmers.

At the Sept. 15 meeting, the supervisors met with Will Frazee and other area farmers as a follow-up to discussion at last week’s meeting.

At their Aug. 8 meeting, the supervisors approved signing a letter of support for a master matrix rulemaking petition to the DNR. Among the items on the petition was greater distance between dwellings and confinement operations, and more stringent rules overall.

At the Sept 5 meeting, the approval letter was questioned by over a dozen farmers, who felt the master matrix needed no revisions, and were dissatisfied that the supervisors would support a petition organized by activist groups.

Frazee presented information about the activist groups to the supervisors at the Sept. 15 meeting, prior to the supervisors’ discussion on whether to withdraw support for the petition. Frazee also said that based on information he had gained from research, there was no need to update the master matrix.

“The current master matrix has been in place for 15 years with no changes by the legislature. When a statute is interpreted for an extended period of time with no change by the legislature, there is a presumption of legislative acceptance of the interpretation,” Frazee said.

Jason Sickels addressed the supervisors, saying he’d had an unpleasant run-in with one of the activist groups pushing the petition.

“This group came into the county after I first built my barn. They shut the feed bins off to my facility and 2,496 head of hogs went without feed for 24 hours.  

The Red Oak Express

2012 Commerce Drive
P.O. Box 377
Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-623-2566 Fax: 712-623-2568

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