Supervisor Cooper to public, please stop dumping

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors has approved funding for work on the 250th Street Bridge in the Grant Township.
Discussions about potential funding for the Beeson bridge located on 250th street west of G Avenue over the East Nishnabotna River had been taking place since Dec. 6, 2022, when it was shared that the county was waiting for an update on the status of the funding from Rep. Cindy Axne’s office.
The county’s request was part of the U.S. House FY 2023 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development funding bill, and throughout the month of December, committee chairs were negotiating the final details of the package. The county was able to apply for 80% of the funding, equaling the $2 million amount.
At the April 25 meeting of the board of supervisors, the supervisors finally were able to take final action, and approved a funding agreement of up to $2 million, being given to the county through an EarMark funding agreement.
County engineer Karen Albert said the funding will go a long way, but likely won’t cover the entire project.
“We haven’t gotten an actual engineer’s estimate, but I think the project will be about $3 million in total,” commented Albert.
The supervisors also approved an Iowa Department of Transportation funding agreement for the remaining project costs.
“The funding agreement is to cover any additional cost of the bridge over the $2 million in the bridge fund,” Albert stated.
Albert was still hopeful that they could get the preliminary parts of the project started before the end of the year.
“We’re hoping to let the project in October or November, but that could change,” commented Albert.
Supervisor Randy Cooper took the opportunity during the meeting to praise the efforts of the secondary roads crew in assisting in ditch clean up.
“The last couple of weeks I’ve called secondary roads superintendent Loren Taylor to help me pick up garbage in ditches, and he and his crew have done an outstanding job. I really don’t think it’s a part of their job, but they’ve been willing to do it,” Cooper said.
Cooper said the crews have picked up freezers, grills, tires, a couch, and had done cleanup at the Kmart parking lot. Cooper admitted he was frustrated at the items being dumped, especially a freezer.
“I think it’s terrible how the citizens of Montgomery County dump this stuff in our ditches. I did go talk to the folks at Dovel Refrigeration about what they would charge to dispose of a fridge or freezer. The county landfill charges $50, and Dovel’s will do it for $10. If it’s a person who doesn’t have money, they’ll still take it for free,” Cooper advised.
During one clean up, Cooper said they had discovered a used toilet in the ditch east of Supervisor Charla Schmid’s residence. Supervisors Chair Mike Olson said the situation was even worse.
“It looked like someone had remodeled their bathroom. The old bar light was laying there, along with the toilet, a bathroom sink, and some miscellaneous items such as drywall. It looks like they filled up the back of a truck with it and dumped it in the middle of the night,” Olson said.
Cooper urged residents to dispose of the items in places other than county ditches, citing that most places, such as Dovel, will charge less than a landfill and in certain cases do it for free.
Lastly, Albert said crews have been assisting Page County with construction observation at two bridge sites, but was expecting that to slow down in the near future, as the county had hired a construction inspector that was currently being trained.
In other business, the supervisors:
• Approved a tax transfer from rural services basic to secondary roads, in the amount of $317,206.
• Approved a tax transfer from general services basic to secondary roads, in the amount of $25,075.
• Approved the treasurer’s Fund Balance for March, 2023 in the amount of $17,278,533.