News : Benton County Board of Supervisors Meeting Minutes, Dec. 20

December 20, 2016 The Benton County Board of Supervisors met in regular session with Supervisors Frese and Wiley present, Hertle was absent. The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. Unless otherwise noted, all actions were approved unanimously. Wiley moved/ Frese seconded: To approve the minutes of Tuesday, December 13, 2016. Motion carried. Wiley moved/Frese seconded: To declare the canvass of the election to be complete and the votes cast to be official. The official results are to be recorded in the office of the County Auditor. Motion carried. Wiley moved/Frese seconded: To accept all spellings for write-in candidate Brian Cruise for Council. Motion carried. The results of the Special City Election held on December 13, 2016, for local candidates as canvassed and approved by the Benton County Board of Supervisors are as follows: Mayor - Keven E. Korsmo Council - Frank King The time of 9:15 a.m.having arrived, and this being the time and date set for opening bids for the rental of the farm ground located at the Cedar Valley Ranch, the board proceeded with matter. The notice had been published in the newspapers with a December 16, 2016, filing deadline. Four bids were received as follows (on a per acre basis): Wayne Siela - $270 Mark Happel - $275 Green Acres Ranch - $240 David Mc Garvey - $251 The board provided an opportunity for the bidders to raise their bid as advertised. Gary Toyne on behalf of Green Acres Ranch raised his bid to $290 per acre. Wiley moved/ Frese seconded: To award the lease for approximately 38 acres of farm ground located at the Cedar Valley Ranch in the SE1/4 of Section 22 of Taylor Township, to Green Acres Ranch, as the highest per-acre bidder, at a price of $290.00 per acre. The final lease agreement is to be drafted with the parties executing the same at a later date. Both members voting aye thereon. Motion carried. Continued discussion on the dog pound ground was had. Karen Phelps, Conservation Director, did find the abstract. Mike Elwick and John Elwick were both also present. County Attorney entered into the discussion and without reading the abstract or having it brought up to date; he suggested a formal title opinion be done before going any further. Robyn Jacobson, with ECICOG met with the board to help explain the process of the grant application process for the flood buy out assistance program. She started off by saying there is not a lot of money to be had. The substantially damaged properties will have the highest priority, owner occupied, flood-hazardous high risk zoned etc. There is a cost for ECICOG to do the grant writing, and if accepted, there is a recoverable cost. Scott Hansen told the board they would need to first ask the question, do we, being the County want to own these properties. These properties will need to be green spaced for the rest of the entirety under the county's care. No action was taken, and will continue this discussion at next week's board meeting. Wiley moved/ Frese seconded: To Adjourn. Motion carried. ____________________________________ Donald H. Frese, Chairman ATTEST: _____________________________________ Hayley Rippel, Deputy Benton County Auditor