Budget and ordinance amendments set for public hearings

Two public hearings were set during last week’s Union County Board of Supervisors meeting. Both hearings will take place Wednesday, Nov. 5, during the first county board meeting of the month.

The first public hearing covers a segment of Union County’s changes to their code of ordinances. The county has undergone ordinance workshops over many months this year to update ordinances to the Union County of today.

This public hearing will cover a review of ordinances 10-21. Only ordinance 10, which covers how the board of supervisors can pass ordinances, has proposed edits. These updates are minor, with certain paragraphs being updated to reflect changes to the Iowa Code.

The second public hearing, which will take place after the ordinance hearing, covers a budget amendment. These changes to the county budget will not reflect on Union County residents taxes.

Expenses from the county’s opioid fund will be added to the budget expenses for the current fiscal year. Additionally, expenses and revenues from well plugging, spending of TIF bonds and the recent digitization of Union County Roads Books have been added to the budget.

In other Union County news...

During his weekly maintenance report to the board, Roads Superintendent Al Hysell gave a reminder on why secondary roads maintain the shoulders of roads so frequently. With the frequency of traffic toward Creston, packing rock onto the shoulders of the road is a matter of safety and cost.

“The reason why we do that, number one reason is public safety,” Hysell said. “Somebody drops off that, they’re going to go off into the ditch or oversteer and go into traffic. Second reason is to protect the edge of the pavement. That’ll protect the taxpayer; it will stay in place for much longer.”

Hysell, calling the shoulder work a “never-ending job,” explained how large vehicles will deteriorate the roads on a regular basis.

Work on Osage Street will continue until winter, with the road opening up after an estimated five weeks. Construction will resume in spring. Hysell said the detour route through Commerce Road has been successful.