The Wright County Board of Supervisors held a short meeting on Monday. The first agenda item pertained to the U.S. Cellular rent agreement for the tower located in Clarion. U.S. Cellular is planning to add several radio antennae to the existing tower for upgrades to their system. Supervisor Karl Helgevold explained that the company had agreed to terms that would raise the rent by 92% to $1632 per month. The full discussion of the agreement will be added to the agenda next week.
Jamie Whitney, Executive Director with Upper Des Moines Opportunity, Inc. (UDMO) appeared before the board to give the annual update. UDMO offers programs that address the effects of poverty. He noted that numbers for services in the county are pretty similar to last year. In the last year, UDMO assisted 1279 individuals in 539 Wright County households. Whitney added that UDMO has put $300,000 into the local economy with services they have provided. He asked that the county budget $14,062 for the next fiscal year for UDMO services. This is a slight increase in the amount they previously received.
County Engineer Adam Clemons gave an update on road maintenance that was done over the last several days after recent winter weather. County crews were out half days everyday over the Thanksgiving holiday and throughout the weekend. Work will continue throughout the week. He noted there is still some caked-on ice on secondary roads. He reminded everyone that the county ordinance stipulates that roads “improved for travel may be not cleared of snow, ice, compacted snow and ice or frost.” Rather, they must be drivable. Clemons also added that county residents need to be mindful of where they put their plowed snow. The ordinance says, “Snow from private drives shall not be placed on the roadway or shoulders.” He emphasized that if people pile snow in ditches it can freeze and break wings on plows.
The update from Reilly Construction for the Agri-business Park indicated that they are still working on grading and will have two pipe crews going in the pond area over the next few weeks.
