League of Women Voters of Northfield

LWV Observer – Georgiana Campbell
All County Commissioners were present.

Those of you living in Rice County may already have learned of the Rural Address Sign Task Force. It is a  group of 9 individuals who live in the county and is chaired by Sheriff Cook. The isssue with which they were concerned was the address signs in the County which have deteriorated and need to be replaced so that  emergency providers can quickly find the homes of those with a fire or  a medical  emergency.  Packets for observers this week  included  pictures of address  signs in the county.  Many signs were not clearly visible, nor were the signs uniform.  The task force looked at the 700 address signs  in Rice County  and also those in adjacent counties, especially Scott County.  Those in Scott County were visible and “met the need”. Our task force suggested all Rice County  address signs be replaced.  A contractor would be  hired to replace the signs.  The property owner would pay approximately $100 per sign and would be expected to maintain  the sign. Public meetings would be held to keep County Residents informed.

Social Services: Mark Shaw presented a proclamation to declare September as Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.

Public Health: Mary Ho :  This was an interesting  bit of business.  Our County Public  Health Director asked for authorization  to submit to the National Association of County and City Health Officials  an application for funding to support Medical Reserve Corps capacity building in Rice County.  $5,000.00 is the amount requested.  This reserve corps of nurses and other health workers would supplement the County’s  staff during a public health emergency.

Highway Dept:  Dennis Luebbe reported that the city of Dundas has requested  a Speed Limit Study of CSAH  (Rice County 1).  Another item for the Board’s discussion:  Luebbe recommended all of CSAH 1 between TH 3 and TH246 have a speed study.  There are 3950 cars traveling that 1.7 mile segment  per day.

Administration: Gary Weiers  presented the preliminary 2010 budget.  There are 20 pages of information, quite comprehensive and clear, dealing with personnel and staff reductions, with how unallotment resulted in State Aid cuts to the tax rate in Rice County,  the county’s per capita tax, and much more.