The following is a letter read by Suzannah Ciernia and Stephanie Henriksen to the Rice County Board of Commissioners Work Group on 12-18-07. This letter was fully vetted by the Observer Coordinator, and approved by the LWVN Board.
*************************************************************
To: Rice County Board of Commissioners
For: Public Comment on proposed Feedlot ordinance changes
Date: December 18, 2007
 I am Suzannah Ciernia, 41 Fareway Drive, Northfield and am representing the LWV at the request of its Board of Directors. This local league, with 100 members, is an affiliate of a national organization with 140,000 members, and we ascribe to a consensus process that encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. We believe that the process for revising the Rice Co Zoning ordinance and the Rice Co Feedlot ordinance has not been open and conducive to clear transmittal of information and we call for another public hearing on these important changes.We would like to know where the language relating to required notification of township boards and township residents has gone? It appears that language pertaining to notification of townships and township residents related to applications for new or expanded feedlots has been completely removed from the new draft zoning ordinance. This language must be reinstated. (Quoting from the1997 Feedlot Ordinance, Section 730.001 (c1) “Published and mailed notice of feedlot application shall be required for all feedlots of 300 animal units or more, conditional use permit, or variance.”)
Second, the normal process of writing new drafts, wherein old removed language is shown by strike-throughs and added language is shown in italics, has not been followed. This can lead to a situation where important language relevant to the discussion can disappear. Therefore we witnessed confusion at last Tuesday’s meeting where the commissioners seemed unaware that they had approved an increase in the number of allowable animal units within the Zoning ordinance. It seemed then that even the Commissioners did not realize that this important feedlot-related change was not in the Feedlot ordinance, but had been moved into the Zoning ordinance instead.
Third, information about changes to the definition of animal units and the resulting actual increase was not available early in the process. We believe that the first chart to actually compare the results of conforming county language to state language, and then also increasing maximum allowable animal units, was brought very informally by citizens on November 15th , and then was first discussed by the Planning Commission on November 29th. When combining these two numerical changes, the resulting actual increase in number of hogs is a significant 78%.
Further, at the public informational meetings on September 11 and 12, 2007, the public was told that the feedlot work group did not recommend an increase in the feedlot size limit beyond 1500 animal units.
It is to be hoped that in this county, the citizen’s right to know about important changes to ordinances will be protected. The League of Women Voters of Northfield calls for another public hearing with full disclosure about what the changes are, and why they are being proposed. The willingness to hold such a meeting would demonstrate an intent by the Rice County Commissioners and its Planning Commission to conduct Rice County business in an open and fair manner.Â
