County unsure about accepting road fees

After dealing with angry neighbors and dust problems due to the high traffic near gravel pits within the city’s zone of influence, Sidney began charging a road fee to area operators.

So far, the city has charged Croell Redi Mix, the company which moved into what was formerly the Kielian pit, $1,000 per month for road maintenance for its first three months of operations. Croell’s operation is located a half mile south of the intersection of County Roads 20 and 117, east of Sidney. Another gravel pit within the city’s two mile zoning jurisdiction outside city limits owned by Fred Neal will also be charged the fee. The city intended to pass this money along to the county to pay for road maintenance, until such time that the operators had worked out a road agreement with the county. At Monday’s commissioner meeting, County Highway Superintendent Tom Noel expressed concern about accepting these funds.

“State statute says I can only charge what it costs to fix the road,” he said.

The county hasn’t had to perform any additional maintenance on the county road on which Croell sits since the company began work earlier this summer.

“They fixed the road up and put the mag chloride on it and we haven’t touched it since they’ve been there,” Noel said.

Magnesium chloride is a dust control measure commonly used on roads.

“We have no costs for taking care of any of that,” Noel said.

County attorney Paul Schaub shared Noel’s concern.

“It (the road fee) was put in place largely because of the concerns at the Kielian pit and issues the county was having with the residential concerns out there and wear and tear on the road,” said City Manager Gary Person.

This is a difficult issue because the city controls the zoning and issuance of conditional use permits within a two mile radius of its boundaries, but the county still handles road maintenance in that area.

“Because of the ongoing concerns we had from people operating out of there previously, it was put in place until we could make sure everything is going to work to the county’s satisfaction,” Person said.

Although county commissioner Ken McMillen felt that it would be beneficial to keep this money in a fund to resurface the road on which the pit sits in the future, others at the meeting opined that accepting this money might not be legal.

“I don’t see that there’s a legal basis right now for us to be receiving that money,” Schaub said.

Schaub promised to consult with city attorney J. Leef about the issue.

The county appreciated the city’s intent in this matter, but could not foresee the arrangement working, said commissioner Harold Winkelman.

“We haven’t had any unusual expense on that road out there,” McMillen said.

The planning commission will re-visit this road-fee issue at its next meeting on Aug. 18. The city could choose to stop the fee and return the money collected to Croell if it is officially determined that the county cannot take the money.