The Daviess County Commissioners had a long agenda for their final meeting in 2022. County Highway Superintendent Chris Winkler reported on the response to the snowfall last week. Winkler reported that highway department employees spent 235 man hours clearing the county roads during the holiday weekend. Winkler says the county has used 10 trucks to cover 800 miles of paved road.
In their regular business, the Commissioners ratified the request from CEO Coal to close County Road 200 N for 30 months to allow mining on the south side of the road. The Commissioners also took up the issue of the reclamation of County Road 700 E. The road was damaged about ten years ago, and the Billings Mine did not repair it before going bankrupt. Commissioner Ron Arnold said the county should have been more proactive in addressing the situation. The state is holding a surety bond for reclamation of the mine property.
Daviess County Economic Development Director Bryant Niehoff presented a request asking the county to provide $750,000 over a five-year period to help fund the proposed Daviess County Commons. After a review of the project, the Commissioners agreed to fund the request through the County’s EDIT funds.
The Commissioners also agreed to requests from the Health Department to renew the Baby and Me tobacco-free program and add a community health worker position to the County Health Department to be funded by unused COVID grant money.
In other business, the Commissioners agreed to a proposal from Clerk-elect Lauren Milton to redraw the lines of precincts 6, 10, and 12. The changes were made necessary by the City of Washington’s redrawing of council districts and the addition of the recently annexed Buffalo Trace Subdivision.
