County Highway department to add stop sign reflectors

Two corners with four-way stops signs in Moody County will be getting noticed.
The corners at the former Airway station at the Trent and Dell Rapids roads at 240th and 474th and the corner at the Ward road and old Highway 77 will get reflector bars and possibly whirligigs on top to attract attention that they are four-way stops. Residents have complained that motorists run the stop signs.
The county was supposed to get rumble strips installed by the state last year but that didn’t happen, said Marc Blum, county highway superintendent. Now the corners are on the list for next year, he said.
The county commission decided last week that reflective strips would help people notice the stop ahead and stop signs.
“That would be showing something on our part to address the stop issue,” said Commissioner John Schiefelbein. The commission decided not to spend the estimated $4,000 for the county to install rumble strips itself but to wait for the state to pay for it.
In other business,

•The county has some questions that need answering before it considers providing the Flandreau School District with a school resource officer.
For starters, who pays for the extra costs of a car, equipment and training for an additional officer that would need to be hired? The school pays for 75 percent of the salary and benefits under its agreement with the city. Commissioners also wanted to know who the officer reports to.
School officials have said they aren’t going to go with the city at this point and have asked the county if it wants to provide the officer when school starts Aug. 19.
County commissioners also asked what it would do if Colman- Egan wanted an officer, too.
The county is going to seek some answers to its questions before deciding.
•Rowdy Olson was given 60 days to stop operating a junkyard on his property or find another location for his business. Olson doesn’t have a permit for his business, which the county said is on too few acres to qualify.
•The county approved a temporary liquor license for a bloody Mary bar for Park Days on Aug. 8. The event is Saturday and Sunday that weekend.
•The county is going to follow codified law to allow people with at least 20 acres to qualify for ag status if they have $2,500 in ag income for three years in a row. It previously had been operating as 30 acres for a minimum.
•The county if working to combine the 911 and emergency manager positions with the thought of hiring an existing sheriff’s department deputy. Terry Albers is retiring at the end of the year.
•Commissioners let an assistant in the planning and zoning office go but approved hiring him in the Register of Deeds office. The commission also approved paying Jim Delay, the Veteran’s Service Officer by the hour and looking into combining the office with Lake County.