Forest River Township bridge gets go-ahead

COUNTY—As the Red River Valley prepares for potential spring flooding, the Walsh County Commission and highway department are still dealing with last spring’s flood.

Walsh County Highway Superintendent Sharon Lipsh briefed the commission, Tuesday, on the status of the FEMA reimbursements and damage totals from last spring’s flood.

Throughout Walsh County including all affected cities, the Grafton Parks & Recreation District, townships and the Walsh County Water Management the total damage sustained last spring was $2,956,292. The highway department, who is in charge of administrating the FEMA funds has received $2,311,140, the majority of that is for county damage sites. The county had 206 sites, totaling $1,545,859. Lipsh said with the exception of one site all that money has been received.

The county’s 36 townships have a total of 383 damage sites, totaling $773,632.

According to Lipsh, this year townships will have a 6 percent local cost share to cover, according to FEMA regulations.

“Hopefully, 3 percent of that will be reimbursed later this year,” she said. “We’re following these new FEMA regulations really close because I’m expecting we will be audited.”

According to Walsh County Commissioner Ernie Barta, since Katrina hit New Orleans and the abuse of federal money, FEMA has tightened its regulations.

 

Commission backs decision

COUNTY—The Walsh County Commission, on Tuesday, heard its first challenge to its recently passed Mud on Road Policy.

Hoople area farmers Clay and Bart Swanson expressed their disagreement with the policy stating it’s excessive.

“I’m adamantly opposed to it and a lot of other farmers are too,” Clay said. “There is no way this can be billed fairly.”

In 2009, the Walsh County Commission adopted its Mud on the Road Policy to stem the tide of farmers leaving excessive amounts of mud on county roads, which creates a safety hazard.

According to Walsh County Commissioner Ernie Barta, farmers are renting land further and further from their home base of operations.

“Some farmers are coming as far as 40-50 miles to rent land. Many leave the roads a mess in the fall or spring,” he said. “They don’t care, they’re not driving on those roads.”

 

SWC funding contingent for flood plans

GRAFTON—Flooding is a topic that is never very far from the minds of people who live, farm or work in the Red River Valley.

After all, in how many places can potential spring flooding be a lead news story in January?

On January 19, officials of the Red River Basin Commission gathered in Grand Forks to discuss and look at the prospects for potential spring flooding in the Red River Valley. While this winter is shaping up to be less advantageous to flooding than last winter, experts forecast that there is a 50/50 chance of moderate flooding in the Red River Valley this spring.

 

It took a while to get going, but the second major winter storm of the season, dubbed Blizzard Ben, left its impression on the northern Red River valley and eastern North Dakota over the weekend and all day Monday.

The National Weather Service (NWS) officially issued a Winter Storm Warning which included all of Walsh, Pembina and Grand Forks counties effective last Friday at 6 p.m., until Monday morning at 6 a.m.

The initial warning called for varying amounts of freezing rain, mixed precipitation and heavy snow through Sunday with winds picking up Sunday through Monday morning.

In anticipation of the coming weather, cancellation of events for the weekend started late Friday afternoon and continued throughout the weekend.

One big casualty of the inclement weather was the postponement of the 46th annual St. Thomas B Squad Basketball Tournament in St. Thomas on Saturday.

Several other high school sports events in eastern North Dakota as well as a number of church services and other activities in the region were cancelled.

The area experienced light rain early Friday evening which changed to snow. Precipitation ranged from rain to mixed precipitation to snow throughout the region all day Saturday with most areas getting between three and six inches of snow.

 

Federal stimulus money will aid summer road construction

COUNTY—If the pieces fall into place, the Walsh County Commission and Highway Department are hoping to reconstruct Walsh County Road No. 9 from State Highway 18 to U.S. Highway 81 this year.

The commission on Tuesday discussed with Walsh County Highway Superintendent Sharon Lipsh the options available for Walsh County No. 9, which is scheduled for an April bid letting.

Throwing a new funding alternative into the fray is the upcoming federal stimulus money. The catch, with this money expected to be in the neighborhood of $350,000-to $400,000 is that it can only be used for projects planned after 2010.