The Cass County Board of Supervisors met this (Wednesday) morning at the courthouse in Atlantic. The Board tabled action on a Resolution approving Audubon County’s plan of reimbursement to Cass County for Administrative Assistant services rendered to the Audubon County Attorney’s Office.

The Board passed a Resolution authorizing County Engineer Charles Bechtold to execute the Certification of Completion of work and final acceptance, in accordance with the plans and specifications associated with all Farm to Market construction projects. Auditor/Board Secretary Dale Sunderman said the move is essentially a formality that’s done whenever a new County Engineer comes on-board, as is the case with the retirement last month of former Engineer Charles Marker.

Cass County Engineer Charles Bechtold

Bechtold agreed. He said some counties, however, will approve the resolution on an annual basis. The Board also approved an ordinance establishing a policy for the construction and reconstruction of roadways and bridges in the County. Bechtold said the policy stems from FEMA, and is designed to cover disasters affecting the County.

He said for instance, if a bridge goes out due to a flood or other disaster, the County is allowed to put the same type of structure back in. The new bridge would be brought up to current standards, though. The same stipulations apply to roads damaged or destroyed in a disaster. And, in his regular report to the Board, Bechtold said a “fracture critical” bridge in the Washington Township is scheduled to be inspected, Thursday. The bridge is located southwest of Atlantic, on Jasper Road. He also discussed an ISU study being conducted on a test plot in Pottawattamie County, that deals with gravel road degradation.

The results of the study, which just recently began, may affect how counties repair their gravel roads, which are costly to maintain in-part because of the dwindling supply of aggregate and crushed rock.