he Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday), received an update from two local men with regard to the use of Utility Terrain Vehicles (UTV’s) on County roads. Dennis Murphy from Nishna Valley Cycle had appeared before the Board in May, 11, 2016, and at that time, asked the board to consider moving forward with enacting an ordinance to allow any licensed driver to operate registered (with the county recorder) and insured all-terrain and off-road utility vehicles on Cass County secondary roadways for recreational use. The ordinance would not restrict eligible ‘farm’ use. Goal is to make it legal for said vehicles to be driven on county roadways. The Board had taken the request under advisement, and asked for more research.

During today’s meeting, Murphy, and Rob Thornton, also from NVC, came back with Ordinance samples from various counties, including Carroll, Crawford, Buchanon and Iowa Counties, in northwest Iowa. He said some county ordinances specify which roads UTV can be ridden on, others are more simple. They cannot be ridden on Highways. Murphy said some counties require a current DNR registration sticker on the vehicle, some have minimum age limits, and some require insurance, etc. Those annual stickers, he said, cost $75. Cass County Engineer Charles Bechtold told the Board the same subject was covered at a recent ISAC (Iowa State Association of Counties) meeting in accordance with many different agencies.

He said as far as his office is concerned, safety is an issue, and that “politically,” he’s opposed to the use of UTV’s on county roads, but personally, he’s open to it, primarily because the machines are already being used on those roads. He likes the idea that operators of the machines have insurance, so that if there’s a collision between a County vehicle and a UTV, it’s covered and dependent upon who’s at fault.

UTV operators would have to obey the rules of the road, just like motorists. To that end, the Supervisors and Murphy agreed that the machines should have certain safety features if not already equipped, such as headlights, taillights. They could also require them to be outfitted with marker flags, turn signals, mirrors, etc. The main thing Murphy would like to see, is that the ordinance specify the machines be registered and have clearly visible tags for identification in the event they are operating illegally or irresponsibly.

Auditor Dale Sunderman says Delaware County has an ordinance that passed in May, 2016, which is thorough and a good place from where to start Cass County’s Ordinance. Dennis Murphy said he and Thornton would come back in a couple of weeks or so with a draft ordinance, incorporating some of the better ideas in the ordinances mentioned during today’s (Wednesday’s) discussion.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey’s nomination to a position in the U-S-D-A cleared the committee level in the U-S Senate last week, but he isn’t sure when the final step will take place. “I’ve kind of given up making predictions, we are a step closer but still need that full Senate approval. So we’ll see when that happens — it could happen in the short term or it certainly could be awhile yet,” Northey says. Northey says he continues to work at his current job and is doing what he can to prepare when the final approval comes. “As we think about getting folks ready — whoever that next secretary is — we make sure that we have all the documents that help that next secretary learn what the department is doing to make that transition really easy,” Northey says. “We have great folks at the department. I am very blessed to have folks who know what they are doing, do a great job.”

Northey was nominated on September 1st to become the U-S-D-A Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation. He’s been waiting for the process to take its course since then. “It does seem like it is getting closer. It’s getting a little more real now as a possibility — but again — I don’t know if that’s months away are days away,” according to Northey.

Northey became Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture in 2007.

(Radio Iowa)