Plans are in the works for the building of a new storage/garage building on the Grant County highway maintenance shop grounds south of Milbank.
At this week’s meeting, the Grant County Board of Commissioners approved moving forward with the building of a new 36 x 44 foot pole shed with two 16 X 10 foot overhead doors. The storage shed would house the weed department equipment and the road barricades. At the present time, vehicle storage is housed inside a small garage building on the highway maintenance shop grounds while a small metal building next to the garage is being used to store the barricades.
In other business, County Weed Commissioner Nathan Mueller informed the board that he recently ordered some new spray nozzle equipment for the county’s weed spraying truck unit. He also discussed ongoing efforts being made by the department to fulfill the county’s mandatory weed spraying requirements.
The commissioners also heard from Grant County Sheriff Kevin Owen who gave a statistical report of services provided by the department during the year 2017. Sheriff Owen noted that 267 people went through the regular booking process with the county jail system during the past year with 186 males and 81 females going through the overall process. Sheriff Owen also informed the board there were five serious assaults investigated during during the past year which involved injury. There were also three serious sex crimes reported during the same period. One burglary report was also investigated by the department with 18 thefts incidents being noted during the same time frame. The department also handled 23 serious drug arrests, which is a decline from the previous year when more than 30 such type incidents were reported. Sheriff Owen further noted that the sheriff’s department received a total of 4,668 log dispatch calls during the entire 12 month period. In a related matter, Sheriff Owen informed the board that the sheriff’s department is somewhat short staffed at the present time. He further noted that having at least one other part-time certified deputy on staff would be very beneficial in better meeting the department’s overall staffing demands. The commissioners acknowledged Sheriff Owen’s year-end departmental report as presented.
