County approves Royal Beef expansion request

- Del Brockshus, Clay County Supervisor

A construction application hearing went smoothly for Royal Beef LLC.

Jim Christensen, doing business as Royal Beef, submitted an application for an 11,200 animal finishing building -- which would involve modification of an existing animal feeding operation by adding four manure compost buildings to his operation n Royal. Tuesday morning, the Clay County Board of Supervisors approved the resolution after the plan was found compliant with regulations.

Tammy McKeever, the Clay County Environmental Health Director, used the Master Matrix for the purpose of scoring the CAFO construction applications and the Royal Beef request met the point total necessary to pass, a minimum of 440.

McKeever told the supervisors, "This isn't a new master matrix...this is just kind of a redo."

However, in each individual scoring area of air, water and community; Royal Beef was well above the necessary minimums. Royal Beef scored 70.5 in air, needing just 53.38 to pass; 171 in water, needing just 67.75; and 198.5 in community, needing just 101.13.

After reviewing all of the pertinent scoring with the county's governing board, McKeever said, "It looks like they meet all the requirements to pass..."

"We're lucky to have this type of facility in Clay County," said Supervisor Joe Skow.

Burlin Matthews, chairman of the supervisors added, "Thank you for all you do."

In other business

Central Point Coordinator, Kim Wilson joined the supervisors for a public hearing to review and approve the Clay County Mental Health Developmental Disabilities Strategic Action Plan for fiscal year 2010-2013.

Wilson said, "As far as goals are concerned, we go them through each three years and target some areas.:

Among several goals, Wilson cited accessibility, budget management, and development of additional children's resources.

Wilson presented the updated budget package. She said, "The overall growth is probably the scariest part of the whole thing."

County Auditor Marge Pitts, who worked on the the budget with Wilson, said, "You are not going to be having waiting lists and you're not cutting services."

Looking ahead to budget for 2013 is a bit of a challenge Brockshus agreed. He added, "This board has made the commitment, we are going to serve our people..."

* Jan Bredehoeft was appointed to serve as a Sioux Township trustee.

*The supervisors approved a request to seek funding for a pair of projects through the 2009 Polling Place Accessibility State Grant Program to Election Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities. The first project would involve installing a van accessible concrete parking area for the Lincoln/Clay Precinct located at the Royal Community Center, and the Logan/Gillett Grove Precinct located at the Gillett Grove City hall. Each funding request is a maximum of $3,000.