By Nathan Countryman, Assistant Editor

ALGONA-Dale Person of the Burt area voiced his concerns on the possible location of a future livestock operation, KSC Enterprises LLC, Section 9, Burt Township.

"The first I heard about this site was last night," Person said. "I did not know that this was happening."
The supervisors still had questions about the location and distances separating the facility from other locations which were broached in the public hearing during the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, July 29, meeting.

Jack Bradley, county sanitation engineer, reported that the distances the crew had measured were within the DNR's guidelines, if narrowly.

"The site can't move any further north," Bradley said. "The measurement by GPS places it just four feet shy of being too close on that end."

Person, who lives to the south, had a distance of 2,626 feet separating his house from the facility. The DNR requires a total of 1,875 feet between residences.

The supervisors approved the matrix for the facility unanimously. Besch was the only dissenting vote against the construction permit for the KSC Enterprises, citing the distance of 565 feet from a creek was too close for him to feel safe on the matrix. The DNR requires a distance of at least 500 feet from creeks for sites.

Pam Wymore discussed during the committee reports some beneficial news from Global Ethanol in Ledyard. The company is looking to install several wind generators to off put the cost of running the facility.

"Currently, the company uses 10,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a day," Wymore said. "To put that in perspective, the average household uses a total of 4,000 to 6,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year. This is alternative energy supporting alternative energy, which is pretty cool."

The addition will cost $42 million dollars for the wind towers between two facilities where they will be installed.

The Swea City Assisted Living Project also spoke to the Board of Supervisors about their goals and hopes.

The 17 unit facility is looking for seed money to get their project underway, having received a grant from the USDA to get the facility underway.

Mitch Hauskins and Vince Rolling of Swea City, and Tom Vance of LeMars, discussed the benefits of having a facility nearby for the town of Swea City.

"As people are getting older, they're moving to facilities in Fairmont, Minn., or Algona, away from their friends and family," Vance said. "It's not just a burden on families, but also on their friends."

The facility, when constructed, will be in the center of the town of Swea City.

"We want this to be a focus of our community," explained Rolling. "It's close to the school, the post office, park and library."

"It helps make the residents feel like a part of the community," added Hauskins.

The board tabled decision on the budget request until November, but encouraged the group to keep them informed on their progress.

In other news the board:

Approved an annexation of approximately 30-35 acres into HK1 and hired Rick Hopper of Jacobson Westergard to do a preliminary engineer's report.

Approved a resolution regarding the hiring of new assistant attorney Stephanie Nielsen. For more information on Nielsen, see the story on Page A( ).

Approved the hiring of Kassandra N. Keeney as the new GIS technician.