Implementation of Hubbard County's new Subsurface Sewage Treatment System Ordinance will be delayed until Feb. 4, 2010, after several plumbing contractors requested a reprieve, claiming a September implementation would put existing jobs into chaos.
"Installers would rather not have the ordinance take effect in the middle of the construction season," said contractor Jody Yliniemi.
"I've got six more bids to do today," said David Hacker. "Bank loans are all pending."
Hacker told the board the ordinance's main change, allowing a three foot vertical separation between the bottom soil infiltrative surface and the periodically saturated soil instead of four feet as specified now, could change the bids he has already prepared if implemented this month.
The Hubbard County commission, allowing "the road to hell is paved with good intentions," pushed the enactment date of the ordinance back to the Feb. 4 date.
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In other county business Sept. 2, the board:
-Voted to allow the auditor's office to spend $1,500 on photographic equipment to begin taking passport photos.
In part the expenditure will allow the county to recoup part of the cost of sending all passports priority mail under new federal requirements. But auditor Pam Heeren said it's a matter of convenience to the public.
"You can get a birth certificate across the hall and do the paperwork in our office," she told the board. "It's just one-stop shopping."
Because the county office will charge $10 for passport photos, it will not be competing directly with Snyder Drug and Wal-Mart, which take the photos for a few dollars less.
-Approved bids totaling nearly $20,000 for various park repairs and improvements throughout the county. The Heartland Park shelter roof will be repaired and sidewalks constructed, playgrounds at Lake George and Farris parks will be resurfaced with wood chips and a bike trail in Farris Park will be rerouted.
-Welcomed new Public Works maintenance supervisor Herb McCormick to his position. McCormick replaces Ed Smith, who retired earlier this summer after a lengthy career at the county.
