County establishes penalties for burn violations
 
By Jason Ferguson
Custer County Chronicle - Custer, South Dakota
 
County residents who violate the county’s burn ban or misuse a burn permit will now be subject to a fine under a new ordinance passed by the Custer County Commission at its regular meeting last Wednesday, July 25.

Under Custer County Ordinance No. 14, a penalty of no less than $100 was established for a violation of the ban and burn permits. In addition, the person who is found violating the ordinance will have fire suppression costs charged against them based on established fire rates.

Mike Carter, director of emergency services for the county, said there were eight fires last weekend county-wide, despite a previously enacted burn ban in the county. The commission had enacted the burning ban at a previous special meeting because of tinder dry conditions throughout the county. Of the eight fires, one was caused by someone burning lawn refuse.

Prior to enacting the ordinance, the county had no real recourse in punishing those who ignored the burn ban.

"At least this will give us a little teeth," commissioner Joe McFarland said. "We’ve never had any."

The commission also discussed the idea of changing the county’s cattle guard resolution, which currently states all cattle guards replaced in the county must meet U.S. Forest Service standards, which is 24 feet wide. The cost of purchasing the new cattle guard is the responsibility of the landowner, although the county highway department will install the cattle guard for free.

County attorney Tracy Kelley said the current county standard goes above and beyond what is required by state statute, and said there may be cases where having a blanket standard as the county currently has is not necessary. She also told commissioner Leonard Wood that because he is a landowner who has cattle guards on his property he would have to exclude himself from any discussion on the issue.

"The law prevents you from talking about it," she said. If Wood were to influence the ordinance, it could be challenged in a court of law and thrown out, she said.

The key issues being questioned are what standard the county would like for cattle guards, who should pay for them and what the best approach is to deal with the issues. The commission decided to table the issue until its Aug. 8 meeting so it could review the ordinance before discussing it.

"If you want to have some discretion and look at this on a case-by-case basis, you need to amend the (current) resolution," Kelley said.

Custer School District superintendent Tim Creal was at the meeting to discuss the Secure Rural Schools Act and Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) money. Custer School District received $311,000 from the act this year.

Initially, money received from timber receipts was called "25 percent" money. Any receipts that came off the forest were divided — 25 percent being split between the county and school — and the other 75 percent going to the U.S. Treasury.

When timber receipts began to drop dramatically, the Secure Rural Schools Act was developed. Under the act, the county takes an average of the three highest receipt years from 1991 to 2001 and uses that average as the money it receives.

The act was in danger of not being renewed by Congress after it expired this year. Congress is working on a five-year renewal for the act, although with significant changes to the formula. Under the old structure, California, Oregon and Washington received the most money from the act. Under the new formula, money will increase to every state except eight, including the aforementioned three. Those three states will be "held harmless" the first year, meaning they won’t lose money when the new formula is enacted. Each subsequent year, the money those states receive will be "ramped down" by 10 percent.

Five other states will lose money with the new formula, including South Dakota. However, South Dakota is not one of the states scheduled to be held harmless or experience the ramp down, meaning the money will just be cut. Creal said he is in the process of drafting a letter, along with other school superintendents in the Black Hills, supporting Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin and an amendment to the bill that would include South Dakota on the list of states held harmless in the first year and ramped down each following year. Herseth Sandlin is part of the House Resource Committee that will initially review the revised act.

"Either we’re a part of that or we lose 25 to 40 percent immediately," Creal said. "My gut tells me we can make this happen if we garner enough support for it."

The commission voted unanimously to send a letter of support to Herseth Sandlin as well.

Finally, Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler gave an update on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound in the county, saying they have agreed to stop machine work at night at the request of neighbors. The compound is also having someone come to get the pump out of their well, which is stuck. If that doesn’t work, Wheeler said they will drill a new well.

"That will lower the number of trips they make for public water," he said.

Neighbors have been complaining about the dust and wear on the roads caused by the FLDS water truck making up to seven trips a day into town. Yet another neighbor has complained about the "guard tower" the compound erected on its property.

"Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to get in the middle of something I shouldn’t be," Wheeler said.

Wheeler said the matter is a civil issue and much of the animosity could be resolved by better communication between neighbors, which he said both parties seem agreeable to.

"You’re keeping the waters calm down there," commissioner Marvin Bishop said. "I compliment you on that."
 
CusterCountyNews.com
Originally published Wednesday, August 1, 2007
 
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