O’Brien County, Iowa — (O’Brien County’s Bell-Times-Courier) — Evan Del Val of ISG Pipeline presented to the O’Brien County Board of Supervisors the report of their findings while serving as the county’s inspector of the pipeline project. He noted that since 2017 they generated a punch list of 17 items needing to be addressed by the contracts, which Del Val says were completed. He also noted that ISG identified 5 notes of violations that have since been fixed. Del Val reports that as of right now there is nothing outstanding and that the project is mechanically complete. Del Val recommended to all the counties they represented that their boards consider the project closed, as well. He said his company served 13 counties. Ten consider it closed and three have some outstanding items.
Once the county board considers this project closed they can move to the next stage which is 479B.30. This section is to establish a county compensation commission for landowners that have ongoing issues, if they come up. He identified a few potential issues such as crops that won’t come up or damaged tile lines, but not limited to these damages. Del Val also noted a 90-day grace period between closing of the project and establishing the compensation commission. Landowners with issues will have a process to follow once the project is closed by the county.
The pipeline has changed their Right of Way agent. Del Val recommends that this is the first stop for landowners with an issue. He says that is the best place to start to resolve an issue. The auditor has that new contact information.
The board signed a letter of transmittal and adopted a resolution to accept the project. The resolution will be provided to Iowa Utilities Board. It provides the board was notified of the date of mechanical completion of the pipeline, that the supervisors are required to establish a compensation commission to deal with any ongoing damages from construction and that the pipeline in O’Brien County is complete in accordance with Iowa Code 479B.30.
Del Val was asked about increased flow through the pipeline. He explained that is happening in other parts of the project, South Dakota, but O’Brien County would not be affected by the increased flow.
Courthouse personnel will be trained in accessing specific electronic documents from the projects at a future date.
Story courtesy of our News Partner, O’Brien’s Bell-Times- Courier Newspaper (belltimescourier.com)
