Humboldt County supervisors approve homestead credit actions, accept livestock update and discuss roads, drainage and a solar installation

HUMBOLDT — Humboldt County supervisors on Monday approved a set of administrative tax-credit actions, accepted a livestock facility annual update and spent much of the meeting on infrastructure topics including road-striping policy, drainage paperwork and a solar-panel special-exception that the county board of adjustment approved earlier.

The most immediate fiscal items were homestead and military tax-credit actions. County staff reported the county had 79 new homestead filings, 12 new military filings, 58 new 65-plus filings and seven new disabled veteran credits for a total of 156 new filings across the county and small towns; staff also reported 220 cancellations across the same categories. The board voted to approve the new credits and exemptions and then separately approved the previously read disallowances. Both measures passed on voice votes recorded as “aye” with no roll call recorded.

Those votes followed a brief administrative acceptance of a 2025 short-form annual update for a livestock facility owned by Doug Sandvik (ID 57421). Supervisors placed the form on file by motion and voice vote.

Supervisors also heard multiple operational updates from county staff and trustees. County staff said Ben Ulrich will begin work Wednesday in the county engineering office and will train under the current engineer for the next three years as part of a planned succession.

On energy and land-use matters, county staff updated the board on a special-exception permit that the Humboldt County Board of Adjustment granted to property owners Kurt and T.C. Levin for a ground-mounted solar array on their acreage. The county staff member said Mitch Firdolson and a firm identified as NCIS will install the system. According to the staff update, the array was sized to supply the house’s electrical needs and to export excess generation to the utility (MidAmerican); the installation will not include on-site batteries for backup. The Board of Supervisors received the update as informational; no county action was required.

During public comments, a representative identifying herself as Bree with Humble Wind asked whether Colin of Jacobsen Westergaard could answer questions about county tile/drainage and whether the consultant needed formal direction from the board before providing information. County staff confirmed the firm could be contacted, and Bree said Humble Wind would pay any fee the consultant charged for the consultation.

Supervisors received an update on drainage contracting paperwork tied to a Jacobsen Westergaard notice to proceed for “D 11 sub 1.” Staff said certain agreements had been signed (Ragas had signed three documents) and that a start date had not been confirmed; staff said they would check with Colin at Jacobsen Westergaard about the construction start.

Road maintenance occupied a substantial portion of discussion. County staff reminded the board that, roughly 20 years ago, the county adopted a policy to stop adding edge lines on roads with fewer than 250 vehicles per day and to limit reapplication over time. The staff member said that edge-line painting is expensive, estimating roughly $22 per gallon and “35 to 40 gallons a mile” (staff described the figure as a back-of-envelope estimate). Staff said the board could change the policy if it wished and provided historical rotation expectations: yellow center lines historically every three to five years (now two to three) and white edge lines every roughly three to five years.

A trustee of Lake Township raised a long-standing dispute about snow removal at Lake Church parking and the adjacent cemetery. The trustee said township volunteers and the church had historically handled snow removal and that the township board did not plan to assume new snow-removal costs. County staff described the county practice for rural gravel roads: crews will clear an access path for funerals and will plow the gravel loop where possible but generally will not clear between headstones. Staff said equipment limitations make some requested snow-moving patterns impractical and agreed to follow up before winter.

Board members agreed to handle some personnel and follow-up items outside the meeting and moved through routine approvals by voice vote. Several items — including the livestock filing acceptance and the homestead credit approvals/disallowances — passed by unanimous voice vote with no roll-call tallies recorded in the minutes.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to approve the meeting agenda — voice vote; motion carried. - Motion to approve minutes (previous meeting) — voice vote; motion carried. - Motion to enter the drainage session — voice vote; motion carried. - Motion to accept and place on file the 2025 MNP short form for Doug Sandvik (ID 57421) — motion carried (voice vote); no roll-call recorded. - Motion to approve new homestead and military credits and exemptions (numbers read by county staff) — motion carried (voice vote); no roll-call recorded. - Motion to approve disallowance of homestead and military credits and exemptions (as read earlier) — motion carried (voice vote); no roll-call recorded.

The meeting also included informational updates on ongoing striping and concrete-patch work by contractors, replacement of a box culvert and upcoming road-patching operations. The board did not take a formal vote on changing the edge-line policy but staff said the board can direct a policy change if members choose to do so.

The board scheduled follow-up on drainage start dates and said staff would coordinate responses to residents and to outside consultants who are asked to provide paid consultation for county-related questions.