Walsh County commissioners approve abatement, aerial-imagery contract and a slate of routine permits and financial items

Walsh County commissioners on Oct. 21 approved a series of routine and budget-related motions including a property tax abatement, a contract for county aerial imagery, drainage assessments and staffing arrangements in the auditor/treasurer's office.

The commission approved a tax abatement for a parcel in Dewey Township, reducing the taxable valuation to a land-only value of $96,440 for the 2025 tax year after a farm-hazardous exemption application was reviewed and approved by the township board. The motion to approve the abatement was moved and carried.

Commissioners voted to enter a contract for new county aerial imagery (EagleView/Pictometry) with a total cost described in the meeting as just under $121,000, payable over three years beginning in early 2026; the city of Raffton committed $18,212 toward the project across the three years. The commission approved the contract and authorized the chair or appropriate official to sign documents as required.

The commission approved assessments related to river/ditch maintenance presented by the Walsh County Water Resource Authority (snag-and-clear work) permitting an assessment up to $0.50 per acre with matching state funds where applicable. Related government drain hearings and assessment areas also moved forward with commission approval.

Two permanent permit applications were approved: a ditch-cleaning permit for Marvin Bullock (County Road 4, Section 25) and a drainage/tile permit for Dushick Farms (County Road 6, Section 6) to tile roughly 165 acres and direct the outflow into a county ditch and culvert. Downstream landowners were reported to have been notified and the water board had signed off on the permits.

The commission approved cancellation of outstanding checks that had been outstanding for two years or longer, as allowed under North Dakota Century Code (specific statutory section for this action was not cited in the discussion).

The auditor/treasurer presented a staffing proposal to retain Deputy Treasurer Kelsey Stanton remotely through Dec. 31, 2025, to assist year-end processing; commissioners also approved a remote contract arrangement for Stanton for January 2026 (8 hours per week) to support the transition to a new hire, Lorna Jonathan, who is scheduled to start Nov. 3. That staffing motion passed on a roll call in which one commissioner voted no.

The commission received and approved the county third-quarter financial report (balances and fund-level profit-and-loss through Sept. 30, 2025). The county's reported cash and invested balances on Sept. 30, 2025 were summarized in the report as $21,000,363.14 across accounts.

Finally, the commission voted to convene an executive session for attorney consultation on reasonably predictable litigation related to the Walsh County Correctional Center under North Dakota Century Code 44-04-19.1 and 44-04-19.2; the motion to enter executive session carried on a roll call vote.

Votes at a glance (as recorded in the meeting record): motions described above were approved with ‘‘motion carried’’ language at each vote. The auditor/treasurer staffing motion recorded a named roll call that included one no vote; the executive-session motion passed by roll call (all members present voting yes).

The meeting placed several administrative and technical items on the consent agenda (minutes corrections, routine bills) and approved them by motion.

Looking ahead, several approved items (the EagleView imagery contract, drainage assessments and permit work) will move to implementation steps that involve scheduling, signatures and coordination with outside entities (the imagery flyover vendor, the state match program, downstream property owners).