Valley County approves MOU with Perpetua Resources to access historical Warm Lake Road traffic data

Valley County commissioners on Jan. 13 approved a memorandum of understanding with Perpetua Resources that will let the company help fund access to historical traffic and speed data for Warm Lake Road collected via smart-sensor technology.

Dan, the county's public works engineer, told the board that Perpetua requested prior years of data beyond the county's initial subscription. "So, what, Perpetua is wanting to do is get past years of data," he said, and staff confirmed the SDK system has records going back to 2019 through 2023 and part of 2024. The MOU will allow Perpetua to contribute funding so the county can retrieve and share that archive.

Commissioners said they support partnering with private entities to finance data collection when it also benefits county planning. Dan said the county has already been evaluating the SDK system and has an additional session scheduled with the vendor to finalize data usability.

Why it matters: Perpetua's interest in the Warm Lake Road data is tied to proposed work and traffic impacts in the area. County staff said multi-year counts will help evaluate traffic volumes, speeds and seasonal patterns to inform road maintenance, safety work and any agreements tied to external projects.

The board approved the MOU by voice vote; the commissioner who moved and the second were not recorded by name in the verbal roll call on the transcript. Commissioners asked staff to hold a work session before committing to any larger improvement agreement with Perpetua on Stibnite Road or related projects and to outline bonding and maintenance expectations.

Staff will return with the MOU executed as well as a schedule for a joint work session and any related bonding documents.