Supervisors debate whether county boards should be given more control over confined animal feeding operations

Winneshiek County supervisors were divided Monday on the issue of whether it would be better to have more local control over the issuing of permits for confined animal feeding operations.

The county board's discussion was prompted by a letter from Dickinson County supervisors who are surveying all county supervisors in Iowa about whether the Master Matrix used by the Iowa DNR to determine whether to allow confinement operations ought to be changed to give more authority to local county boards.

Supervisors John Beard likes the idea, saying the state of Minnesota has a better system than allows more local control.  Beard says the current system is not protecting our air and water.

Supervisor Mark Kuhn calls the current system "broken" and says manure management plans are usually inadequate.

But County Board Chair John Logsdon cautioned fellow supervisors that with more local control would come more local exposure to lawsuits filed by people who would be unhappy with a county board decision.

In the end on Monday, supervisors were not able to come to an agreement on how to respond to Dickinson County supervisors.