IVANHOE?- The Lincoln County Board voted on a redistricting plan at its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, but nothing is changing.
State law requires a process for redistricting county commissioner districts based on population figures from the census.
The law further states that no district shall vary in population more than 10 percent from the average for all districts in the county. In the 10 years since the last census, no district in Lincoln County has had a population shift sufficient to mandate redrawing the districts.
Commissioners did briefly discuss the possibility of renumbering the districts. The current numbering system has District 1 in the southwest corner of the county. Immediately to its east/northeast is District 5, which totally surrounds District 2 - essentially the city of Tyler. District 3 is in the northwest and 4 is in the north-northeast.
The board quickly decided it would be more trouble than it's worth to renumber the districts in any kind of logical sequence.
At the request of Curt Madsen, secretary of the Lincoln County Fair Board, the board voted to accept two County Fair Arts Access and Cultural Heritage Grants to fund entertainment equipment and activity for the Lincoln County Fair to be held the first weekend in August.
The first grant for $7,368 will fund entertainment and a new loudspeaker system for the fair.
The second grant was a competitive grant for $11,800 the county won to purchase a stage for the fair.
The board also voted to authorize the county highway department to purchase a mower from Christianson Implement Company in Tyler for $8,763.
County Environmental Administrator Robert Olsen informed the board the Lake Benton treatment for curly leaf pond weed had been completed. According to Olsen, 226 acres of the lake were treated for the invasive species at a cost of about $56,000. About $34,000 of the expense was paid by the state Department of Natural Resources, with the remainder funded by the Lake Benton Lake Improvement District.
"We'll survey the lake this summer and see if it will need to be treated again next year," Olsen said. "It's part of an ongoing control plan."