Pierce County Commissioners voted to approve new road work, campsite additions and an extended burn ban at their regular meeting held May 4 at the Pierce County Courthouse.

The ban, brought before the board by Department of Emergency Services Coordinator Kelsey Siegler, extends from May 4 to Oct. 31.

The ban applies to “recreational burning, garbage/pit burning, burning of farmland, cropland and/or ditches, and the use of fire to demolish structures” when the county is under a Red Flag Warning. The ban also takes effect when the North Dakota Fire Danger Index places the county in the Very High or Extreme categories. The use of fireworks is also banned under these conditions.

“The ban does not apply to of grills or commercially sold enclosed firepits, but it is required that grills or enclosed fire devices be on a hard non-organic surface and be a minimum of 15 feet away from any dry vegetation when the Fire Danger Index is Very High, or Extreme,” Siegler wrote in a statement.

Commissioners Michael Christenson, Mike Brossart, Terry Hoffert and Ashley Berg approved the ban while Commissioner David Migler cast a “no” vote.

Commissioners also heard monthly reports by county law enforcement officials. Sheriff Josh Siegler told the board his department had taken 51 total calls in April. Nine of the calls were for fires, five were for traffic accidents and 11 calls were for assistance to other agencies. Deputies made 14 arrests and served six warrants. Deputies also transported six prisoners and served 18 papers.

Siegler also told the commissioners the department had hired Shaine Towe as a new deputy.

Mike Graner, administrator for Heart of America Correctional and Treatment Center, also presented a report for the facility from April to the commissioners.

Graner said the inmate population during that month sat at 91 with a high of 96. The jail’s population was 96 on May 1. Graner said the facility booked 53 inmates, releasing 50. Ten inmates at the jail in March were from Pierce County, with seven remaining in custody, Graner added.

Graner told the board 24 of 24 correctional officer positions were filled, with one corporal due to resign May 27. One corporal was reported to be on military duty and one would attend basic training for correctional officers May 10, Graner noted.

The jail saw a deficit of $20,039.80 in March, according to profit and loss statements Graner presented.

Graner added no COVID-19 cases had been reported for the month of March.

Officials from the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had inspected HACTC April 21 and 22, according to Graner, who said the facility was “100 percent in compliance.”

Commissioners also heard updates on roadwork scheduled to begin July 1 on a segment of road in southern Pierce County from nine miles west of state Highway 3 to the highway and three miles east of Selz on the Selz road to the Benson County line.

The board voted to award a $710, 439.99 contract for reshaping and re-graveling the road segments to Rugby firm B & J Excavating.

The board informed Wold Engineering representatives Jessica Tagestad and Jesse Brandvold of the contract and planned start date for the project.

Hoffert asked Tagestad and Brandvold about possibly doing work on the York Road in northern Pierce County. Tagestad explained higher traffic counts on the nearby Knox road meant maintaining that road would be more cost-effective than repairs to the York road.

Commissioners also voted to seek bids for the purchase of one new four-wheel drive motor grader. Bids would be opened June 1 at 11:45 a.m., according to Pierce County Auditor Karin Fursather.

State’s Attorney Galen Mack also joined the meeting to report he had consulted with the North Dakota Trust Lands to answer questions about a property owner’s fence. He told the board he had received a letter from the department saying the property owner must move the fence. Mack said he relayed the information to the property owner.

The board turned their attention back to southern Pierce County when they reviewed information by Julie Grove of the Buffalo Lake Sportsmen’s Club.

Grove said the club had applied for a grant through the Garrison Diversion Matching Recreation Grant Program to add a campsite location to the lake area’s second tier. The correspondence said the plan included installing four electrical boxes to provide eight campsite hookups. The grant would also fund a covered picnic area with new metal picnic tables and campfire rings.

Board members voted unanimously to give their approval to the project.

In other business, the board approved a request by Fursather to have the courthouse elevator repaired. Fursather said the elevator’s doors would not function properly and the elevator itself would sometimes stop between floors.

Pierce County Commissioners will hold their next regular meeting June 1 at 8 a.m. in the Pierce County Courthouse.