Commissioners Discuss Repair Of Cattle Guards

By Bill Vander Weele

The question of who is responsible for repairing cattle guards was debated during a meeting of the Roosevelt County commissioners on Tuesday, July 20.

County resident David Panasuk said he was very disappointed with the efforts of commissioners Gary Macdonald and Gordon Oelkers after he told them that a county vehicle damaged wings of a cattle guard. He said the result of the damaged cattle guard will be livestock on Highway 2.

“It puts every taxpayer at risk,” Panasuk said.

Oelkers said there’s a lot of history and layers to the situation.

He added that usually the landowner buys the cattle guard and the county installs it. Oelkers suggested a policy is needed regarding who is responsible to maintain the cattle guards.

“We need to find the solution and get it fixed,” Oelkers said.

At one point during the meeting, it appeared that commissioners were leaning to repair the item, but Commissioner Duane Nygaard then expressed his disagreement with that idea.

“I don’t want to set a precedent,” Nygarrd said. He noted that something is damaged on his property that he handles it. “I take care of my own cattle guards.”

Commissioners also said that Panasuk isn’t sure that it was a county truck that did the damage. They feel that Panasuk should just repair the property.

“You didn’t cause the problem, but are aware of it and you need to take care of your cattle,” Nygaard said.

Macdonald noted, “If it was my place, I would fix it myself.”