As the November general election approaches and as the St. Paul Volunteer Fire Department’s 135th year serving the community comes to a close, a great deal of hope among members of the local fire department is riding on a ballot question that would increase the City of St. Paul’s sales tax by half a cent. If the question should pass, the half-cent increase would be used to fund the construction of a new fire station.

Efforts by the St. Paul Development Corporation to construct a pair of welcome signs along United States Highway 281 on both the north and south sides of the City of St. Paul encountered another hurdle last week, with the state’s department of transportation requesting that the city conduct a professional survey of the property on which the south sign will sit. Last Monday night, during the St. Paul City Council’s first meeting in October, members of the council voted to approve paying for Olsson Associates to survey Lot 20 of the Middle Loup Subdivision for the new St. Paul welcome sign. “The [Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT)] requested that we have Olsson survey that one lot,” said St. Paul Utilities Superintendent Matt Helzer. “These are the fees for them to come up and stake that one lot out.” The lot, which is on the southeast corner of the intersection of United States Highway 281 and the future extension of Adams Street to the east, will be the site of the city’s new welcome sign. However, before the sign can be erected, the state’s transportation department wanted to see where the property lines were. “NDOT said that we had to do it,” Helzer said. “They wanted to see exactly where the property lines were, because we gave them additional state rightof- way for that turning lane.

Last Friday, October 7th, at 2:00 on a mild afternoon, the Elba Bluejays took to Randy Rasmussen Field for the school’s 2022 homecoming contest against the St. Edward Beavers. Although the Howard County boys would ultimately fall to the Beavers, it had doubtless been, the eponymous Randy Rasmussen said, “a great day for football.”

St. Paul High School’s homecoming will take place October 14th, with the royalty crowned following the football game. The Wildcats will take on Central City in district action at 7:00 p.m. Friday night.

A week after the St. Paul Planning and Zoning Commission voted to deny Howard County Medical Center a permit for the hospital’s planned $8 million wellness center, members of the St. Paul City Council followed suit and also voted to deny the permit. The council’s decision means that, if the medical center wants to move forward with the project as is, they will have to seek a variance from the St. Paul Board of Adjustment.

The Howard County Board of Commissioners held its second regular meeting of the month of September last Tuesday, September 27th. An update on roadside mowing from Highway Superintendent Janet Thomsen, several items pertaining to courthouse upkeep, and a meeting with the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) at the old dump on Twin Forks Lane, north of St. Paul, were among the primary agenda items tackled by the commissioners during what had been a relatively short meeting last week. During the commissioners’ roads discussion, Thomsen referenced Nebraska Revised Statute 39-1811, which states that landowners are required to mow “all weeds that can be mowed with the ordinary farm mower to the middle of all public roads and drainage ditches running along their lands at least twice each year,” once in July and once before the end of September. As of October, she said, landowners still failing to comply with the statutory law can expect to receive letters from the county asking them to do so. “I kind of was lax with [enforcing the mowing] the last month or two, hoping that some of these guys would get it mowed,” Thomsen said. “I didn’t know how many of them wanted to mow to bale this year, but they need to get it done.” Electric fence, hay bales, and farm equipment, Thomsen added, should not occupy the public rights-of-way. Should landowners remain out of compliance with the mowing requirements after the receipt of a letter, the county may mow the affected ditches at the landowners’ expense. “We had set it, I believe, at $200 dollars an hour for us to do it,” she said. “We set that, I believe, last spring or last summer… We haven’t had to [do it yet], but it has been set.”