Aquestion about the countywide burn ban sparked conversation at Monday’s meeting of the Ellsworth County commission.

Jodi Britt suggested the commissioners should allow fire chiefs in the county to take care of burn bans. The question was raised as to how would the commissioners lift a burn ban in the middle of the week if conditions allowed, and not wait until their regular Monday meeting to do so.

“We need to look at that,” Commissioner Dennis Rolfs said.

Rolfs also asked why the commissioners were in charge of lifting or establishing a countywide burn ban. He thought Emergency Management Director for Ellsworth and Russell counties Keith Haberer could be put in charge of that.

County Attorney Paul J. Kasper said pursuant to state statute, governing bodies have the authority to authorize a burn ban in their territory for a period of time.

Kasper said if the commissioners wanted to lift a burn ban midweek for example, they would have to do so after giving proper notice to the public of a special meeting.

He also said there has been a process put in place by the county for those wanting to burn something on their property, such as tree piles. This includes getting a burn permit beforehand and receiving permission from authorities.

Haberer said the public is not allowed to burn anything on highdanger days.

“We’ll have to keep an eye on it,” commission chairman Greg Bender said.

In other business:

• Executive Director of Grow Ellsworth County Stacie Schmidt said the $225,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds the county previously earmarked for H&B Communications for broadband expansion is once again available since the application H&B sent to the state for its capital project funding grant was denied. Therefore, the commissioners approved reopening the ARPA fund application process with a deadline of Feb. 17 to receive those applications.

• No action was taken after returning from a 15-minute executive session with Ellsworth County Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Jim Kirkbride, ECMC board president Clint Rogers, ECMC board member Schmidt and county attorney Kasper to discuss financial affairs of the hospital.

• Approval was given to distribute $500 each to the 2023 After Prom programs of Ellsworth Jr./ Sr. High School, Central Plains Jr./Sr. High School and Wilson Jr./Sr. High School.

• Approval was given to a resolution continuing the Tri-Rivers Environmental Agreement with Saline County for 2023. As part of the agreement, Ellsworth County will pay Saline County $12,500 for the services of their environmental sanitarian.

• Mary Ann Fredrickson of Ellsworth asked if the county has considered offering their weekly meeting to the public via Zoom. Bender said the commissioners haven’t considered doing that.

The next meeting of the Ellsworth County commissioners is at 9 a.m. Monday, Feb. 6, at the county courthouse.