County encouraged to remove hazardous trees

Union County Board of Supervisors did not take any action Monday after being informed of a tree on county right-of-way that had fallen on a vehicle driving by at the same time. There were no reported injuries.

Samantha Tonelli told the board her husband was driving Oct. 5 on REA Road in Lorimor. A tree in the county right-of-way on a private property fell at the same time as her husband was driving damaging the vehicle. Tonelli said a car behind her husband was driven by Lorimor’s city clerk. The clerk called the county to have the fallen tree removed. Tonelli said the tree appeared to be a dead Ash tree and added that tree has ben in that condition for a length of time based on views on Google Earth.

“We were lucky it only damaged our truck,” Tonelli said. She added the county, “needs to be proactive to prevent it from happening again.”

The portion of road in Lorimor is part of the county’s farm to market road system which the county is responsible. Union County Engineer Christian Boehmer said these kind of incidents, when residents notice a possible hazard, they are on a complaint basis. Boehmer said his department is not staffed to know every potential threat throughout the county at any given time.

Tom Hartsock of Hartsock Insurance, which the county uses, said the claim was denied by Iowa Communities Assurance Pool insurance policy. Hartsock declined to explain any further.

In other county news...

County officials were informed of the replacement of a wind turbine in the near future. The location of the turbine is near 140th Street and Beechwood Avenue, northwest of Creston and west of Highway 25. Officials are expecting large, oversized equipment to be used which will alter some county roads and intersections during the work. An exact work schedule was not available.