By Lori EhdeOn Tuesday, it was the County Board’s turn to take the lead on re-establishing connections with Luverne City Council.Commissioners decided to schedule a meeting with the council to appoint a City-County Liaison Committee.County Commissioners had requested in March that City Council provide direction as to which services the city would like the county to continue providing. Specifically, the City-County Liaison Committee is in charge of the joint law enforcement contract.The city took action at their April 13 council meeting to send a letter to county commissioners requesting a meeting time to discuss the liaison committee.As of their Tuesday meeting, County Board members hadn’t received that letter, and decided to initiate their own correspondence instead."We have July 1 budgets, and it’s now the first meeting in May," said Commissioner Jane Wildung. "We should have been doing this in January, February and March. It’s getting critical that we begin thinking about a lot of issues out there."The County Board suggested meeting dates of May 10, 11, 19 and 28, with full boards present, along with administrators and legal counsel.Last-minute approval of hot mix asphalt plantThe board approved a last-minute provisional permit for Duininck Bros. Inc., Prinsburg, to start an asphalt mixing plant in a pit about five miles east of Hardwick.Harris Duininck requested County Board members grant early permission to start the asphalt pit before the permitting process was technically complete.A company representative had mistakenly overlooked the permitting timeline, and the company already has a portion of Highway 91 in Nobles County torn up, ready for an asphalt overlay.To complete the legal permitting process would take two weeks, and Duininck said that would pose a hazard to motorists in that area if left that long.The board asked County Attorney Don Klosterbuer if granting early permission would be legal, and Klosterbuer replied that doing so would be to ignore their own land use ordinance."You open yourselves to liability issues with the public," Klosterbuer said. "Your risk is if you grant it and any one of the neighbors at any point objects to the process."Duininck said he would personally contact anyone within a half-mile radius of the asphalt plant to see if there are objections.As far he knew, affected residents include Dwight Bremer, Arlyn Sneller and John Schiebout in Battle Plain Township. Meanwhile, the board approved a provisional permit to start a hot mix plant, subject to complying to the legal process by the next County Board meeting and subject to obtaining signatures from the affected neighboring residents.Klosterbuer warned Duininck of the tight restrictions on the provisional permit."There better not be one load of that going anywhere but Highway 91," Klosterbuer said. "We’re doing this for Highway 91, so there better be no commercial sales."Tobacco-free county parks coming soonPublic Health Educator Paula Anderson and student members of Rock County Partners in Prevention attended Tuesday’s County Board meeting to present information on tobacco-free parks.They asked the county to adopt a policy similar to one recently approved by the Luverne City Council that would prohibit tobacco in all Rock County parks.County areas affected would include the Little League ball diamonds east of the County Highway Department property, the soccer fields along north Blue Mound Avenue and Schoneman Park south of Luverne.The board agreed to endorse the idea and develop a plan clarifying the terms of the policy for county residents and employees.The actual policy will be approved at a future County Board meeting. Recycling contractCommissioners are reviewing the county’s contract with Ketterling Services for recycling and are considering some changes.The contract was on Tuesday’s board agenda because the county is receiving less money from the state to support recycling and other environmental programs."We don’t have enough money to continue the current recycling program," Commissioner Wildung said.The board is considering cutting services or changing the materials included in the program.The Solid Waste Committee of Wildung and Commissioner Ron Boyenga will bring a recommendation to the board.