FAIRMONT– On Tuesday Martin County’s Planning and Zoning Director, Pam Flitter, gave a report to the board of commissioners on the number of county zoning permits issued in 2024.

“It’s always hard to guess how many permits we’ll have in a year. Sometimes I’m surprised by the number that we do get. In 2024 they were higher,” Flitter said.

In 2024 the county issued 114 building permits and of those 19 were dwellings. Flitter said that number only includes those outside city limits and not inside municipalities.

“Forty-eight of those were shops and offices and sheds. Eighteen of them were grain bins and the others were garages and decks and home additions,” Flitter said.

Of those, there were seven variance applications that came before the board of adjustment and two conditional use permits.

There were no new feedlot permit applications but there were 71 new septics that went in.

“We had 19 homes in the county. The city of Fairmont, by comparison, had three single family homes and four townhomes,” Flitter said.

In closing, Flitter said, “I think, and I know not everyone agrees with me, that ag is our biggest industry and needs to be supported and recognized.”

Toward the end of the meeting, the board went into closed session with the county attorney to discuss matters dealing with the site of the proposed justice center. After more than an hour in closed session, the board took action and authorized the county coordinator and county attorney to reach out to and discuss with the owners of the land for the proposed justice center site the delay in providing merchantable title, with abstract, free of encumbrances and to discuss the financial considerations resulting therefrom and what must be done in order for the county to finalize and execute the purchase of the property.

It’s expected that more about the justice center will be discussed at the board’s next regular meeting on Feb. 18.

On Tuesday the board also set some special meetings dedicated to discussing the progress of the justice center. They are 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 19 and 3 p.m. on March 25.

In other business, the board:

— Approved a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for Lynn Becker of LB Pork to place an off-premise advertising sign in an “A” Agriculture District in Rutland Township.

— Approved a tobacco license for the Town Center in Trimont.

— Approved a premises gambling permit application for the Fairmont Firefighters Relief Association at Ghost Town Tavern.

— Approved a three year renewal of the Zix Maintenance Support Contract for continued encryption of confidential data communicated on the county’s email system in the amount of $8,550 per year.

— Expressed a desire to extend the county’s tax abatement program for new construction of single and multi family housing for five more years with changing it from 10 year abatement to five year abatement of county taxes. The board will likely take action on the matter at its next regular meeting.