Cerro Gordo supervisors discuss creating county historical preservation commission

MASON CITY — The Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors earlier this week held a workshop session to discuss the possibility of creating a county historical preservation commission.

The idea is being brought up as it’s been suggested by state officials that a countywide historical preservation commission be created as part of the creation of a five-year Resource Enhancement and Protection plan by the county. The only official historic preservation commission currently established in the county is the City of Mason City’s. 

Kristine Urdahl of the North Iowa Area Council of Governments says the establishment of such a commission would be beneficial to the county.  “The big advantage is that you can become a certified local government, which opens you up to grant funding that would help you with doing the inventory of historic items in your county.”

Tricia Sandahl with the City of Mason City says establishing a commission can also be beneficial when dealing with federally-funded projects. “Any time that  there’s a project in the county that involves federal funds, it can be a federal undertaking, and that triggers what they call a Section 106 process where the project has to be examined for its impact on historic properties. If there is an impact to a historic property, that federal agency is supposed to do some type of mitigation.”

The supervisors approved moving forward with the organizational process of creating a historical preservation commission.