At last Tuesday’s County Board meeting, Shell Rock River Watershed resource technician Courtney Christensen was in attendance to gauge the county’s interest in participating with BWSR’s (Board of Water and Soil Resources) One Watershed One Plan.

According to Christensen, approximately 454 acres of the Winnebago Watershed falls within Faribault County boundary lines. Christensen explained the Shell Rock River Watershed District is interested in applying for a request for proposal because it would help to simplify the entire process.

“The goal of BWSR is to essentially eliminate plans based on political boundaries and associate them with watershed boundaries,” Christensen said. “So instead of having a county plan, a Soil and Water Conservation District plan and a watershed plan, there would essentially be one plan with all these entities working together.”

Christensen also indicated that because of the limited area within the watershed boundary, Faribault County is not required to be a part of this plan.

After discussion, the county commissioners decided not to be directly involved in the watershed plan, but did pass a motion to become a part of the advisory committee. District 3 commissioner Bill Groskreutz summarized his feelings on having an advisory role regarding the Winnebago Watershed.

“It would be very advantageous to us to at least be minimally involved in this. I would like to see how the procedure is working so we can see what kind of mine fields there are along the way.”

Other items from the meeting included:

The County Board authorized a motion to advertise for three box culvert replacement projects. According to data provided by county engineer Mark Daly, the estimated cost of the three projects will total $851,001. Meanwhile, the current town bridge balance stands at $1,041,762.70.

At the meeting, Daly also provided construction updates of several county state aid highways. Micro-surfacing work on CSAH 1, 5, and 10 has been completed. Sewer reconstruction of CSAH 32 has also been completed.

Seal coating of six different county state aid highways will begin the week of June 18.

The board also passed a motion to enter into a contractual agreement with Forte, a credit card company based out of California, to provide credit and debit card transactions, as well as electronic check transaction services in the auditor and treasurer’s offices.

According to county accountant Darren Esser, additional county offices may use these transaction services in the future.

In order to process these transactions through Forte, a separate motion was passed which will authorize the auditor and treasurer’s office to open up a new bank account with First Bank Blue Earth.

The board accepted repair petitions for County Ditch 37 and CD 10, and also appointed INS as the engineer for both projects.

The board approved the hiring of Brady Hanevik as a maintenance worker within the county highway department.

A Subsurface Sewage Treatment System (SSTS) loan request of $15,280 from Cody Sailor of Elmore was also approved by the County Board.