Planning and Zoning administrator Loria Rebuffoni addresses the commissioners on several subjects, including a possible increase in fees for building permits, possible solar farms and CUP enforcements.

The Faribault County Board of Commissioners held their first meeting of the year on Tuesday, Jan. 4. After electing commissioner Greg Young to serve as chairman and board member Bruce Anderson to serve as vice-chairman, the board handled a number of topics during a relatively short meeting.

Bonding for work on the county’s hard-surfaced roads was one of the major topics discussed at the meeting.

Public Works director Mark Daly was at the meeting to review the work already scheduled for next year.

“We will start receiving bids shortly,” Daly said. “We will start learning where prices are headed.”

The board first considered whether to move forward with more bonding or whether they should wait.

“I am concerned we are going to see interest rates begin to rise,” Anderson stated. “If we are going to sell more bonds, I would rather not wait.”

The other commissioners agreed and the discussion turned to the size of the proposed bond.

Daly shared a map which showed the work which would be scheduled for 2023 if another $9 million to $10 million was acquired through bonding.

“Of course the number of miles we can work on is contingent on prices for the materials we use not increasing too much,” he explained.

Anderson made a motion to bond for $9 million but it died for a lack of a second.

Another motion was made to bond for $6.5 million. It also died for lack of a second.

A question was raised about whether the bond should also include money designated for work on county ditches.

“Generally you do not bond for something until you have a plan in place to spend the money,” county auditor/treasurer Darren Esser explained. “We do not know if, when or how much we might need to bond for in regards to the county ditches.”

Board member John Roper offered his thoughts.

“I was going to make a motion to go for $10 million,” he commented.

He heard some support for that amount so he offered a motion to sell a 15-year State Aid Highway bond in the amount of $10 million and it received a second from Anderson. It passed on a voice vote with commissioner Loveall voting against the motion.

Planning and Zoning administrator Loria Rebuffoni also attended the meeting to share some data from last year.

“We issued five conditional use permits (CUP) last year,” Rebuffoni said. “Two were for additional dwellings on a site, two were for businesses and one was for a feedlot.”

She also talked about the fee schedule for permits, which she noted had not changed in the last 10 years.

“I would like to explore raising the fee for variances from $300 to $400 so that it matched the fee for CUPs,” she explained. “I would also suggest increasing the building permits from $100 to $150 except for grain bins, which would stay at $100.”

The board did not take action on the fee increases.

“I would like to see the reasoning for raising the prices,” commissioner Bill Groskreutz said. “Is there more work involved or are we just matching what other counties are doing?”

Young directed Rebuffoni to bring back more information concerning the matter and the board would revisit the subject at a later date.

Young also asked Rebuffoni if she had received any information on a possible solar farm between Winnebago and Blue Earth.

“Not at this time,” Rebuffoni replied.

Groskreutz also brought up the matter of a hog site which had a CUP which they needed to abide by.

“This site was supposed to plant trees around part of the perimeter,” he explained. “Technically they have followed the CUP because they have planted the trees. However, a number of the trees have died. I do not know if it was supposed to be a visual barrier or an odor barrier.”

Loveall suggested maybe there needed to be a change in how the CUPs were written.

“Instead of saying trees need to be planted, maybe future CUPs will need to be changed to say a living windbreak needs to be established within five years of the permit being approved,” he said.

The final item on Rebuffoni’s list was to bring up the appointment of someone to fill the position of James A. Meyer, of Kiester, who decided to not seek reappointment to the Planning and Zoning board.

“Eric Dahl has volunteered,” she shared. “It is the at-large position.”

Anderson offered some more information on Dahl.

“He farms by Bricelyn but moved up to Minnesota Lake,” Anderson commented. “He has good business knowledge and a business background and is not afraid to speak up.”

The board approved Dahl’s appointment. He will also serve as an alternate to the Board of Adjustment.

The board also:

• Reviewed committee assignments for 2022.

• Awarded the bid for the official newspaper for 2022 to the Faribault County Register.

• Approved a resolution to sell a tax forfeited parcel in the amount of $1 to the city of Delavan to correct blight.