Faribault County Public Works director Mark Daly, left, discusses the highway bond with the County Board. County Attorney Cameron Davis and commissioner Tom Loveall are shown listening to the report.

The Faribault County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, Feb. 1, and approved the sale of State Aid Highway bonds to Northland Securities in the amount of $9,435,000.

“The true interest rate (TIR) is 1.9406 percent,” county auditor/treasurer Darren Esser said. “I had hoped the interest rate would have been in the 1.6-1.7 percent range, but interest rates have been edging higher.”

Public works director Mark Daly was asked if the County State Aid Highway funding will still cover the cost of repaying the bond.

“Yes, it will,” Daly replied. “I am not as optimistic about the bituminous prices as I was earlier but I believe this is the right thing to do.”

Esser noted the number of companies bidding on the bonds was higher than he had expected.

“We were hoping to have four or five companies bidding,” he commented. “We actually ended up with seven companies bidding. The payback period is 15 years.”

The board passed the resolution awarding the sale of 2022A General Obligation

State Aid Highway bonds to Northland Securities, Inc.

Daly also took time to review the 2022 State Aid Apportionments for the county.

“The State Aid dollars for regular construction increased from $3,153,88 in 2021 to $3,759,463 for this year,” he explained. “The money for State Aid municipal construction also increased from $682,024 in 2021 to $748,286.”

Daly also addressed the money townships will receive in 2022.

“The money for township bridges actually went down a little from $920,028 last year to $913,777 this year,” he said. “However, township road money went up a lot for this year from $491,768 to $735,271. This increase was due to a one-time transfer of $12 million of General Funds which were made available by the legislature during their 2021 Special Session.”

Daly reminded the board there will be five roads, the Unity Trail and four bridges on the schedule to be worked on this year.

“Two of the bridges are on County Road (CR) 13, between CR 2 and CR 4. Another one is on 200th Street northwest of Easton and the final one is on 70th Street in Pilot Grove Township,” Daly commented. “The roads we will be working on are CR 21, CR 28, CR 29, CR 30 and CR 31.”

Central Services director Lexie Scholten attended the meeting virtually with a couple items of business for the commissioners to address.

“Per Minnesota State Statute 197.60, the County Board is responsible for appointing a Veteran Service Officer (VSO),” Scholten explained. “Jenna Schmidtke’s term actually expired on Oct. 10, 2021. The reappointment would be for a four-year term retroactive to that date.”

The board passed a motion to reappoint Schmidtke as the VSO.

“Item number two is a renewal contract with VTI Security,” Scholten explained. “They are the company which covers software support for the video and door access control systems. One contract is a Software Support Agreement (SSA) and the other is a Service Protection Plan (SSP). The county signed a five-year contract for the SSA in 2019 and I am recommending we sign a three-year contract for the SSP at a cost of $6,787 per year, which is a five percent reduction compared to a one-year contract.”

The board unanimously approved the contract with VTI.

Action was also taken to issue an on-sale liquor license to the Elmore American Legion (Sanford American Legion Post 92) for March 1-31.

“Since the establishment is at the Minn-Iowa Golf Course, which is outside of the city limits, they had to get Elmore Township’s approval, which they have, and then our approval, before it goes to the state,” Esser explained to the board. “The state issues liquor licenses for a time period beginning April 1 and ending March 31.”

“Couldn’t we get them to issue a 13-month license so we don’t have to do this again in another month?” commissioner Bill Groskreutz asked.

“I tried,” Esser replied, “But the state of Minnesota says no.”

The board approved the liquor license for Sanford American Legion Post 92.

The board also:

• Approved a resolution allowing Jean Garvick to repurchase tax forfeited property at 409 South Henry Street in Elmore.

• Passed a motion to approve a five-year postage machine lease with Quadient Leasing at a cost of $211.97 per month.

• Approved a request from Planning and Zoning administrator Loria Rebuffoni to attend the 2022 Minnesota Association of County Feedlot Officers Annual Conference.

• Approved the request of chief deputy auditor Jessica Blair to attend the 2022 County Auditor Election Training Conference.

• Groskreutz reported three employees resigned from Minnesota Valley Action Council because of COVID mandates and seven people were granted religious exemptions.