Tim Hynes was appointed to the Faribault County Economic Development Authority by the Faribault County Commissioners at their meeting on April 19.

There had been a vacancy on the County EDA since Brad Wolf resigned from the board last year.

Commissioner Tom Loveall brought forth the nomination and explained Hynes had been serving on the Winnebago City Council, but gave up his seat when his wife, Judi, was hired as the Winnebago city administrator.

“Tim has experience in business and in being involved in government,” Loveall said. “I think he will be a good fit on the board.”

The nomination was approved by a unanimous vote. With the appointment of Hynes, the County EDA board is back at full strength.

Chairman Greg Young appointed commissioners Bill Groskreutz and John Roper to the 2022 County Election Canvassing Board.

The Canvassing Board will convene for the first time on May 25 to canvass the election results from the May 24 special primary election. They will also canvass the results of all other county elections this year.

Barb Ziegler, from the county attorney’s office, attended the meeting virtually to present a resolution declaring April 24-30 as National Crime Victims’ Rights Week in Faribault County.

“This reaffirms the commitment of Faribault County to create a victim service and criminal justice response that assists all victims of crime,” Ziegler commented.

The resolution was passed by a unanimous vote.

“We commend all of the law enforcement officers in the county for their work to make sure victims feel safe and are heard,” county attorney Cameron Davis added.

Davis also mentioned they have not been able to fill the position of assistant county attorney. Brent Johnson, who currently serves in that capacity, will be leaving the office shortly to work for a different county.

“It is something we will have to address at some point,” Davis said. “Martin County has had an open position for two or three months.”

Groskreutz asked if the assistant county attorney had to be a resident of the county?

“No, that is not a requirement,” Davis answered.

Central Services director Lexie Scholten was also at the meeting and informed the commissioners action will need to be taken regarding the health insurance offered by the county.

“Further, which is the company which had been handling our HSAs (Health Savings Accounts), is being acquired by another organization and is making some changes,” Scholten noted. “We are also seeing some other changes in our coverage.”

A lengthy discussion was held on the health insurance situation and how it can affect employment opportunities.

“We know there is high turnover in employees and it is tough to fill positions,” Groskreutz remarked. “The surrounding counties are having the same problems.”

Scholten stated she was looking for direction on how to approach the situation and she had a list of brokers on her contact list.

“I think she can present an overview of our situation and then return with possible solutions,” Young said.

The consensus was the whole board would then have a work session to discuss the different options.

“We are having trouble finding people to work for the county,” commissioner Bruce Anderson noted. “We need to try and fix this as soon as possible.”

“We will need to have the employees involved before we are done,” Roper commented.

The board also:

• Voted to approve the training requests of Chris Albers and Mitchell Murphy of the Sheriff’s Department to attend the Taser Instructor Certification Course in Sartell.

• Approved the request of Scholten to attend the MCHRMA (Minnesota Counties Human Resource Management Association) Spring Conference.

• Voted to approve sending Steve Robbins, Brady Rauenhorst and Gertrude Paschke of the county assessors office to attend a two-day MAAO (Minnesota Association of Assessing Officers) Summer Seminar. Also approved was the request of county assessor employee Lori Mehrhof to attend a MAOO Personnel seminar and Advanced Ag class. These seminars and continuing education classes are required to retain their licensure in the assessor’s office.