Seeking input from leaders in southern Minnesota, senator Amy Klobuchar hosted a virtual roundtable southern Minnesota county tour on Wednesday, Oct. 26.

Rick Scholtes, mayor of Blue Earth, was among the area mayors who were invited to the virtual discussion. He was joined by the mayors of Marshall, Jackson and Fairmont. 

Klobuchar began by recognizing southern Minnesota communities’ ongoing infrastructure needs, present lack of childcare and housing and workforce shortages.

She also emphasized that an infrastructure bill which was passed last year still has funding available.

Afterwards, each mayor was given the opportunity to highlight concerns specific to their community.

Scholtes drew attention to Blue Earth’s ongoing attempts to recruit a large animal veterinarian. After over two years of searching, the community has been unable to find a replacement for local large animal veterinarian Dr. Bob Bogan, should he retire.

“Blue Earth and other small communities are facing what will become a crisis due to the lack of available large animal veterinarians,” Scholtes explained to Klobuchar. “Many communities in greater Minnesota are feeling the same pains, or soon will be, as veterinarians are aging out of the workforce. How can we recruit people to come do this?”

Scholtes says he decided to highlight the veterinarian shortage at the roundtable event due to the effect a lack of veterinary care would have upon Blue Earth’s local economy.

“When you look at rural Minnesota, or any rural area, ag is our backbone, and you need a vet to take care of those animals,” Scholtes observes. “We’ve got an ag community to begin with, and there’s a lot of people who depend on (Bogan).”

Scholtes also drew attention to Blue Earth’s need for affordable housing. He says affordable housing is another key concern in Blue Earth as it is an important step towards bringing young people into the community.

“When you’re trying to bring people into the community – young families, young people – they probably can’t afford a $300,000 home,” Scholtes explains. “They need a place to start.”

He notes Blue Earth has fewer homes available in a lower price range. He hopes initiatives could be developed to build and rehabilitate affordable housing in the community, and in turn attract younger residents.

Wayne Walter, mayor of Jackson, also discussed the housing shortage in his community. Additionally, he identified the poor condition of streets in Jackson’s industrial and retail area as a pressing issue.

Deb Foster, the former mayor of Fairmont, identified housing shortages, aging infrastructure, workforce shortages and child care shortages as current concerns in Fairmont.

Meanwhile, Bob Byrnes, mayor of Marshall, suggested that infrastructure needs are a ubiquitous issue in southern Minnesota, present both in Marshall and in the other communities which were represented at the virtual roundtable.

Klobuchar concluded at the end of the session, “My takeaways from this are the specific infrastructure projects, the need to unleash that funding from the state and encourage that immediately.” 

She also recognized difficulties presented by housing and child care shortages.

“A lot of it is pushing these companies and figuring out incentives for them to build in your communities,” Klobuchar said.  

Scholtes reflects that the discussion was an effective way for local leaders to voice the needs of rural communities. He hopes being able to directly communicate with a senator will allow available funds to be directed to projects which rural communities truly need.

“It’s not very often that you get to talk to a United States senator,” he says. “I appreciate that one of our United States senators is taking the time to look into what the rural part of the state of Minnesota needs.”

Additionally, Scholtes feels it is valuable for local leaders to collaborate regarding issues which are shared between their communities.

“All of the things that we shared as concerns for us were tied together at the end of the day,” Scholtes says. “It’s not just us; it’s everybody. Hopefully working with Amy, she can take those issues back to the government.”