Faribault County EDA specialists Annie Nichols and Jennifer Howard, right, were at the commissioners’ meeting last Tuesday to give the board an update on the County EDA’s work in the past year.

The cost of inflation continues to play a role in upkeeping and maintaining the hard-surface roads in Faribault County.

That was the message the Faribault County Commissioners heard when Public Works director Mark Daly addressed the board at their regular meeting on Tuesday, March 7.

“I can give you the proposed five-year construction plan,” Daly said. “But, it will probably change more than normal because of the rising costs of petroleum. We may have to push back some projects in the 5-year plan because of rising costs.”

Daly did present a bid for striping the county highways in 2023.

“We typically restripe one third of the highways each year,” Daly explained. “So, over a three-year period, all of the highways get restriped.”

Only one company, Sir Lines-A-Lot, submitted a bid, which was more than $15,000 over the budgeted amount for the striping project.

“Sir Lines-A-Lot bought out the other two companies that normally would bid on this project,” Daly commented. “In addition, unit prices are 44 percent higher than last year. And, due to material shortages, Sir Lines-A-Lot has been forced to order material from second and third suppliers. This increases material costs by 25-30 percent.”

The bid of $105,308 was approved by the board, despite being over the amount budgeted.

“The good news is we were under budget for our striping projects last year,” Daly mentioned. “So, that helps.”

Daly told the board there would not be any detours because of the work on Interstate-90.

“They will close one side during construction and have two-way traffic on the other side,” he said.

The board also approved a bid for seal coat oil. The low bid was from Flint Hills in the amount of $403,240. An amount of $400,000 had been budgeted for the project.

In other financial matters, county treasurer/auditor Darren Esser told the board the Courthouse Project looked like it should be completed at close to the projected cost.

“It looks like work could be done by the end of this month,” Esser explained. “With the bills I am assuming we will approve later in this meeting, we will have paid $3.25 million of the total $3.9 million projected construction cost. This amount does not include other expenses such as architectural expenses, abatement expenses along with other expenses.”

Esser shared the total cost of the project was projected to be close to $6 million.

“With the bonding the county did and the ARPA (American Resue Plan Act) Funds, we should be in pretty good shape,” he added.

The board then proceeded to approve five pay applications in the amount of $257,595.

Planning and Zoning administrator Sara Hauskins was at the meeting as part of a public hearing on proposed changes to the Faribault County Feedlot Ordinance.

Hauskins presented the proposed changes to the board.

“There are only three proposed changes and the reason for implementing the changes is so we are in compliance with the minimum standards set forth in the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Chapter 7020 rules and standards,” Hauskins explained. “The changes are to increase the setbacks from 100 feet to 300 feet for surface applied manure around field tile intakes and drainage ditches without a buffer and to increase the distance for incorporated or injected manure from 16 and a half feet to 25 feet around a drainage ditch without a buffer.”

There was no public comment and the commissioners unanimously passed a resolution to adopt the proposed changes.

Hauskins also reminded the board there is a Planning and Zoning meeting scheduled for March 13.

“At this meeting we will be discussing possible changes to the animal units in the feedlot ordinance,” Hauskins said. “Discussion will also take place on the five-acre requirement for a rural dwelling to be in compliance for getting building permits.”

Commissioner Bill Groskreutz was pleased the five-acre question was going to be addressed.

“Let’s get things to the point where we aren’t handing out variances like candy at Halloween,” he commented.

Groskreutz noted he had learned McLeod County only had a 1.25 or 1.5 acre requirement for a rural dwelling.

“There are some older building sites which do not meet the five-acre threshold and I do not want to discourage people from buying them when we need more people to move to our county,” commissioner Bruce Anderson said.

Economic Development Authority specialists Annie Nichols and Jennifer Howard also attended the meeting to present the Faribault County EDA Annual Report to the commissioners.

“Much of what we will talk about today is related to the $2,886,206 in grant money Faribault County received from the State of Minneota in 2021 to deploy fiber to Bricelyn, Delavan, Elmore and Frost,” Nichols said. “In 2022, the county partered with Bevcomm to begin the installation process. Over 17.7 miles of fiber lines have been laid, 700 homes and 110 businesses have been impacted. Work will continue in 2023 to splice the lines up to more dwellings and connect to Bevcomm’s fiber network.”

Nichols noted the partnership between the county and Bevcomm has significantly increased county residents’ access to broadband.

“This will help provide a future-proof technology for successful telehealth, telework, and school from home capabilities,” she remarked.

Howard talked about the EDA’s work to keep a grocery store in Kiester.

“We were able to help the Kiester Market secure a Good Food Access Program Grant in the amount of $15,000,” Howard said. “Through this grant, the store was able to purchase new equipment to create a healthy grab and go section in the store. It improved their energy efficiency and was a cost-effective way to increase visibility of nutritious meals for their customers.”

Nichols also told the board the EDA would be holding a job fair on April 26, at the Ag Center.

In other business, the board:

• Voted to approve the liquor license renewal for the Golden Bubble.

• Approved the hiring of Jana Sanders and Denise Eisenmenger to fill vacancies at the Sheriff’s Department effective March 19.

• Approved the requests of Central Services director Pam Krill to attend the Association of Minnesota Counties Leadership Summit and Jennifer Luhmann of the Public Works Department to attend the Minnesota County Highway Accountants Association Conference.

• Gave approval to Jacob Peterson and Chase Davis to attend a Tactical Drone Operation course.