Kristian Braekkan, left, and Mercedes Sempe of the Region Nine Development Commission attended the Faribault County Board meeting to update the board on current topics.

“Faribault County is one of two Region Nine counties with direct interstate access,” Kristian Braekkan, an economic development director with Region Nine, told the Faribault County Board of Commissioners during their meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 15. “It is also the only Region Nine county with a net inflow of earnings every year for the last 30 years.”

Braekkan attended the board meeting, along with his assistant Mercedes Sempe, to share some data with the commissioners and to offer some assistance to the county.

“Faribault County has more people in their workforce that reside outside of the county and work in the county,” Braekkan continued. “Since 1970, Faribault County has lost an average of 150 residents per year and 45 jobs per year.”

According to Braekkan, since 2000, Faribault County has had an annual loss of 30 jobs in manufacturing per year and lost 16 jobs per year in farming.

What Braekkan had to offer was a County Economic Development Plan.

“It would be the first one done in Region Nine,” he shared. “And through a federal grant, it would not cost the county any dollars. It would require us to take up some of your time.”

Braekkan related that the economic development plan would have two major benefits.

“It would make the county eligible for Federal EDA grants and Public Works assistance grants,” he noted. “It would also be used to stimulate conversations on how to best utilize the county’s resources.”

Also on the agenda was a discussion on proper decorum during the public comment portion of the County Board and County Drainage meetings.

At a previous drainage meeting, it was stated the decorum had gotten out of hand.

“One of the biggest things to remember is that the public comment portion of the meeting is not a time for debate,” commissioner Bill Groskreutz said. “We will listen and can ask questions for clarification purposes.”

Loren Dauer, who works for United States Congressman Brad Finstad, was also at the meeting to provide a legislative update to the commissioners.

“Representative Finstad serves on both the Ag Committee and the Armed Forces Committee,” Dauer shared. “One of the acts he has signed onto is the Rebuilding Rural Roads Act. If enacted, this would shift more money to improve our rural roads.”

Dauer noted that Finstad has also signed onto a bill to get more money for ambulance services in rural areas.

“Funding and finding people to serve on the ambulance crews are issues we are dealing with right now,” Groskreutz told Dauer. “Our fire departments are also in need of help.”

“That is why I am here,” Dauer replied. “We have been having listening sessions all over the state because we believe legislation should come from the ground up instead of from the federal government down.”

Veterans Service Officer Jenna Schmidtke participated in the meeting by Zoom and presented the County Board with a proposal to purchase a new Veterans Van.

“There was originally $54,000 budgeted with the plan to purchase the van in 2022, but the purchase date was delayed to 2023 at the request of former auditor/treasurer Darren Esser,” Schmidtke explained. “The van is used to transport county veterans to and from the Minneapolis VA Medical Center.”

Schmidtke shared one bid, for a 2024 Chrysler Pacifica, had a wait time of 40-45 weeks.

“That dealer was in Burnsville,” she said. “However, Lager’s Chrysler in Mankato has a new 2023 Pacifica which is similarily outfitted and a couple of hundred dollars cheaper and is available immediately.”

The board voted to approve the purchase of the van from Lager’s for the quoted price of $44,282, plus applicable taxes and fees.

The board was also visited by the city administrators from Blue Earth, Wells and Winnebago to clear up any confusion over the tax abatement policy which was adopted by the county along with the three cities earlier this summer.

“Does the person have to apply for the tax abatement before work begins?” Groskreutz asked.

“Yes,” answered Blue Earth city administrator Mary Kennedy. “A person would have to get a building permit before they could begin any work on their site and that is when they would apply for the tax abatement.”

Wells city administrator Connor LaPointe explained that if a building site has a garage on it but no house, it would be considered a non-conforming site.

“Non-conforming sites are not eligible for the tax abatement,” LaPointe explained.

The county approved their first application for a new housing tax abatement for Ron and Carolyn Howe of Winnebago during their meeting on Aug. 1. There had been some concern that work had started on the site before the application for a tax abatement had been made.

Winnebago city administrator Judi Hynes cleared up the confusion.

“The work people saw was the demolition of the old site which had been destroyed by a fire,” Hynes explained. “They (Ron and Carolyn) had to get permits and have inspections before any new work began.”

Allen Aukes of Midwest IT also attended the meeting to discuss problems with the server room switches at both the courthouse and at the Ag Center.

“With the board’s approval, we would like to change the Network switches at both places,” Aukes commented. “Dust from the reconstruction project did not do the switches any good. Concrete dust is a conductor and I feel like we are living on borrowed time with the switches in the courthouse. The switches at the Ag Center are older and have not been able to handle the higher amount of data they have to deal with.”

Regarding the switches in the courthouse, the commissioners wondered if measures had been taken to protect them during work on the courthouse.

“Steps were supposed to have been taken, but holes were drilled in the concrete before anything was done,” county Buildings and Grounds supervisor Saxon Warmka explained. “Apparently, there was a change in personnel and the new person in charge was not made aware of the protections which were to have been put in place.”

The board voted to approve replacing the switches at both places at a cost of just under $19,000. They also intended to see if there was any recourse they could take to recover a portion of the cost from the construction company.

Warmka also presented the commissioners with a list of items which could be considered when deciding how to spend the county’s remaining ARPA funds.

“Repairing the windows on the south side would cost around $116,000. I have bids on fixing/replacing the retaining wall on the east side of the courthouse that run from $80,000 to $200,000,” he remarked. “The plumbing in the courthouse restrooms could be updated. The air conditioning units on the annex building are over 40 years old and since we are already fixing the roof, it might be a good time to consider replacing the units.”

Also on the list were replacing the lighting in the annex building and possibly paving the parking lot across the street on the east side of the courthouse. The final item to consider was waterproofing the basement.

There is over $900,000 left in the ARPA fund and the commissioners will resume discussions on spending the funds at a later date.

In other business, the commissioners:

• Set the date and time for the Truth in Taxation Meeting for Dec. 19, at 6 p.m., in the County Board Meeting Room.

• Scheduled a budget work session for Sept. 6, at 1 p.m., in the County Board meeting room.

• Approved the training request of Amy Wachlin of the License Bureau to attend the MDRA (Minnesota Deputy Registrars Association) annual meeting.

• Approved the request of Marsha Leschefske of the county attorney’s office to attend a training course for the main management program, PbK, (ProsecutorbyKarpel) used by the office.

• Voted to approve further training for Erin Beske of the Faribault County Sheriff’s Department to learn more about civil process laws.

• Approved a memorandom of Agreement for the Blue Earth River One Watershed One Plan planning process and appointed commissioner Bruce Anderson to be on the Blue Earth River One Watershed One Plan policy committee and selected John Roper to serve as an alternate.