Daly retiring from county
Has been co. engineer, public works director

Planning and Zoning administrator Sara Hauskins and Blue Earth Light and Water general manager Tim Stoner spoke to the County Board last week.
Faribault County will need to find a replacement for their Public Works director/highway engineer a little sooner than they had expected.
“After reviewing my PERA (Public Employees Retirement Association) retirement benefits, I found there in no advantage for me to extend my retirement to April of 2024,” Mark Daly told the commissioners. “Therefore, please accept this letter as a formal notification of my retirement as the Public Works director/ county engineer of Faribault County. My last day will be Dec. 22 of this year.”
Daly went on to thank the commissioners for the many opportunities he had in the eight years and nine months he was employed by the county.
“It would be an understatement to say that we’ve had a few ups and downs,” he said with a laugh. “I wish you the best in all future dealings and thanks once again.”
During his report to the County Board, Daly reported both bridges on county roads near Winnebago were now open.
“The box culverts are in place on the bridge northwest of Elmore and all work on that bridge should be done by the end of the week,” he added. “Full-depth reclamation is underway on County Road 11. It is going slower than we anticipated. However, the work on CR 11, as well as the full-depth reclamation on County Roads 17 and 23, should all be complete by the end of this month.”
Chief Deputy Scott Adams of the Faribault County Sheriff’s Department attended the meeting to present an agreement to the commissioners from the city of Elmore. The document described the city’s wishes to purchase the services of Faribault County for law enforcement coverage.
“We have been providing service to Elmore for awhile now,” Adams explained. “This is a more formal agreement.”
Adams pointed out the annual fee agreed upon by the Sheriff’s Department and the city of Elmore was for $45,000 beginning in 2024 with a three percent increase per year beginning in 2025 and every year following.
“The Elmore City Council has already approved this agreement,” Adams said. “In addition, all of the current police equipment owned by the city of Elmore will be turned over to the Faribault County Sheriff’s Office including a vehicle, guns, computers and other miscellaneous items.”
Adams informed the commissioners that the vehicle would probably be used by the Sheriff’s Department for prisoner transport.
The agreement was approved by the board.
Also on the agenda were two Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) for the commissioners to consider.
Sara Hauskins, the Planning and Zoning administrator, was at the meeting to present the requests.
“The first CUP is for a temporary solar monitoring system tower,” she said. “It is set to go on property owned by Ted Nagel in Section 7 of Prescott Township.”
The Planning and Zoning Commission had met on Oct. 10, and reviewed the application.
“There was public input that spoke in favor of the project and no one from the public spoke against the project at the meeting,” Hauskins commented. “There was a submitted letter prior to the meeting that did not support big solar projects.”
The tower will be constructed on a site consisting of 10.93 acres which also has a house and storage sheds.
“The request is for a temporary system that would be in place about 12 months,” Hauskins added. “Mr. Nagel will be in charge of monitoring the site on his property.”
The second CUP presented by Hauskins was for Andy Linder and Blue Earth Light and Water (BELW).
“This permit is for the installation and operation of a Solar Energy System. It will be a 4MW project,” Hauskins said. “It will be located on a total of 18.66 acres of land located in Section 5 of Blue Earth Township and Section 32 of Prescott Township. The land is currently owned by Linder and is being purchased by BELW.”
Officials from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), the Faribault County Drainage Department and the Faribault County Highway Department had all reviewed the proposed plans.
Steve Schoeb of MnDOT said no access for the project will be granted to US Highway 169.
“Faribault County engineer Mark Daly recommends access be built across from CR 8,” Hauskins said.
Commissioner Greg Young asked BELW general manager Tim Stoner, who was at the meeting, what the life expectancy of the project was.
“It is expected to last 45 years,” Stoner answered. “It will be able to supply as much as 30 percent of the peak load during use.”
The board approved the permit.
Building and Grounds supervisor Saxton Warmka was at the meeting to talk about some maintenance issues.
“As we have talked about before, the courthouse tower has rotten wood and rotten flooring on the top floor,” Warmka explained. “Due to the height of the tower there was limited interest in companies wanting to bid on fixing it. The only bid I have is from Schwickerts Tecta America for $61,529.”
The board approved the bid.
Next, Warmka shared that the HVAC control system at the Law Enforcement Center has been starting to fail.
“We currently have Johnson Controls as our control system and it is old enough that it is not serviceable,” Warmka commented. “I received two bids, one from Johnson Controls and one from Paape Companies. I recommend we accept the bid from Paape Companies because it is less expensive and we already use them for the courthouse and they are more local and have been good to work with.”
The commissioners approved the bid from Paape Companies, in the amount of $36,678, for a new control system at the Law Enforcement Center. The bid from Johnson Controls totaled $60,677.
The County Board also:
• Approved the hiring of Jaqueline Frederickson as a full-time dispatch/jailer.
• Appointed county coordinator Brian Hov as a MCIT (Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust) voting delegate alternate.
• Changed the date of the first board meeting in December to Thursday, Dec. 7.
• Approved training requests for county coordinator Hov to attend the AMC (Association of Minnesota Counties) Conference, Vincent Do of the Faribault County Sheriff’s Department to take emergency medical responder recertification training and county auditor/treasurer Amy Sathoff to take Year End Department of Revenue training.