Bass Lake north of Winnebago has had an ongoing problem with green algae.

In an effort to improve the water quality at Bass Lake, a group called the Bass Lake Clean Water Coalition came to the Faribault County Board meeting on Tuesday, June 18, seeking the county’s help in financing a portion of a proposed study of the lake.

“Our coalition has been looking for grants to help with the lake’s water quality issues,” the group’s spokesman, Mike Swehla, told the commissioners. “The lack of a feasibility study hurts our ability to get grants. We can’t do anything without an organized plan.”

Nathan Carr of the Faribault County Soil and Water Conservation District agreed with Swehla.

“It will take a management plan to get a grant,” Carr said. “Everybody who received a grant had done a plan prior to getting their grant.”

Swehla provided some background information on the lake.

“Bass Lake is a 200 acre, shallow lake and is the county’s only recreational lake,” Swehla commented. “The watershed draining to the lake is 512 acres with a mixture of agriculture, rural development and wetland uses.”

Swehla explained the group was working with Mark Origer of Barr Engineering.

“Mark’s idea is to conduct a watershed plan which would investigate where in the watershed the problem is occurring,” Swehla said. “The other part of the plan is to come up with possible solutions.”

Barr Engineering’s proposal is broken into six different tasks and the Faribault County Soil and Water Conservation District has already approved funding the third and fourth tasks of the proposed project in the amount of $11,575. Those tasks involve sediment core collection along with the chemistry and lab analysis of the samples.

The other tasks involved development of a plan overview, creating an existing conditions summary, creating a lake response model and a lake management report.

Swehla asked the board to consider one of three options to help fund Barr Engineering’s proposal. Option one had a price tag of $28,410 and would fund task Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6. The second option would fund task Nos. 2, 5 and 6 and would cost $23,460. The third option would fund the second, fifth and 50 percent of the sixth task and cost $17,595.

“If you are unable to help with financial assistance in 2024, we would like to present them for potential funding during your budget sessions for 2025,” Swehla added.

While the commissioners were in favor of what the Bass Lake Clean Water Coalition was proposing, they had some concerns.

“Where does the money come from?” board chairman Bill Groskreutz asked. “This is not in this year’s budget.”

Commissioner Tom Loveall stated he had been involved with people wanting to improve Bass Lake for 10 years and had encouraged them to form a lake association.

It was Loveall who offered a motion to fund the first two tasks of the proposed project at a cost of $11,045.

“I am open to funding this to increase the group’s chances of getting a grant,” Loveall stated. “There is money we can tap into.”

After a second by commissioner Bruce Anderson, the motion passed on a non-unanimous voice vote.

County Economic Development Authority specialists Amber Patten and Jennifer Howard attended the meeting seeking the passage of a motion to schedule a public hearing for an ordinance establishing a Local Housing Trust Fund (LHTF).

The board passed the motion.

“The next step is to publish the proposed ordinance in the Faribault County Register for two weeks to allow the public to review the proposed ordinance,” Patten said. “Then a public hearing will be held at the County Board meeting on July 16.”

The county is set to receive a total of $181,054 from State funding covering a two-year period of 2023-2024.

“Our main goal will be to partner with Habitat for Humanity and the Minnesota Valley Action Council to utilize these funds,” Patten explained.

Public works director April Wellman was at the meeting and had construction updates for the board along with some resolutions to consider.

“County Road 17 and County Road 23 are completed,” Wellman reported. “However, we are waiting for the rains to stop so we can redo the shoulders on CR 23 because of the sharp drop-off into the ditches.”

Wellman also shared the paving on CR 51 was complete and striping was scheduled to be done during the current week.

“The paving on CR 11 is also done,” Wellman commented. “If the weather cooperates, the shouldering and striping should be completed this week. As for the bridge work, that is still being delayed due to high water levels.”

Wellman then presented a resolution to the board to sponsor Blue Earth Light and Water to replace their electric vehicle charging station.

“They need the county to act as the fiscal agent,” Wellman told the board members. “It does not cost the county any money.”

The resolution passed.

Two resolutions accepting grant money for bridges were also approved. One grant was for $170,799 and the other totaled $245,115.

In other business, the County Board also:

• Approved updates to the Faribault County Personnel Policy regarding hours of work and time reporting, Fair Labor Standards Act – Harbor Policy and Remote Work guidelines.

• Voted to accept the 2024 Boat and Water Safety Grant in the amount of $1,277.

• Approved the purchase of additional Fortitoken Mobile licenses from Midwest IT for $1,830. These licenses provide multi-factor authentication and add an additional layer of protection and security for remote access users of the county’s computer system.

• Granted the training request of Jordan Paukert of the Sheriff’s Department to attend a Basic SWAT Training course which is necessary to be a member of the SWAT team.