Newly elected county commissioner Gertrude Paschke, left, takes the oath of office being administered by District Court Judge Troy Timmerman before the start of the meeting.

Before the Faribault County Commissioners held their first meeting of the year on Jan. 7, they gathered in the courthouse courtroom where Judge Troy Timmerman performed the task of swearing in newly elected commissioner Gertrude Paschke and reelected commissioners Bruce Anderson and Bill Groskreutz.

The board members then moved to their regular meeting location in the commissioner’s board room where county coordinator Brian Hov called the meeting to order. Hov called for nominations for chairman and Greg Young was nominated and elected as the chairman for 2025.

Young proceeded to take the gavel and oversaw the election of Bruce Anderson as the vice chairman of the board.

With the necessary procedures out of the way, the board moved on to tackle the items on their agenda, which included many housekeeping items. However, there were also some personnel changes to discuss during the meeting, including at the Sheriff’s Department.

“On Jan. 2, of this year, the Personnel Committee met to review the operational needs of the Sheriff’s Department,” Human Resources director Amanda Shoff said. “During the meeting, the committee discussed a proposed enhancement of the current administrative coordinator role to encompass the responsibilities of an administrative coordinator/dispatch supervisor.”

Shoff went on to explain the proposed change is necessary because of the retirement of sheriff Mike Gormley and the resulting redistribution of duties.

“Erin Beske, the current administrative coordinator, will assume additional responsibilities, including the direct supervision of all dispatch personnel and oversight of emergency management operations.”

Chief deputy Scott Adams was at the meeting and told the board that Beske was well qualified for the increased duties.

“Erin has dedicated nearly 26 years of service to the county in various capacities,” Adams commented. “She has demonstrated her extensive experience and commitment.”

“The Personnel Committee determined that this adjustment would provide vital support to the sheriff and chief deputy roles moving forward,” Shoff added. “Furthermore, this reclassification aligns the position with the grade level of the county’s other two supervisory roles.”

Shoff also had five new hires for the board to approve.

“Over the last several weeks, Faribault County has had employment openings for a part-time clerk typist in the Recorder’s Office, a part-time dispatch/jailer and a part-time deputy in the Sheriff’s Department and an administrative assistant in the Assessor’s office,” Shoff said. “All employment openings were posted and interviews were conducted.

“Were any of these new positions, or were they just filling empty positions?” commissioner Tom Loveall asked.

“They are all filling vacant positions,” Shoff clarified.

The board then voted to approve Marianne Johns as a part-time clerk typist in the Recorder’s Office, Marissa Spencer and Luke Slaughter as part-time dispatch/jailers and Michael Sharp as a part-time deputy in the Sheriff’s Department and Tammy Olsen as an administrative assistant in the Assessor’s Office.

The County Board also had to deal with a technology issue during the meeting.

“Fax machine usage is not as prevalent as in years past, but the requirement to use fax services is still common for certain government functions,” Hov explained. “Technology has evolved to allow fax services to be used over email which saves on care and maintenance costs for a machine and a phone line.”

Hov shared that the county is currently paying for a phone line which costs $31.66 per month and uses a dedicated printer with fax capabilities.

“That printer requires additional care and maintenance such as paper, toner, etc.,” Hov noted. “Midwest Wireless IT has a fax service which eliminates residual costs by integrating the fax service into existing email thereby eliminating the machine and supplies. This has a monthly cost of $12 plus a one-time setup fee of $3.”

“How many faxes do we actually get?” Loveall inquired.

“I receive a lot of faxes,” county attorney Cameron Davis volunteered.

“There are some government rules which require certain things to be done by fax,” Hov added.

Hearing that, the board voted to have Midwest IT update the fax technology and reduced the monthly cost from $31.66 to $12, plus the setup fee of $3.

Brady Rauenhorst and Kara Bendickson of the Assessor’s Office were also at the meeting to ask the commissioners to retain Steve Robbins as a part-time contractor for the Assessor’s Office.

“We brought Steve in last year on Jan. 17 to help out with various tasks such as office work and helping the appraisers gather data out in the field,” Rauenhorst said. “Steve was a full-time appraiser for 40 years with our county before he retired on Oct. 6, 2023. He has been a tremendous asset to our office with his years of knowledge and his willingness to help out where ever he is needed.”

The County Board voted to retain Robbins as an independent part-time contractor for 25 hours a week at a rate of $24.43 per hour and no benefits. The length of the contract is six months, with the option to evaluate the position after that time.

Taylor Doering of the Public Works Department was at the meeting to seek approval to advertise for bids for a number of 2025 projects.

“The projects include seal coating, striping, gravel crushing, the paving of County Road 17 and 2025 bridge replacements,” Doering commented. “Timelines for the bidding are still to be determined.”

The board approved Doering’s request.

Doering also informed the board that the Public Works Department is not planning to have a representative at the next County Board meeting because she will be at a scheduled training session and Public Works director/county engineer April Wellman will be at a conference.

In other business, the board also:

• Set the regular meeting dates for regular board meetings in 2025. They will be held the first and third Tuesday of every month beginning at 9 a.m. in the County Board Meeting Room.

• Appointed individual commissioners to certain committees for 2025.

• Passed a resolution keeping the bounty on pocket gophers ($2) and striped and grey gophers (50 cents) the same as it was in 2024.

• Set the per diem for lay committee members at $50/half day and $100/full day in 2025. The mileage rate was set at current IRS guidelines.

• Awarded the bid to be the official county newspaper to the Faribault County Register.

• Approved the request of Jedd Dulas to repurchase property that had been tax forfeited to the State provided he pays the repurchase price of $3,020.69. That price covers the cost of reinstated taxes, assessments, fees and other costs incurred by the county.