County gets veteran update
Board also gets an update on activities at License Bureau

New County Board chairman Greg Young, right, congratulates Sara Hauskins on her five years of employment with the county as the Planning and Zoning Department director.
The Faribault County Board of Commissioners met for their second regular meeting of the month on Jan. 21 and one of their tasks was to approve a resolution at the request of Veterans Services Officer Jenna Schmidtke to accept the donations made to the Faribault County Veteran’s Service Office for 2024.
The amount of the donations received by the office during the past year totaled over $17,000.
“Our office would like to publicly announce our gratitude to those who made donations to help our efforts in providing financial assistance, and an even greater gift, providing a sense of hope to veterans who otherwise are seeing hardships,” Schmidtke, who could not be at the meeting, stated through a video feed. “The kindness and goodwill of those who donated is greatly appreciated and used to assist those in need within our local veteran community.”
After approving the resolution accepting the donations, the commissioners inquired how the money was used.
“It could be used in a number of ways,” Schmidtke replied. “Sometimes it is a family in need having trouble paying their utility bill. Every situation is different. Sometimes it involves an acute crisis situation.”
It is known as the Outreach/Crisis Fund. Some of the larger donations, according to information provided by Schmidtke, were $6,000 from the Blue Earth Wine Walk, $2,000 from the Wells VFW and $1,000 each from the American Legion Riders Post 89 and the American Legion Charity Funds.
“We are truly thankful for every donation we received,” Schmidtke concluded.
Faribault County License Bureau supervisor Amy Salinas was at the meeting and she had some more information to share regarding veterans.
“I want to make sure people are aware of the benefits available to those veterans who are 100 percent disabled,” Salinas said. “Those veterans who are 100 percent disabled are exempt from registration fees (including filing fees) for two vehicles of their choosing. This includes passenger vehicles, non-commercial 1-ton pickups, motorcycles and RVs.”
Salinas added that 100 percent disabled veterans will be exempt from title fees for vehicles purchased on or after Jan. 1, 2024, not including salvage inspections or fast track fees.
“Those same veterans also will be exempt from driver’s license and identification card fees for all types of cards – standard, REAL and enhanced,” Salinas commented. “Beginning July 1 of last year, they are also exempt from paying motor vehicle sales taxes for vehicles purchased on or after that date.”
Salinas explained that in order to utilize these benefits, veterans should bring their award letter or statement of benefits with them to the Faribault County License Bureau in order to show proof of their 100 percent service connection.
While at the meeting, Salinas also reported that her office processed 17,598 transactions in 2024, which was 1,300 more than the previous year.
“I also want to encourage people to drop off or do your license and registration business locally,” Salinas said. “If you mail your fees into the State, the State keeps the filing fees. If you conduct your business locally, the fees stay in our county.”
Salinas also expressed her thanks for the decision made a few years ago which allowed payment in the local office by credit card.
“We had about $350,000 charged through credit cards,” she stated. “And with credit card payments we don’t have to worry about accepting bad checks.”
Dennis Wick, the Public Works Department general foreman, was at the meeting with some information regarding the purchase of new equipment.
“The good news is everything came in under what was budgeted,” Wick told the board. “There was $60,000 in the budget to purchase a new pickup and both bids we received were under that number.”
The bids were from Hawkins Chevrolet and Fairmont Ford, both of Fairmont.
“The lower bid was for a Ford F-150 XLT for $52,599,” Wick reported. “It would have to be ordered and should arrive in April.”
Also on the list were a new tire machine and air conditioning machine.
“Our old machine for servicing air conditioning units in vehicles is outdated and doesn’t work with the coolant used in the new vehicles,” Wick said. “We have bids from NAPA and O’Reilly Auto Parts for both the tire changing and air conditioning machine.”
NAPA’s bid for both machines was $17,988 compared to $20,198 for O’Reilly.
Last on Wick’s list was a new brush mower to use on the department’s Bobcat skid steer machine.
“We had budgeted $11,500 and the bid from Yeager Implement here in town was for $8,900,” Wick commented. “This is a machine we find we are using more and more.”
The board approved all of the purchases as presented by Wick.
An update on the two Mack trucks the county has been waiting for was also provided by Wick.
“They are in Mankato and have to go to J-Craft to get the equipment installed on them,” Wick said. “We hope to have them by April.”
Chief deputy Scott Adams of the Sheriff’s Department came to the meeting to have the commissioners approve and sign a joint powers agreement with the South Central Drug Investigation Unit (SCDIU).
“The other members of this group, besides Faribault County, include the cities of Albert Lea, Blooming Prairie, New Richland, Owatonna, Wells, Alden, Blue Earth, Janesville, Waseca and Winnebago and the counties of Freeborn, Steele and Waseca,” Adams told the board. “This group has been together for about 30 years and includes a SWAT team and Drug Task Force.”
The agreement was approved.
In other business, the board:
• Approved licenses for 11 solid waste haulers and five recycling haulers.
• Granted a gambling permit for Pheasants Forever for a raffle at the Golden Bubble on Feb. 22.
• Recognized Kasta Amundson and Sara Hauskins for five years of service to the county and Luke Schonborn for one year of service.
• Approved the hiring of former Freeborn County auditor Pat Martinson for part-time help for the next six months.
• Approved the training requests of Susan Yahnke of the Sheriff’s Department to take a training course on forfeitures and to also attend the Minnesota Emergency Management Conference; Brittney Gehrking of the Sheriff’s Department to attend the United States Police Canine Association Narcotics Trials; Sheriff’s Department employee Todd Hanevik to attend the Fifth District Jail Administrators Conference; and Vincent Do of the Sheriff’s Department to attend a Cellular Phones, Technology, Mapping and Analysis Course.