Planning and Zoning director Sara Hauskins spoke at the County Board meeting last week.

It appears the path for Faribault County to purchase the former Blue Earth City Hall building has been cleared.

After running into some legal description issues of the property during the purchase process, it now appears the sale will be completed soon.

“We hope to close the deal on either March 31 or April 1,” Faribault County Board chairman Greg Young announced at the board’s regular meeting on March 18.

The immediate plan for the building will be to utilize the garage space to house the buses operated by Prairie Lakes Transit. It is also possible some county offices, such as the Faribault County Economic Development Authority, may be moved into the building.

Public Works director/county engineer April Wellman was at the meeting and told the commissioners that a shouldering machine had been purchased.

“At the last meeting, we had made the decision to go inspect a used machine in North Carolina,” Wellman commented. “However, before we made that trip, a similar machine became available that was located in Missouri. Our employee inspected it and said it was in good shape with just a couple of leaking hydraulic hoses, so we purchased it.”

Wellman shared the machine was a 2006 model with 2,380 hours.

“The cost was $89,500 delivered,” Wellman commented. “That price came in below our budgeted amount of $100,000.”

Wellman also brought a proposal to delay purchasing a new tractor, which would be used for mowing, for the department.

“Instead, we would like to purchase three new pup trailers for a total of $155,301,” she said. “We would sell two of our current pup trailers. One of them is from 1980 and has a lot of rust.”

The board approved Wellman’s proposal.

Wellman also told the commissioners that the county is going to receive federal funding for culvert linings.

“It is in the form of matching funds,” she explained. “We will receive $400,000 and will have to contribute $240,000.”

A plan to add 43 transverse rumble strips to county highways at stop signs was shared with the commissioners by Wellman.

“This is something we will be doing ourselves,” she added. “It is a low-cost and easily deployable safety countermeasure for intersection approaches.”

She continued her update by saying the bids are out for work on County Road 35 but the county is still waiting on MnDOT (Minnesota Department of Transportation) drawing approvals for CR 17 and the 2025 bridge projects. She also announced the county had received nine gravel crushing bids so far.

Wellman also shared some good news about construction costs this year.

“I have heard from Freeborn County that bids for bituminous product are coming in much lower than last year,” Wellman said.

Buildings and Grounds supervisor Saxton Warmka attended the meeting and gave an update on replacement of the courthouse windows.

“There were a total of 206 windows which needed replacing and the job is 82 percent complete,” Warmka shared. “There are five windows that need reframing and the company doing the work is currently waiting for some radius-cut windows to be delivered.”

Warmka was asked if the windows in the courthouse tower were going to be replaced.

“Yes, there are 32 windows in the tower and they will be replaced,” Warmka answered. “I want to add that the company doing the work is also going to repair the lawns when they are done.”

Planning and Zoning administrator Sara Hauskins came to the meeting to present a resolution to amend Section 27 of the Faribault County Ordinance dealing with the Board of Adjustment.

“The ordinance previously read that one member (of the Board of Adjustment) shall be appointed from each of the five commissioner districts,” Hauskins said. “With the change, it now reads that one member shall be appointed by each commissioner.”

Hauskins explained that the change was made due to the fact it can be difficult to find people from every district who are willing to serve on the Board of Adjustment.

“We expect that each commissioner will try and find someone from their district to fill the spots, but if they are unable to find somebody, they now have the ability to look outside their district,” Hauskins noted.

In other business:

• The hiring of Karey Daschner to serve as the tax clerk for Faribault County was approved. Seven people had applied for the position.

• A tax abatement public hearing was set for April 1, at 10 a.m.

• Approval was given for a gambling permit for Riverside Town and Country Club to conduct a raffle on Sept. 13, 2025.

• Training requests for Jacob Pettit and Jordan Paukert of the Sheriff’s Department to attend a Pepperball Instructor/Armorer Certification class were approved.

• The board approved the request of County Veterans Service Officer Jenna Schmidtke to attend the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers Leadership Summit.

• Approval was given to Barry Meyers of the Sheriff’s Department to attend the 2025 Minnesota Juvenile Officers Association Annual Conference.

• The board approved sending Jennifer Luhmann of the Public Works Department to the 2025 Minnesota County Highway Accountants Association Annual Conference.

• Approval was given for Sue Jahnke and Erin Beske of the Sheriff’s Department to attend the Minnesota Law Enforcement Administrative Professionals Conference.

• The 2025 crop damage rates were set at $1,000 per acre for corn and $675 per acre for soybeans.