The County Board also got an update on road construction projects from county engineer April Wellman, during the meeting last Tuesday. Included is this street construction work going on in Wells this year.

On a 3-2 vote, the Faribault County Board of Commissioners voted at their meeting on Tuesday to continue with the process of converting the position of county recorder from an elected position to an appointed position.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Brenda Baldwin expressed her opposition to the idea.

“I am here because of your desire to take away another voting right,” Baldwin stated. “In 2008 we lost our right to vote for the county treasurer and in 2023 you took away our right to vote for the county auditor. Now, in 2025, you want to take away our right to vote for a county recorder. When will it stop?”

Later, the board considered whether to schedule a public hearing on the matter, which is the next step in the process of making a change.

Commissioner Gertrude Paschke, who was attending the meeting virtually, reported she had received numerous calls from people on both sides of the issue.

“Having weighed and considered both sides, I will be voting against continuing with this process,” Paschke stated.

Commissioner Bruce Anderson said while attending the Association of Minnesota Counties meeting, he learned that 57 of Minnesota’s 87 counties appoint their recorder.

“I also heard that number is increasing,” Anderson said. “All of the people I received calls from were in favor of changing the position to an appointed one.”

Commissioner Bill Groskreutz reported he had one call in favor of leaving the position as is while the rest of the calls he received favored changing the recorder position to an appointed one.

“I talked to a commissioner from another county where they elected someone who only showed up for one day – because it was required,” Groskreutz said.

When it came time to vote on proceeding with a public meeting, commissioners Anderson, Groskreutz and board chairman Greg Young voted in favor of holding a public hearing while Paschke and commissioner Tom Loveall voted against the motion.

The public hearing was then set for 10 a.m. on Oct. 7 during the regular County Board meeting.

Baldwin took time to thank the board for their efforts through this process.

In conjunction with the board moving forward with plans to change the recorder’s position from an elected one to an appointed one, the board accepted the resignation of interim county recorder Brady Rauenhorst. His resignation is contingent upon passing the resolution converting the office of county recorder to an appointed position or until the vacancy is filled.

Another public hearing will be held during the board meeting on Oct. 21 to discuss a proposal to implement a Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) aka Local Transportation Tax at .5 percent to generate more revenue for to upgrade the county’s roads and bridges.

“The revenue from the proposed tax would be used only for road and bridge improvement projects,” Public Works director/county engineer April Wellman commented. “It cannot be used for maintenance projects.”

Wellman and the commissioners had gone on a tour of county roads on Sept. 4 and she provided the board with an updated list of road and bridge projects.

It was noted by Wellman and the board that some roads have not held up as well as others and will need attention sooner than originally planned.

Earlier in the meeting, Wellman had updated the board on the construction projects currently in progress in the county.

“Holtmeier Construction has been working on County State Aid Highway (CSAH) 60 in Wells,” Wellman commented. “But they have delayed starting work on CSAH in Bricelyn until next year. They were worried they would not be able to get the project completed before the start of harvest. Since this road runs by the elevator that was a big concern.”

She had received another bid for the repair of the bridge on CSAH 12 west of Winnebago after previously only having one company bid on the project.

“This will be a full repair,” Wellman clarified. “The bridge deck and the abutments will all be repaired.”

PCi Roads LLC, a company based in St. Michael, submitted the low bid of $118,417.

“It did come in below the engineer’s estimate of $150,000,” Wellman added. “The bridge will be closed during the time of the repair and there will be an official detour route posted.”

Wellman also told the County Board that the two box culverts for the bridge on CSAH 19 were set and were being backfilled. She also mentioned that work on bridges located in Clark and Minnesota Lake Townships would begin in October while the bridge replacement in Kiester Township is now scheduled for November.

Wellman presented four bids to the commissioners for the removal of an abandoned bridge in Jo Daviess Township.

“G&S Drainage and Excavating had the low bid at $36,300,” Wellman reported. “The highest bid came in at $76,294.”

The board approved the bid from G&S Drainage and also approved making the final payment on the CSAH 17 project which is now complete.

“To date $1,855,079 had been paid,” Wellman said. “The remaining amount to be paid on the contract is $115,358. The final contract amount of $1,970,437 was 6.9 percent less than the original contract bid of $2,116,955.”

In other business, the board:

• Approved a Conditional Use Permit for Seth Swehla and Aubree Nagel for a dog boarding kennel located in Lura Township.

• Voted to table a motion to rescind the board action to waive the taxes on PID-30.450.0940 until further legal information is available.