Faribault County Planning and Zoning administrator Sara Hauskins, left, is joined by Tim Braulick and Chelsea Germo of BENCO Electric at the most recent Faribault County Board meeting on March 17.

A search is underway for a new Faribault County Central Services/Human Resources director following the resignation of Amanda Shoff, which the County Board approved at their meeting on Tuesday, March 17.

In a letter to the board, Shoff stated that her decision was not made lightly and that serving Faribault County, supporting the county’s employees and working alongside the board and leadership team had been a rewarding and meaningful experience.

“Faribault County holds a special place in my heart,” Shoff wrote. “I am proud of the work we have accomplished together. Thank you for your leadership, collaboration and support during my tenure.”

With chairman Bruce Anderson attending the meeting by Zoom, acting chairman Bill Groskreutz shared that Shoff had taken a similar position in Mower County.

All of the commissioners expressed their regret at Shoff leaving with commissioner Tom Loveall adding, “We wish her nothing but the best.”

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Blue Earth resident Morgan Meyers stated they lived across the street from what has been a problem property.

“While law enforcement is doing their job, I am concerned that the criminal behavior is not being handled,” Meyers commented. “Is there an evaluation, oversight of the county attorney?”

Meyers stated she believes the problem of criminal behavior not being punished is more widespread than just her situation.

“I have concerns about transparency in the system,” she concluded.

Another person attending the meeting, Vicki Boeckman of Elmore, had questions regarding the upcoming special election in April.

Groskreutz explained that the question on the ballot is whether or not the position of county recorder should be elected or appointed.

“It had to go on the ballot in April so that if the people decide the position should be elected, then those choosing to run would have time to file for the election,” Groskreutz said.

Currently, Kelly Hendrickson is serving as the recorder having been appointed by the County Board last year following the retirement of Sherry Asmus. Hendrickson’s first day on the job was Nov. 3. However, since Hendrickson does not reside in Faribault County, she is not eligible be elected to the position.

Hendrickson and Eva Steele, who is a senior technical clerk in the recorder’s office, attended the meeting to share a couple of updates with the board.

“Since we were here in February and shared the information about signing up for property fraud alert, we have doubled the number of people who have signed up for the service,” Hendrickson noted. “So thank you to everyone who helped get the word out about the program.”

The other news they shared with the board was that great progress was being made on digitizing the records in the recorder’s office.

“US Imaging was originally not going to come until later this year but they had an opening on March 9 so they came and got to work,” Hendrickson said. “They set up in the downstairs conference room with their equipment.”

Hendrickson stated the digitized records will be great for the auditor, assessor and VSO offices because it will be easier for them to search for documents.

“Having everything digitized is all great for the people of Faribault County because the documents will be preserved and safeguarded in the event of any catastrophic event that would ruin the records stored in the courthouse,” Hendrickson commented.

Also stopping by at the meeting were Jessica Beyer and Tom Polich of the Region Nine Development Commission.

Beyer, the interim executive director of Region Nine, told the board that Region Nine is one of nine regional development commissions in the state.

“We represent nine counties, 33 school districts, 72 cities and 147 townships with a total population of just over 237,000 people,” Beyer said. “The Region Nine Development Commission was established in 1972 following Minnesota State legislation for Regional Development Districts.”

She shared the organization’s mission is to promote the development of the region through intergovernmental cooperation, community and human development, long-range planning and technical assistance.

“We have revolving loan funds and have used those funds to help a local Blue Earth business, Ryno Repair,” Beyer commented. “A lot of our work is grant writing and research. We want to work to strengthen our regional resilience and increase our access to federal funding. To better accomplish these things we have developed a comprehensive economic development strategy which identifies shared regional goals and objectives along with gaps in resources and expertise.”

Polich is the regional food rescue coordinator and spoke to the board about the food rescue program.

“Food rescue began with a planning process in 2023 and is funded jointly through the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) by the four offices covering south central Minnesota,” Polich explained. “The goal was to assess the current food rescue landscape and identify opportunities to rescue additional healthy food for communities in need.”

Polich stressed that this is food which is edible but is going to go to a landfill or compost site.

“One way this food could become available is because of over-orders,” Polich said. “Another way would be if a caterer had food ordered for an event and then the event was canceled.”

Polich reported that in the first year of the program there were 152 rescues totaling 125,519 pounds of food which led to $213,050 worth of savings to local food access partners such as food shelves.

Denny Wick of the Public Works Department had two bids for the commissioners to approve.

“The first one is for seal coating,” Wick said. “It is from Henry G. Meigs, LLC. in the amount of $415,150. The engineer’s estimate was $418,750 and we had budgeted $525,000.”

The bid was unanimously approved.

“The second bid is for county-wide striping. The lowest bid was from Sir Lines-A-Lot, LLC. in the amount of $122,703,” Wick stated. “The engineer’s estimate was $122,750 and we had budgeted $170,000 so, in both instances, we came in below budget.”

The board approved the bid from Sir Lines-A-Lot, LLC.

The board also voted to accept two grants from the Minnesota State Transportation Fund totaling $464,072. These funds will be used to help fund the replacement of two bridges, one located on County State Aid Highway (CSAH) 8 and the other on CSAH 2.

Sheriff Scott Adams and deputy Briar Bonin attended the meeting seeking the board’s approval for the purchase of 10 duty rifles/suppressors at the price of $16,760.

“Several of the current duty rifles are approximately 20 years old and in need of replacement,” Adams said. “This purchase was in the budget.”

“We will be purchasing them from Alex Pro Firearms out of Alexandria,” Bonin continued. “They are known for their customer service. The quote also contains a price for trade-in on current duty rifles, shotguns, .22 cal rifles and seized evidence guns. The trade-in value offered for all guns was $5,290.”

The purchase was unanimously approved.