Buildings and Grounds supervisor Saxon Warmka, left, and county auditor/treasurer Chuck Schrader, right, were at the County Board meeting on Sept. 1 to review items which might be considered for inclusion in the 2027 budget. Included in Warmka’s list was the need for a major repair of the hot water heater at the Law Enforcement Center.

The Faribault County Board of Commissioners took steps at their meeting on Sept. 1 to proceed with the sale of the portion of their building at 125 West Sixth Street (former Blue Earth City Hall) to Prairie Lakes Transit.

“Originally, the hope was to complete a quick purchase agreement and get that sale handled quickly,” county attorney Cameron Davis told the board. “I have enough real estate experience to facilitate simple transactions, but I quickly came to realize, and confirmed with county recorder Kelly Hendrickson, that by statute the sale requires conversion of that space to a Common Interest Community. You can think of that like converting it to condominiums in order to sell that office space to a different entity.”

In order to continue with the proposed sale, Davis asked the board to consider retaining Leach Law PLLC, of Albert Lea, to handle the process of converting the property to a Common Interest Community so that the sale of the portion of the property could be completed.

Davis stated that he has worked with Leach Law and felt comfortable in recommending them and that the buyer would be responsible for the additional lawyer’s fees. The board agreed to retain Leech Law by a unanimous vote.

While at the board meeting Davis also reviewed the proposed budget for 2027 for the county attorney’s office.

“The proposed budget for next year has a $46,000 or 9.6 percent increase,” Davis commented. “The majority of the increase is from increased insurance costs of $28,000 and $10,000 in wages.”

Davis was asked if he thought he would be wanting to hire an assistant county attorney.

“Not at this time,” he replied. “An assistant county attorney would add $150,000-$200,000 to the budget. There also is a shortage of prosecuting attorneys at this time. Currently in Minnesota there are three counties where nobody is running for the position. I want to thank the board for the support you have given me in hiring staff for my office.”

Budget talks continued at the meeting with Buildings and Grounds supervisor Saxon Warmka.

“We will have to deal with a water heater issue at the Law Enforcement Center as part of the capital outlay budget,” Warmka said. “It will cost $45,000 to put a new heat exchanger in the current water heater. A whole new system would cost $230,000.”

Warmka had a list of other possible expenditures which will be reviewed by the board before setting the county budget for 2027.

Warmka also received approval from the board to change the courthouse’s outdoor lighting to gold/yellow for the month of September.

“It is for the Fight With Lights program,” Warmka explained. “The aim is to paint the world yellow during September, which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.”

Merissa Lore of the Drainage Department presented the board with the opportunity to apply for a County Agricultural Inspector Grant.

“This grant comes through the Minnesota Department of Agriculture,” Lore commented. “The funds, if we got the grant, could be used to develop and make our weed program more robust and would pay staff for the time needed to accomplish that.”

The board approved applying for the grant.

Public Works director/county engineer April Wellman’s brief report informed the board that work had begun on replacing the bridge on County Road 8.

“The other business I have for the board is to get approval to purchase a used pickup from the Sheriff’s Department,” Wellman said. “It is a Dodge Ram 2500 with low miles.”

“It was former Sheriff Mike Gormley’s truck,” Sheriff Scott Adams said. “It has just over 40,000 miles on it.”

Wellman said her department had the funds for the $35,000 purchase and that no additional levy funds would need to be allocated to complete the purchase. The board approved the purchase of the pickup from the Sheriff’s Department.

The board also:

• Approved signing a Joint Powers Agreement with the State of Minnesota to use systems and tools available over the state’s criminal justice data communications network for which the county is eligible.

• Approved a gambling permit for the United South Central Education Foundation to operate bingo, pull tabs and a raffle on March 20, 2027.

• Approved the training request of Darrel Boeckman of the auditor/treasurer’s office to attend the auditor/treasurer CBT (Computer-Based Training) meeting.

• Approved the request of Emily Bonin of the Sheriff’s Department to attend MFIA (Minnesota Fraud Investigator’s Association) training.

• Approved the request of county auditor/treasurer to take the 2026 Auditor/Treasurer Parcel Levey Tax Calculation training course virtually.

• Approved the request of Human Resources director Mike McQuade to attend the MCHRMA Fall Conference.