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County Board hears updates on highways

By Staff | Jul 9, 2017

Drivers in the southeast corner of the county should be enjoying a smoother ride thanks to action taken by the Faribault County Highway Department.

At the July 5 Faribault County Board meeting, public works director and county engineer Mark Daly presented the board with a resolution for authorizing a final payment on the County State-Aid Highway 2 micro-surfacing project. The budget for this project was $450,000, and the final contract cost came out to $377,048.80. The resolution was endorsed by the board.

Now completed, this micro-surfacing project covered CSAH 17, which is south of the city of Frost, all the way to State Highway 22 in Kiester. Daly says that the finished product provides a much better ride than before.

“There were reasons why people were unhappy with the conditions of the road,” Daly explained. “The surface was very rough, so the project did what we wanted it to do. I think we will continue using micro-surfacing.”

At Daly’s recommendation, the board also approved a bid of $30,884 by Cargill Incorporated Salt Division for deicing salt in 2017 and 2018. Cargill will provide Faribault County with 400 tons of road deicing salt. On behalf of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), Tim Penny met with board members to discuss the current state of his organization. In particular, Penny noted that his organization has helped pave the way for improved infrastructure between grocery retailers and farmers.

With regards to economic development, local food loans of up to $200,000 are made available by SMIF to support the start-up or expansion of businesses engaged in locally or regionally produced agricultural food products. This is among the many loan programs which SMIF offers that allows local businesses to flourish.

“There’s an increased demand for foods that are grown locally, so we think that for those farmers that want to go beyond the farmer’s market, we help them build their business,” Penny explained.

The County Board approved a subsystems sewer treatment systems loan request by Truman residents Tom and Mary Tomlinson. The request was for a total of $8,315.40.

Other action items from the meeting included three hirings within the Faribault County Sheriff’s Office as well as the hiring of Pat Campbell in highway maintenance.

Kellen Jacobs was hired as a part-time corrections officer. Meanwhile, Chase Davis and Christopher Beaver were hired as full-time deputies. All three men will begin their positions later in July.

In order to replace Jim Berg’s role on the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, Chris Ziegler was appointed for the position through December of 2020.

In addition, Tony Trussell was nominated by commissioner Tom Warmka to fill Sharon Grunzke’s term as a member of the Faribault County Economic Development Authority. This motion was carried by the board.

“I believe Tony will do a great job in this role,” Warmka said. “He is a Kiester native and has an extensive financial background.”