Finding people willing to work for the county remains a problem for the Faribault County Board of Commissioners.
“A person we approved last month to start working for the county informed us that his current employer had offered him more money so that he would not accept the county job,” County Auditor/Treasurer/Coordinator Darren Esser told board members.
County Attorney Cameron Davis was also present at the meeting and said no nominations had been submitted for the position of assistant county attorney.
“The rest of the employees in my office are feeling the pressure,” Davis shared.
Esser had some good news to report.
“The hiring committee interviewed four people for the position of senior auditor clerk and unanimously agreed to offer the position to Amy Huber,” Esser said. “She accepted the offer and will start on July 13.”
The board approved a motion to hire Huber.
Asked by board chairman Greg Young about the number of positions remaining, Esser replied: “There are still 10 or 11 positions that could be filled.”
Sheriff Mike Gormley and Deputy Chief Scott Adams were at the meeting with a request for approval to purchase a replacement squad vehicle for the welfare fraud station.
“We had $30,000 in our 2022 budget for this purchase,” Gormley explained. “We found a 2022 Chevrolet Equinox at Hawkins Chevrolet in Fairmont for the listed price of $30,190.”
The marshals asked if there were a lot of lights that should be installed on the vehicle.
“It actually has very minimal lighting requirements,” Adams replied.
He also noted that the current welfare car, a 2014 Taurus, will be transferred to a transport car.
The board passed a motion approving the purchase of the new vehicle.
The Buildings and Grounds Supervisor, Saxon Warmka, was also present at the meeting with a proposal to lease or purchase two 40ft Conex style shipping/storage containers which are to be on site during the construction project. HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) of the courthouse.
“The cost of renting a unit per year is $3,336 or a like-new container can be purchased for $6,200,” Warmka commented. “You can buy cheaper containers, but they can be filled with bullet holes or painted with graffiti.”
Commissioners Bruce Anderson and Bill Groskreutz expressed concerns about the rental, saying it was very likely the containers would have to stay put for more than a year.
“If so, we better buy them,” Anderson said. “Then we can sell them when they are no longer needed.”
Commissioners approved a motion to purchase two like-new containers, for $6,200 each, from Any Way You Want It Storage.
“We plan to place them on the empty lot east of the courthouse across Main Street,” Warmka shared.
The board also voted to approve Payment #2 on the Courthouse HVAC project in the amount of $27,759.
“Work continues on county freeway projects,” Director of Public Works Mark Daly told the commissioners. “Almost all work is complete on County State Aid Highways (CSAH) 21, 28, 30 and 31. Work on CSAH 29 is scheduled to begin this week with extensive reclamation and paving is scheduled for mid-August. No work has been done on the Unity Trail at Blue Earth at this time.
Daly also had a resolution for the commissioners to pass that stated that all work had been completed on the 2021 overlay projects, with the final amount for those projects paid in full and totaling $4,647,836.
In other cases:
• Council passed a resolution updating the county liquor license fee schedule.
• A motion was moved and passed asking the Chair of the Board to sign and send a letter of support for Bevcomm’s border-to-border broadband grant application.
• Council approved storage rental agreements for county offices located at the Agricultural Center. The cost of storage for 4-H will be $25 per month for approximately 80 square feet of storage. The Economic Development Authority and the Soil and Water Conservation District will each pay $35 per month for 150 square feet of storage and the Veterans Services Bureau will pay $70 per month for 200 square feet.
• The board voted to approve Lori Mehrhof’s training application from the County Assessor’s Office to attend the 2022 Minnesota Assessment Staff Association Summer Institute.