Todd County Board of Commissioners
Citizens against drugs
By Karin L. Nauber
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| Citizens Against Drugs Co-chair Sev Blenkush accepted a commendation from the board of commissioners in recognition of his involvement with the program. |
Sev Blenkush and Shandra Schmidt presented information to the commissioners about the Citizens Against Drugs group.
The group had put together their resource guide which they handed out. They also handed out a list of the things they had done.
Blenkush said that their funding appears to be going to continue through 2008 through the Initiative Foundation.
Blenkush also said that he has served for two years as the co-chair of the group and that he is resigning from that position, but that he will remain on as a citizen. Sadly, Blenkush reported that he was the only citizen in this group.
They also reported that while they target all kinds of drugs, they are especially looking at alcohol abuse.
Commissioner David Kircher said that he still thought the county needed to help the group financially in their battle against drugs.
"You do great work. You are out for a cause and it's a good cause," said Kircher.
Kircher also "scolded" the public for their lack of involvement with this group.
The board approved the CAD grant application to the Initiative Fund.
The board also gave Blenkush a commendation for his service to the group.
Sheriff's Department
Approved a resolution to raise some of the civil process fees in the sheriff's department.
The board also approved a request to raise the contract police pricing for the four cities in the county that contract with the sheriff's department. The fees are currently $30 an hour and would raise to $32.50 an hour for 2008 and to $35 an hour for 2009.
Public Works
The board approved three resolutions for the highway department.
The first was the state of Minnesota and county of Todd master partnership contract.
The second was a 2008 project authorization for County State Aid Highways #25, #29 and #30.
The third was for the purchase of a new photo copier.
Public Health
Approved the public health designation fund for calendar year 2008 for the following anticipated items: completing the painting of Annex I, carpet, copier replacement and a county car.
Approved the rotating administrator compensation for Schneider effective January 2008 through the end of the year. Morrison and Wadena counties also contribute $1000 each for the administrator.
A request to hire Liana Hunt as a registered nurse was approved. Hunt has made application to get her public health nurse certification, but Schneider said this can take from weeks to months to be completed. The department will still be two nurses short.
Schneider also reported that the Medicare survey had been done in her department and they were found to have no deficiencies. She said for the past 12 years the department has had no deficiencies and that this speaks very highly of the work her staff does.
Human Resources
The board approved hiring a replacement social worker, Marlys Steidel, to be responsible for day care licensure. She will start on December 17.
Rainbow Rider
The board approved the contract with Rainbow Rider for services for 2008.
Neumann said they needed to find out where the $44,400 (the county's portion of the cost) would come from to fund it since it hadn't been budgeted.
Commissioner Mark Nelson said he had understood that it would come from the general fund and that in three years it would be self-supporting.
Another bus was also added to the contract that will improve access to other neighboring cities near Long Prairie.
Busch said that no money had been received yet from the Long Prairie Memorial Hospital or the city of Long Prairie.
Ditch #33, #2 and #21
Ditch Attorney for the county Kurt Deter and Jim Weidemann, president of the Minnesota Viewers Association from Redwood County, came to the board to discuss Ditch #33 and Ditch #2 which are basically the same system just with different names.
Deter said that one overlays the other and it was making determining how to assess it difficult.
Deter said they didn't want to have to do a full redetermination of benefits because the cost could not be justified.
Weidemann said that from what he could tell, Ditch #2 was a natural stream that was deepened around 1916 and some laterals were added to it. In 1988 a redetermination of benefits was done on the ditch when it needed a major cleaning. They didn't do the cleanout because of the cost.
He said that Ditch #2 is now served by Ditch #33.
Deter explained the process for abandoning Ditch #2.
A motion was approved to bring in the ditch viewers to bring in the unassessed areas and to set up a public hearing to begin the abandonment process. This process could cost anywhere from $2000 to $4000.
Busch said that there are currently expenses on Ditch #33 but she has been holding off on them until they can get things straightened out.
On Ditch #21 a request has been made to put an impoundment on the system. Deter said they will set up a meeting to see if this is even possible. An impoundment would block part of the ditch system. This ditch is located mostly in Reynolds Township.
The impoundment would create about 20 acres of wetland.
Closed Session
The board met in closed session for almost half an hour with Attorney Tim Sime to discuss ongoing litigation related to the Thomas Manning property and the Grey Eagle litigation.
After the session, the press was invited to Environment and Land Services Director Andrew Dahlgren's office to ask questions.
The Manning building in Grey Eagle Township is located about 50 feet from Mound Lake in a bluff. Dahlgren said they had to excavate about 17 feet to put in a basement.
A cease and desist order had been issued. The township and Manning were both sued by the county for the violations about a year and a half ago.
An injunction to stop the building and to try to work out everything has been in place.
The litigation with the township is all but settled. The township has agreed to turn back shoreland and septic zoning to the county and the county has agreed to stop its lawsuit.
This still leaves some claims with the Mannings, but a proposal has been offered and is currently being reviewed.
The court has also asked for a status conference on December 18.