| PROCEEDINGS OF THE MURRAY COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSMURRAY COUNTY GOVERNMENT CENTER - SLAYTON, MINNESOTANOVEMBER 14, 1995 - 9:00 A.M. Pursuant to notice given, the Murray County Board of Commissioners met in regular session and as a Ditch Committee with all members present. A motion was made by Berneva Johnson, seconded by Steve Cohrs with all members of the Board voting their approval to accept the agenda. Ray Barrett and Kevin Wynia met separately to express their concerns that work on their respective ditch petitions are not getting done. The Board assured both that Don Gass will be informed of their concerns when he arrives at the meeting. A motion was made by Berneva Johnson, seconded by Lennen Nelson, with all members of the Board voting their approval of the following Ditch Report of the Ditch Committee who inspected or caused inspection of the following County and Judicial Drainage Ditches lying within the County of Murray for the purpose of determining what repairs, if any, are necessary to enable said ditches to answer their purposes, the extent and nature of such repairs, and an estimated cost thereof, reports as follows: County # 11 $ 675.65 Judicial # 3 $ 371.69 20 81.20 8 424.50 20 567.40 10 3,156.03 20 469.20 10 2,819.04 20 29.20 10 1,537.50 24 2,207.18 10 106.36 27 333.15 17 352.87 30 1,091.16 17 267.95 30 115.09 18A 101.00 75 776.30 19 10,288.60 75 169.25 26 1,374.38 76A 379.20 80 58.36 It is hereby ordered that the Ditch Committee proceed at the earliest possible date to have all of the above said ditches repaired in accordance with the request asked for by the petitioners. The County Auditor/Treasurer presented petitions for ditch repair service by persons interested in County Ditches #20, 27, 30, and 89 and Judicial Ditches #7, 8, 17, 19, and 20A. A motion was duly made, seconded and carried that the committee heretofore appointed in and for the County of Murray, be and they are hereby instructed to examine and inspect that portion of the foregoing described County and Judicial Drainage Systems, lying within the County of Murray, for the purpose of determining what repairs, if any, are needed to prepare a cost estimate thereof and report thereon to the Board at the Special Ditch Committee meeting to be held with all members of the Murray County Board of Commissioners, in the Commissions Room in the City of Slayton, on December 12, 1995 at 9:00 A.M. Don Gass, Gass Trenching, Inc., arrived at the meeting and was informed of the concerns expressed by the two (2) individuals earlier in the meeting. The Board also reviewed with Mr. Gass other petitions for repair that are getting old and have yet to be repaired. No decisions were made to distribute some of the ditch work to the other County Ditch Inspector at this time. Mr. Gass reassured the Board he is making inroads at getting caught up. At 10:00 A.M. the Chairman convened a special assessment public hearing. The hearing was to hear comments regarding placement of assessments on the property benefiting from the 1993 Improvement Project of County Ditch #29. Approximately 28 interested persons were in attendance at the meeting. The County Auditor/Treasurer passed out revised amortized payment schedules to the affected property owners in attendance. He also explained that as of today, anyone interested in prepaying the assessment would have 30 days to do so before interest is added. Anyone not prepaying this year will have until October 15 of any succeeding year to prepay any existing principal before another year of interest will be added. Ron Ringquist, Sioux Engineering, was present via telephone speaker to answer questions pertaining to the ditch itself. In response to a question about when excavation would be finished Ron answered December 1, according to contract special provisions. June 15, 1996 is the final completion date of the project. Ron answered questions about spoils, width of berm, and crop damages. Ron Ringquist and Herb Dahl will be getting together to come to an agreement on trees that were covered with spoils on Herb's property. As there were quite a number of concerns about the ditch being designed properly, those in attendance were assured by the Board that engineers carry errors and omission insurance which is to cover any litigation that may ensue, pertaining to the engineers design of their ditch even after it is constructed. John Galstad, on behalf of Edward H. Galstad, presented a letter to the Board indicating he has retained legal counsel for the purpose of prompting attention from the Board on matters of concern to him regarding the improvement of County Ditch #29. Cornelius Smit, Superintendent of Murray County Central and Fulda Public Schools, met with the Board to discuss U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funds which Murray County holds in trust. It has been agreed by a previous Murray County Board that interest earned in this fund was to be distributed to help replace lost tax capacity resulting from land being taken off the tax rolls from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's ownership. It was never determined by that, or any County Board, how the money would be distributed. Mr. Smit indicated that both schools will not lose out, because all of their levy is equalized. In fact, if they did accept a portion of this distribution, they would have their state aid payments reduced. if this formula would ever change, the schools will contact Murray County at that time to ask that they then be included in the distribution. A motion was made by Steve Cohrs, seconded by Gaylen Jensen with all members of the Board voting their approval to distribute interest and revenue sharing payments received each year, to the County and to the township(s) in which the funds originated, prorated, based on the current year tax rates. The County Auditor/Treasurer, as a member of the Investment Committee, reported to the Board that the Committee selected Springsted, Inc. to refund the 1988 Drainage Bonds which are callable February 1, 1996. The sale of new bonds will be held on December 6, 1995 for which only Murray County banks will be invited to bid, with Springsted, Inc. acting as financial advisor to the County. Dean Williams, Environmental Services, met with the Board to present a new resolution for adoption for a 1996 State Revolving Fund application. The guidelines will be the same as the 1995 State Revolving Fund. Commissioner Lennen Nelson offered the following resolution and moved its adoption: RESOLUTION WHEREAS, The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has made low interest loan funds available to counties, Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Joint Powers Organizations through the AgBMP loan program; andWHEREAS, The Murray County State Bank has agreed to act as the local lender, administer the lending agreements with individual borrowers, and guarantee repayment to the state; andWHEREAS, Murray County has identified a need for low interest loan funds to encourage agricultural best management practices that prevent or mitigate nonpoint source pollution; andWHEREAS, Many agricultural best management practices are identified in the Murray County water plan as priorities;NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That Murray County approves the application for up to $893,500 in loan funding and designates Gary D. Spaeth, County Auditor/Treasurer, to be the authorized representative, and hereby grants Gary D. Spaeth the authority to sign the application, the loan agreement and all other correspondence or documentation necessary to implement the loan program. The foregoing resolution was duly seconded by Commissioner Steve Cohrs, and thereupon being put to a vote all members of the Board voted favorably for its adoption. Dean Williams requested a Sewage Disposal Installation License for Doug Dammann. A motion was made by Lennen Nelson, seconded by Gaylen Jensen with all members of the Board voting their approval to grant the license to Doug Dammann. Dean presented a request for Jon Bloemendaal and himself to attend a MPCA Feedlot Training on December 13 and 14 at Alexandria. The cost is $50.00 each and they will need permission to stay overnight. A motion was made by Steve Cohrs, seconded by Gaylen Jensen with all members of the Board voting their approval to allow Dean and Jon to attend the Feedlot Training on December 13 and 14 and to stay overnight. Dean presented a request to attend the Annual Ag Inspector's Short Course to be held at Moorhead on January 8-11, 1996 for Jon Bloemendaal and himself. The cost is $115.00 each for registration. A motion was made by Lennen Nelson, seconded by Berneva Johnson with all members of the Board voting their approval to allow Dean and Jon to attend the Ag Inspector's Short Course on January 8-11, 1996. Dean gave a report on Tri-County Recycling. Tonnage is down a little from 1994. Cottonwood County is up with Murray County and Pipestone County down. Through October there were 1000 tons of recyclables collected. SCORE goals are not in jeopardy. There are 6 of 15 RFP's returned with a December 1 deadline, to do a feasibility study for a sewage treatment system for lake property in Murray County. Dean will meet with the Board at its December 6 meeting to go over the proposals and select the engineer to do the study. Assistant County Attorney, Gene Mailander, arrived at the meeting at this time. The County Board will meet on Monday, November 20 at 8:30 A.M. to call the new Murray County Engineer, Nathan Richman, to discuss several questions and concerns he has about the one year contract which needs his signature. The concerns deal mostly with moving costs and benefits. Marlin Larson arrived at the meeting at this time. The Chairman closed the regular meeting at 2:07 P.M. to discuss several personnel matters at the Highway Department. The meeting was recorded on audio tape. The personnel meeting was closed at 2:37 P.M. at which time Marlin Larson and Chairman William J. Sauer left the boardroom to visit an employee at the County Highway Department. Upon returning, the Chairman reconvened the regular board meeting at 3:01 P.M. Commissioner Berneva Johnson offered the following resolution and moved its adoption: RESOLUTION WHEREAS, The County Highway Department has an Accountant and Receptionist position in its Administrative Offices, andWHEREAS, The Acting County Engineer has testified to the fact that there is not enough work for the Department to warrant having a Receptionist, andWHEREAS, The employee in the position of Receptionist has been notified of the Board's intention to eliminate the position.NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That effective December 1, 1995 at 5:00 P.M. the position of Highway Department Receptionist be eliminated. The foregoing resolution was duly seconded by Commissioner Gaylen Jensen, and thereupon being put to a vote all members of the Board voted favorably for its adoption. The Board discussed the position of Economic Development Director. Gaylen Jensen reported that the Economic Development Committee has recommended a one-year extension of the program with a review to be done after six (6) months. A motion was made by Gaylen Jensen, seconded by Lennen Nelson with all members of the Board voting their approval to continue the Murray County Economic Development position based on the Committee's recommendation. The vote is recorded as follows:Ayes: Lennen Nelson, Berneva Johnson, Gaylen Jensen, and William J. Sauer.Nays: Steve Cohrs. The Auditor/Treasurer informed the Board that he will be making a formal presentation at a future meeting regarding the base rate of pay established in December of 1994 and revised in February 1995 for his position. He feels he now knows more of what the position duties and responsibilities are, and can better present and justify why an adjustment to the base salary should be considered. There being no further business appearing at this regular session of the Board, a motion was duly made, seconded and carried to adjourn the meeting at 3:14 P.M.
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