By Melanie Stegner

news@pctribune.com

The Pope County Board of Commissioners last week accepted the retirement of Deputy Robert Tirevold after his 14 years of service with the county. A quote for the Josh Owen Memorial that is going to be erected outside the courthouse was also accepted. The memorial will be a six-foot bench in black granite with a photo and information about Deputy Owen included, it was decided.

Terry Jaworski, Probation Director for the county, approached the board about renewing the contract to continue to hold a bed at the Prairie Lakes Youth Program for Juvenile Detention Services. The contract includes a per diem cost of $376 per bed per day which is $10 less than the standard rate. Counties that contract for beds will be given priority if they should need more than just their designated bed. 

“The contract is doing what it needs to. It provides us with a bed when we need one,” said Jaworski. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this issue; it’s a lot of money and I think every probation director and sheriff’s department has the same problems. For whatever reason there are not enough juvenile detention beds.” The board approved the contract unanimously.

The Sauk River Comprehensive Watershed Management policy committee reviewed and approved the biennial work plan for 2024-2025. Pope County is a partnering entity of the CWMP and is obligated to adopt the work plan in order to have access to funding from the state. The board passed the resolution unanimously and Land and Resource Management staff will serve on the Implementation Committee of CWMP.

Aquatic Invasive Species Action Plans were also reviewed and approved. The action plan allows the county to receive $85,124 in funding for the management of AIS. The Land and Resource Management department has the authority to exercise diligence in the expenditure of the funds, process and review any grant applications and provide reports and recommendations to the board regarding the applications.

A conditional use permit was brought before the board for a large storage structure on a non-riparian lot near Amelia Road SW owned by Bruce Hasselbring. The structure as proposed would have been approximately 4,640 square feet and include 16-foot sidewalls. The county’s Planning Advisory Commission did consider the application and after discussion recommended approval of the plan with several conditions and two dissenting votes. “The height of the walls was the main concern at that meeting,” stated David Green, Land and Resource Management Director.

The county board had much discussion regarding the structure. “I can’t see going along with this after we rejected the building on county road 31, the building was a bit bigger and he had more land, but we asked him to get more land to approve this structure,” said Commissioner Wildman. A motion was made to approve the CUP with the 16-foot sidewalls by Commissioner Paul Gerde, seconded by Commissioner Larry Lindor. The vote failed with Commissioners Paul Gremmels, Gordy Wagner and Paul Wildman casting dissenting votes.

A second motion was considered with the use of 14-foot sidewalls as a condition by Commissioner Gerde and seconded by Commissioner Lindor. The vote passed 4-1 with Wildman casting the dissenting vote.

The term of appointment for an agricultural inspector was passed unanimously to allow the previous ag inspector to continue working as a consultant for services while the Land and Resource Management office staff continues being trained.

Annual license approvals were granted for the solid waste haulers and facilities in the county. These include Alex Rubbish and Recycling, Engebretson Sanitary Disposal Service, Waste Management, West Central Sanitation and Tom Kraemer, Inc.

As part of the County’s 2024 budget discussions and conversations with the Pope Soil and Water Conservation District, Pope County has considered restructuring the statutorily-required delivery of Wetland Conservation Act functions, moving them from Pope SWCD where they have resided since the beginning of the law to an internal function of the Land and Resource Management department at the county for administration. This entails designating Pope County as the local government unit responsible for the implementation of the WCA in Pope County, instead of the Pope SWCD Board of Supervisors. The board passed this resolution unanimously.

A 5.5 percent salary increase was approved for employees of the county that are non-union as well as the salaries for the county attorney, county auditor/treasurer, recorder and commissioners. The board approved the sheriff’s salary of $150,000 as it is combined with the Emergency Manager position right now.

A new card payment vendor, AllPaid, was approved for the payment of taxes, recorder fees and throughout other departments through the county. Auditor/Treasurer Stephanie Rust mentioned that the previous company was difficult to work with and unable to meet the needs of the county any longer. 

A request from Western Prairie Human Services for the local homeless prevention aid that gets sent to Pope County by the Minnesota Department of Revenue to be transferred to their offices to aid in funding their new or existing family homeless prevention and assistance projects and programs. 

Two property value abatements were approved as well as the payment of county bills. The meeting then went into closed session for a personnel performance evaluation. The next meeting is a work session and will be held on December 12 in the third-floor meeting room.