• Pope County voter turnout was at 85.4% 

By Tim Douglass

tdouglass@pctribune.com

Pope County Auditor/Treasurer Stephanie Rust updated the Pope County Board on the recent General Election and introduced her staff to commissioners.

She told the board that it was a very busy election for her and her staff at the Courthouse, which is the primary voting place for many precincts in Pope County.  Of the 31 precincts in Pope County, she said, 17 of them are mail-in precincts so residents in those precincts vote in person at the Auditor/Treasurers office on the first floor of the Pope County Courthouse.  

In this year’s election, there were 7, 880 registered Pope County voters at the beginning of the election period.  There were 613 newly registered for the election, bringing the total registered voters to 8,492.

“And we had 7,260 who voted, she added.  “That means 85.4 percent of Pope County’s registered voters voted in the election.”  That turnout was higher than the state average, which was the highest in the nation at 76.4 percent.

Rust said there was an influx of people coming to the Courthouse to vote in person on the Monday before the election and on Election Day (Tuesday).  She said many voters came without their “mailed ballot” and that took staff extra time because they had to spoil that ballot and go through the process of issuing another ballot.  She also stated that, depending on the precinct, there were 48 different ballots printed for Pope County precincts. The process if someone was voting and didn’t have a ballot took about five to seven minutes, Rust explained.  She said there were 460 voters that went through the office alone on Tuesday, meaning staff could process only about 35 ballots per hour.  

“That made for quite a crazy day,” she added. “But all-in-all it went very well with the election running smoothly.”  Pope County is fortunate to have the dedicated and knowledgeable staff in the election office, she added.

Paul Gerde, chair of the Pope County Board, thanked Rust and her staff for their work and dedication to the election.  Rust stated that most voters were very positive during the election day voting with more voters saying thank you to workers.  “I heard that from township and city clerks and judges as well,” Rust added.  “There were no instances of any bad situations, like there had been in the past,” she said.

Commissioner Larry Lindor also thanked Rust and the staff.  “You are people who are professionals and serious about what you do,” he said.  Commissioner Gordy Wagner agreed and asked if Rust knew the cost of running an election in Pope County.  She said she did not yet have a final figure on the recent election, but estimated that it costs about $30,000 to run an election in Pope County on average.

Rust also said that because of the increase in “mail-in” precincts, she was going to ask precincts to provide a judge that could be trained and help out at the county office for future general elections.  

   In other business, the county board:

• Approved the acquisition by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of Land in Fee Title for Sievers Trust in Gilchrist Township. The purchase in fee title was for 105.81 acres in section 1 of Gilchrist Township.  Gerde said he thought the policy was that there was no reason to purchase land if an easement already exists.  Bruce Fenske, representing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed, stating that this was only the third time he has seen that in 15 years.

•Approved the purchase of a new Yetti mobile command center/trailer for the Pope County Sheriff’s Office.  The new unit replaces the current “camper-style” model owned by the county.  The cost of the command center/trailer is $54,000 which will  be paid out of the one-time allotment public safety monies to the county, not levy dollars.

• Approved final payment of three completed projects requested by Pope County Engineer Brian Giese.  The first was the bituminous overlay project on CSAH 18 between Highway 29 and Highway 104.  The prime contractor was Central Specialties of Alexandria.  The total project cost was $2,601,607.18.  The project was funded with a Local Road Improvement Program grant of $965,000 with the balance of the project cost funded by Regular State Aid Construction funding.  The final amount due to the contractor was $26,016.07

The second project completed was the bituminous overlay project on CSAH 15 between CSAH 28 and the North County Line.  The prime contractor was Mark Sand and Gravel Co. of Fergus Falls.  The total project cost was $852,874.91.  The project was funded with Regular State Aid Construction funds.  The final amount due to the contractor was $8528.75.

The third project completed was the aggregate stockpile project.  The contractor was Mark Sand and Gravel Co. of Fergus Falls.  The original contract called for production of 30,000 cubic yards of modified Class 5 aggregate surfacing material.  The final quantity produced was measured to be 33,453 cubic yards.  A 1% deduction was applied upon agreement for failing material tests.  The total cost of aggregate production under this contract was $155,986.64.  The project was funded with local funds.

• Appointed Ralph Hanson, a Land Use Specialist in the Land and Resource Management Office, as the successor agricultural inspector, taking over for Barry Bouwman, who retired October 31.