Photo by Charlene Corson Selbee
President Shirley Johnson and Vice President Deb Wray, Houston County Historical Society (HCHS), appeared before the Houston County Commission at the board’s August 2 regular meeting. Chairman Greg Myhre, Teresa Walter, Robert (Bob) Burns, Eric Johnson, and Dewey Severson were all present at this meeting. The historical society officers presented the society’s annual report. Johnson declared, “We feel we are an asset to our county.”
Something new this summer was that the summer school students that stopped by to visit the museum. Displays are now being set up for the county fair.
The HCHC needs more volunteers. However, the ladies noted, “We have lots of great volunteers.”
President Johnson shared an example of a researcher that stopped by recently, and spent three hours researching her extended family. In addition, Johnson mentioned that she spent a lot of time with the visitor searching for documents in the museum’s extensive research library.
The ladies explained that they regularly receive acquisitions, and many are duplicates. Since they do not have room to store them, the donations are turned down. To answer a commissioner’s question, “We do hold a sale occasionally. Military uniforms are the hardest to turn down.” It was mentioned that they do not have any Civil War uniforms. If anyone has any, please consider donating them to the Historical Society.
Commissioners received a copy of the group’s projected budget for October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023. The Society’s projected revenue from Houston County levy and matching funds, memberships, memorials, donations, and a rummage sale is $64,500, and operating expenses are estimated at $64,500. Possible projects include a new parking lot south of the new museum building with a sidewalk to the door, painting the Church of the Holy Comforter in Brownsville, and a new roof on the Sheldon Presbyterian Church.
The museum in Caledonia is open year-round, Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. From June through August, it is also open on Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. Johnson and Wray extended an invitation to visit the museum during the Houston County Fair.
The historic Christian Bunge, Jr. store in Eitzen and The Church of the Holy Comforter, Episcopal in Brownsville, are managed by the HCHS. Both are open by appointment.
Commissioner Johnson shared his opinion with fellow commissioners during board reports regarding the Facilities Utilization Study contract with Collaborative Design Group. The agreement was approved at the July 26 commission meeting. Facilities Manager Tess Kruger confirmed that it had not been executed yet. Commissioners agreed to add the Houston County Justice Center to the list of county assets to be evaluated. Commissioner Burns explained, “They are going to talk to department heads about what they need, where they can be, what we can consolidate without duplicating. Do we need as much conference space, or can we get by without? We have a former administrator’s office that sits empty right now, that no one is using. They will look at all of this and make recommendations to us to be more efficient in utilizing our space.”
In other business, the board:
• Reassigned Jordan Goeden from Highway Maintenance Specialist to Highway Maintenance Foreman and assigned Goeden a county pickup truck to take home from October 23, 2022, to March 25, 2023, to conduct after-hours road inspections due to inclement weather. In addition, Human Resources will begin a competitive search for a probationary highway maintenance specialist.
• Established the ballot board for Absentee and Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) for the 2022 primary and general election. The following are appointed to the board: Donna Trehus, Polly Heberlein, Kathlene Barnet, Nikki Konkel, Julie Schleich, Heidi Lapham, Mary Betz, Michelle Werner, Ella Babinski, and Annette Christian.
• Appointed Craig Schroeder, Caledonia resident and senior lender at Rushford State Bank in Houston, to the Economic Development Authority (EDA) board as of July 6, 2022, for a three-year term. EDA Director Allison Wagner noted that the EDA board has not had an entire board, and now it does.
At 10:24 a.m., commissioners went into a closed meeting pursuant to Minn. Stat. §13D.05, Subd. 3. (a) to evaluate the performance of an individual who is subject to its authority. Commissioners evaluated two employees.
The next regularly scheduled Houston County Commission meeting is Tuesday, August 9, at 9 a.m. in the County Commission Board Room 222, located on the second floor in the Historic County Courthouse, Caledonia, or via the county conference call line (312) 626-6700 enter ID: 994-7297-7175 and password 368422. Public attendees are requested to mute their line until addressed.
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