The Houston County Board of Commissioners made a long-awaited decision regarding the Minnesota shotgun/rifle law at the board’s regular meeting on April 7. The vote was 3-2, with Commissioners Cindy Wright, Kurt Zehnder, and Greg Myhre voting in favor of the ban, and Commissioners Eric Johnson and Bob Schuldt voting against it.
Clayton Johnson, Black Hammer Township; Dan Vesterse, Spring Grove; and Mike Moen, Spring Grove, appeared before the board in support of banning the use of rifles for deer hunting. Johnson said that opposition to the use of rifles is about safety for everybody.
Vesterse said that if the board is going to vote on what the people want, he suggested looking back at the first public hearing, which he said was 72% to 28% in favor of shotguns. At the second public hearing, it was stated that it was 60% to 40% in favor of rifles. With both totals added together, those in favor of staying shotgun only are still in the majority. He added that there are more than 280 signatures on a petition against allowing rifles for deer hunting.
Mike Moen, of Spring Grove, urged the board to return to shotguns only. “My biggest issue is safety,” he said, noting that many owners of small acreages – 20 to 30 acres – were unaware of the change and want to leave it as shotgun only.
Commissioner Wright said she has spoken with 120 to 130 people, in addition to the public forums; 75% of those people said they are opposed to rifles. She said she would base her decision on what community members want. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” she added, which has been said many times.
Commissioner Zehnder explained, before seconding the motion, that he had also listened to people not only from District 3 but from surrounding townships. He said he was going to stay true to his word and that, after counting everything up, the majority want to stay shotgun only. “So, I will stay with the majority and second it,” he said.
To a round of applause, Chairman Myhre announced it will be “shotgun only in Houston County.”
The seats were filled with Houston County residents wishing to share their opinions regarding action item No. 5 – a text amendment to the zoning ordinance on mine density standards. All that spoke urged the commissioners to restore the ½ mile mine density standard as approved in 2015.
Jackie Baker, one of the applicants on the agenda today and a resident of Yucatan Township who lives next to a sand mine, said, “We are here to ask you to respectfully reinstate the ½ mile density standard between all mines. This request on your agenda today does not ban sand mining. It simply restores reasonable spacing, so mining can occur responsible without over concentration. Our application directly supports the land use plan that was previously discussed.”
Motion by Commissioner Wright and seconded by Commissioner Schuldt to table the text amendment on mine density standards to allow commissioners to do more research. The board voted by roll call, with Commissioners Wright, Zehnder, Schuldt and Myhre voting in the affirmative, and Commissioner Johnson voting no.
The meeting agenda and the minutes from the March 24 regular commission meeting were unanimously approved.
The consent agenda was also approved. County Coordinator Brent Parker confirmed that payments have been moved from action items to the consent agenda. The commissioners thanked Carrie O’Hern and Liza Jandt for their 82 years of combined service to the county. The employment status of McKinley Sisson, jailer/dispatcher, was changed from probationary to regular.
Amelia Meiners presented three Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) for approval from Scott Standish, Gabriel Howe, and Thomas and Colleen Niebeling.
The board accepted County Engineer Brian Pogodzinski’s recommendation to award the 2026 chloride bid to Bluff Country Brine. The bid is $1.538 per gallon to deliver the chloride, and $1.68 per gallon for chloride to be delivered and applied.
In other business, the board:
- Approved the replacement of the overhead garage doors at the Spring Grove shop;
- Accepted a low bid from Addco Acquisition, LLC, for message boards at a cost of $25,122;
- Approved changing Jordan Knoke’s title from Public Health Supervisor to Public Health Director due to restructuring;
- Approved changing the county’s current tax software to CPT (Counties Providing Technology);
- Approved a three-year contract with the Darktrace cybersecurity platform to further protect the county’s network and data.
Parker reminded the board of the upcoming Brain Health, Aging, and Dementia presentations on April 9 and the Clean Sweep event on April 25.
Leave a Reply