Fillmore County Approves Ambulance Contracts for 2025

Ambulance Contract Service payouts were approved at the board’s March 25 meeting.

The county agrees to pay each of the services $6,000 during the term of the agreements for the period of January 1 through December 31, 2025. The ambulance services agreements include Chatfield, Harmony, Lanesboro/pay to Preston, Mabel, Preston, Rushford and Spring Valley.

Other Business in Brief

• A PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) special assessment of Green Terrace Properties, LLC. in the city of Rushford owned by Ryan Ruberg was approved. The Saint Paul Port Authority requested Fillmore County to place the property special assessments on this property. The assessment is $97,500 payable over 10 years with an interest rate of 6% beginning in 2026. The assessment will help finance a solar system.
• Four bids were submitted for the surface reconditioning project on CSAH 17. The low bid submitted by Croell, Inc. in the amount of $2,893,265.43 was approved. The engineer’s estimate for the project was $3,748,520.95.
• The board agreed to the terms and conditions for a grant in the amount of $257,732.50 from the Minnesota local bridge replacement program to replace a bridge. If there is an overage on the bridge project, the county will be responsible for that amount.
• An application for safety grant funds toward the purchase of safety equipment for the Preston Shop and/or other county shops was discussed. This will be brought back at a future meeting.
• Approval was granted for a limited services agreement with Hiawatha Valley Mental Health Center. Social services manager Wanda Berg explained the services are related to a local advisory committee and they will all be paid for out of the Adult Mental Health Initiative grant.
• The 2023 Emergency Management Performance Grant agreement with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety that was effective on January 1, 2023 (expires June, 2025) was approved. The agreement amount was $20,765 requiring an equal matching amount. Emergency Manager Jason Harmening said the funds go toward wages and benefits. The appropriate signatures will allow the it to be submitted to the state for funding.

Approval was granted to apply for the 2024 Emergency Management Performance Grant.

• The amended PTO policy was approved. The policy was basically unchanged except for the deletion of one sentence: “Any unused ESST (earned sick and safe time) will be paid out at the end of the year.”