At the May 7 meeting of the county board, a resolution authorizing the execution of the MnDOT Grant Agreement for airport improvement excluding land acquisition was approved.
Pam Schroeder, airport office manager, explained the county did receive a grant from the state which can be used for three pieces of equipment for the airport. The total amount of the grant available is just over $55,000. Invoices will need to be submitted to the state for any portion of the grant to be used by the county. Any unused portion of the grant will remain with the state. Three bids were obtained for each piece of equipment. The state will pay about 70% of the cost and the county will be responsible for the other 30%.
The three equipment purchases were recommended by the Airport Committee.
Approval was granted for the purchase of a 2024 Massy compact tractor from Marzolf Implement, after trade costing $21,787. The county portion is $5,302.78.
Approval was granted for the purchase of a 2024 batwing Woods mower from Hammell Equipment, after trade costing $15,880. The county portion is $4,236.81.
Approval was granted for the purchase of a 2024 John Deere zero turn mower from Preston Equipment at a cost of $14,600 (no trade). The county portion is $4,380. Gregg announced that they had received an award for the new Airport Terminal building from the Minnesota Council of Airports. Schroeder said the Fillmore County Airport was one out of nine airports in the nation of its size that had received the grant. The Federal Aviation Administration grant in the amount of $950,000 was part of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act signed into law in November 2021.
Highway
County Engineer Ron Gregg asked for and received approval to proceed with the removal of a bridge on Lost Loop (behind the Chatfield shop). The low bid from Icon Constructors LLC in the amount of $145,000 was approved. This is a Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) project.
Gregg suggested they go ahead with bituminous surface repairs on CSAH 1 within the city limits of Spring Valley. This will be an extension of the CSAH 1 concrete overlay project to the west Spring Valley city limit. It will basically tie in with the concrete project. He explained there are two different pots of funding, one for rural county roads and one for county roads within a municipality. The city will not be able to finance utility improvements under the city portion of CSAH 1 at this time. But something needs to be done in the meantime. A quote from Ulland Brothers in the amount of $115,120 was approved to do the bituminous surface repairs using LOST funds. Work will likely start in late May. Chairman Duane Bakke voted no. He agreed it is the right use of money, but he disagreed with the timing as it will need to be torn up again when the city can finance utility improvements.
Aggregate rock bids for a list of specific roads submitted by Bruening Rock Products, when they were the low bidder, were approved. Aggregate rock bids for a list of specific roads submitted by Milestone Materials, when they were the low bidder, were approved.
Other Business in Brief
- Jill Huffman, MiBroadband, LLC, explained the Spring Valley/Chester project was not awarded during round nine of the state Border to Border broadband grant. Huffman noted, “We are not abandoning the project; we are moving to a different funding area. We are reapplying for the north Chester area only, reducing the size of the project.” The board approved the $75,000 loan for this project as requested along with a letter of support for the north Chester project.
Huffman added they will apply to a different program for rural Spring Valley.
- A resolution for snowmobile funding for the 2024-2025 season for Bluff Valley Riders, Mabel-Canton Trail Busters, Hiawatha I & II and Tri-County Trailblazers was adopted.
- An amendment to the provider participation agreement between UCARE Minnesota and Fillmore County was approved. Certain screening services will be reimbursed.
- Christy Smith, finance director, recommended a very low interest $10,000 AgBMP CD started in 2006 as collateral should be closed and put into the main checking account. Approval was given to close the CD as recommended.
A $500,000 CD is maturing. Smith provided two options to the board. The board voted to put the money into a First Southeast Bank CD for 12 months with an interest rate of 5.3%.
- Payment of Paybook #12 for the Jail Project in the total amount of $651,060.27 was approved.
- The board approved 2023 committed, restricted, and assigned fund balances as presented for the audit.
- Marcus Plaehn was appointed as District 3 representative on the EDA Committee.
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