At a relatively brief November 13 Fillmore County Board meeting, the size limitations due to funding for the proposed veterans home in Preston were discussed.
Commissioner Duane Bakke reported on a November 8 planning meeting in Preston with representatives from the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs. The proposal for a 72 bed home may not be possible due to limited funding. How big of facility will be affordable in Preston? Funds from the state, city, county, other area government units and individual donations are eligible for the 2:1 federal match. However, that only adds up to roughly $33 million at this time.
Montevideo and Bemidji are looking at available funding of $41 to $46 million, which should be sufficient to support a 72 bed facility in each area. The funding at this point for Preston will support only a 54 bed facility. Chairman Mitch Lentz suggested we could do more if the county board and city of Preston are willing to. Commissioner Randy Dahl responded he is not ready to do that.
It would take about $3 million more of local or state funding eligible for the 2:1 federal match to build the fourth “pod” consisting of 18 beds. This could achieve the originally planned 72 bed facility. Lentz stated he was “very disappointed” falling short of this goal. There is a time element as they are already in the predesign process.
Bakke suggested that 25% less beds will not necessarily result in an equal percentage reduction in employees. He estimated the reduction of employment at the smaller facility will likely be about 10% compared to that of a 72 bed facility.
Bakke noted there may be a possibility of building the fourth pod in the future, but it would not likely include federal funding. He added that all pods will be capable of providing memory care. Bakke concluded, “Fifty-four is better than zero.”
Other business in brief
•Doug Lind and Aaren Mathison, Fillmore County Ag Society, personally thanked the board for their financial assistance in the amount of $7,000 to help pay for concrete repairs needed inside and in front of the Fairground’s building used for storing Rochester City Line buses. Lind said the job is complete.
•Darrell Schmitt, highway engineer technician supervisor, requested and received approval for final payment to Minnowa Construction in the amount of $6,870.44 for a completed Beaver Township project.
Brent Kohn, maintenance superintendent, requested approval to purchase three skid loader attachments. Twenty thousand dollars had been budgeted for attachments. Three bids were obtained for each attachment. The low bids from Bobcat for a hydraulic hammer at $6,114.50 and for an auger at $1,967.43 were approved. Kohn recommended a 72-inch land plane be purchased from Ziegler, even though it was higher than the other bids at $2,938. He said the Ziegler unit was heavier built and should last a lot longer. The purchase of a land plane was approved as recommended.
•Voting delegates for the Association of Minnesota Counties 2018 Annual meeting were approved (commissioners Mitch Lentz, Duane Bakke, Gary Peterson, Randy Dahl, Coordinator Bobbie Vickerman, Social Services Director Kevin Olson, Director of Nursing Jessica Erickson, and auditor/treasurer elect Heidi Jones). VSO Jason Marquardt will attend in his capacity with the Minnesota Association County Veterans Service Officers (MACVSO). Assignments were also made to various committees at the AMC annual conference to be held on December 2-4.
•Commissioner Marc Prestby congratulated Jessica Erickson on her appointment as Community Health Services (CHS) administrator for the Houston-Fillmore Joint Board of Health.
•State Senator Jeremy Miller (R-Fillmore, Houston Counties) will serve as the new Senate President during the upcoming legislative session.
At the December 18 board meeting at 9:30 a.m., Representative Greg Davids and Senator Jeremy Miller will be present to listen to 2019 legislative priorities and to make comments.