Wadena County awards gravel crushing bid

The Wadena County board awarded the bid for the highway department's gravel crushing operation to the low bidder at their June 2 meeting.

Northern Aggregate of Ogilvie was the successful bidder at $77,106. Two bids had been received.

The board decided to cancel the scheduled annual commissioners' county road tour to save money. In recent years, this one-day event has included the five commissioners, the auditor/treasurer, the county engineer, assistant engineer, and members of the media. The county engineer selects the route to show commissioners the recently completed road repairs, construction and the roads the engineer believes need work to be done.

Instead of the full-scale road tour this year, County Engineer Joel Ulring agreed to take Commissioners Ralph Miller and Rodney Bounds on a personal tour of the roads later in the summer.

Ulring requested permission to spend budgeted funds to purchase a used car to replace a 20-year-old truck. The board denied the request.

Ulring also requested approval of a plan to enlarge and pave more spaces for employee parking at the highway eepartment building. Now that university extension has moved their offices to the highway department, the parking situation there has become a problem, Ulring indicated.

He obtained two estimates of about $30,000 for paving the parking and drive areas of both the north and south sides of the building. The board asked Ulring to advertise for quotes on the paving project and bring the information back to the board.

In other matters, the county board:

o APPROVED a Conditional Use Permit for Daniel and Tamatha Gilster to operate a children's daycare on their property located in Section 12 of Meadow Township in an A-2 district.

o HEARD Brian Nasi, executive director of South Country Health Alliance (SCHA), report on his organization. SCHA provides health care services to 14 Minnesota counties, including Wadena. Nasi's report stated that SCHA was recovering from its financial struggles in 2007 and 2008, when it operated in the red, and expected to operate in the black in 2009.

o VOTED to pay the first half allocation to two of the organizations for which it provides partial support: Kitchigami Regional Library System and Old Wadena Society.

o VOTED to approve all but two of the budget cuts discussed at the May 28 special board meeting with department heads. A total of $509,761 was cut from the 2009 budget. These cuts were made in anticipation of Governor Pawlenty's promised "unallotment" of county program aid, scheduled to occur soon after July 1, 2009.

o REVIEWED copies of state statutes in response to Comm. Bounds, who had questioned the Otter Tail Wadena Community Action Council's tax exempt status at a recent county board meeting. OTWCAC was one of several individuals and organizations requesting abatement of property taxes in May. The statute indicates that OTWCAC is a political subdivision of the state or meets other requirements which entitle OTWCAC to be exempt from property taxes. Bounds continued to insist that OTWCAC should be taxed because it engages in activities which earn money.

The next regular meeting of the Wadena County Board is scheduled for June 18 at 9 a.m. at the Courthouse.