BRAINERD — Originally planned for 2025, a reconditioning project for Highway 12 is expected to be done yet this year. When state funds were reduced, related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was slated to be delayed to 2025. Crow Wing County received a Federal Surface Transportation Block Grant of $2,102,204 in 2022 for use in 2025.
An agreement with the Minnesota Department of Transportation allows the project to be completed in 2024 instead. With the agreement, the county will use other funding sources to advance the project, and federal funds will reimburse the county for the grant amount in 2025. Plans are to recondition the pavement on Highway 12 from Highway 6 to Highway 210.
The Crow Wing County Board approved the agreement at the Tuesday, Aug. 13, meeting. In other business , the County Board: ADVERTISEMENT Heard from Sheriff Eric Klang they are narrowing their choice for a new record management system.
Klang said they’ve had the current system for 17 years, and it is outdated, with a new one providing better data. Commissioner Paul Koering said Commissioner Doug Houge talked to the Deerwood City Council about their payment toward the record management system, which could go up to about $15,000, representing a lot of money for a small community. “So currently they're all roughly paying around like $3,000 bucks, $3,000 to $4,000 and it's going to go up quite significantly,” Klang said.
Klang said they paid about $1.2 million for the record system 17 years ago and could not get that same system for that money today. The current yearly maintenance contract with the current system is about $255,000 a year and the new one will be about $500,000 a year.
Klang said his point in going to the councils was to give them a heads-up so they can start preparing for it. “We're not going to have the same luxury of having, you know, paying only $3,000 a year on a maintenance contract. It's going to be going up,” Klang said, adding it may be two years out as they have grant funding.
More of the funding discussion is expected for the board’s Aug. 22 budget committee agenda regarding costs and some of the funding sources. In personnel changes : Matthew Pepper, a health technician at the jail, and Kalsey Stults, health educator with Community Services, both resigned.
Stults noted she started a job at Sourcewell this month on Facebook. Losing employees to Sourcewell has been a returning theme at County Board meetings. Kathy Delaney, social worker with Community Services, retired.
New hires included: Autumn Jordan, probation agent; Lois Nacey, Robert Nacey, James Tropp, Patrick Harding and Brian Brewer, all with start dates of Aug. 12, in new positions as part-time intermittent bailiffs. Other hires included: Tara Kreller, 911 dispatcher; Benjamin Fogarty, forester; Cory Wientjes, environmental services technician; Amy Holmberg, social worker.
Approved right-of-way acquisition for turn and bypass lanes for a resurfacing project for Highway 1 between County Highway 66 and State Highway 6 set for 2025. Approved advertising for bids to re-establish and protect a slope next to County Road 133 at the Sunset Lake crossing, 5 miles southeast of Deerwood. The county reported the slope has been eroding for years.
Local Option Sales Tax dollars will fund the project. ADVERTISEMENT Approved the continuation of a landfill reimbursement program , which allows nonprofits to apply for a $1,000 rebate for landfill disposal costs. The program started in 2019 as a trial.
The county reported there were two applications the first year with one rebate paid to Salem West and one that was denied for not meeting the criteria. No applications were received in 2020. One was paid for $964 in 2021, two paid for a total of $836 in 2022, three paid for a total of $3,000 in 2023 and so far a total of $2,000 in 2024.
The county reported updates clarified requirements. People must dispose of the waste in the county’s landfill. Set a public hearing for 9:05 a.
m. Sept. 10 to consider amendments to the Crow Wing County solid waste ordinance.
Approved a preliminary plat for Barbeau Road Townhomes for 15 total lots to create seven duplexes on 14 lots and keep one outlot. The land is zoned rural residential 2.5 acres.
Onside septic systems are planned. The homes will be constructed on the private road Piper Lane, a cul-de-sac. The development will have 14 units with shared wells.
The land is in Unorganized Territory in the First Assessment District off Barbeau Road, which is west of Highway 371, north of Baxter. Approved a preliminary plat for Ohlen’s Landing for seven lots, which is a replat from The Homestead established in 2000 on Bass Lake in Center Township. The previous plat has one lot with lake access.
The plat was straightened out to give other property owners lake access. Set a public hearing at 9:15 a.m.
Sept. 10 as the town board for Unorganized Territory regarding a petition to vacate part of Maple Drive, which is now known as Elm Drive, in the First Assessment District. The road is on the plat of Ojibwa Park.
The road dead-ends as one lot and has not been maintained by the county. Renee Richardson, managing editor, may be reached at 218-855-5852 or renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.
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