VALHALLA ROAD WORK READY TO BEGIN

By Joanne Bergman The Murray County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, March 18, 2025 with Commissioner Jackie Meier appearing by interactive technology.

Beth Wilms, Director of Southwest Health and Human Services presented an update. SWHHS is a six county Joint Powers agency providing social services and public health. Each county within the agency is asked for financial support along with support from the State. Grant monies are also utilized. Staff is difficult to recruit and often leave within a short period of time (one year) as recent college graduates become aware of the reality of social services work.

Approval was given to allow Connie Wieneke to hold a County issued credit card for purchases.

The County was asked to hire an expert witness for the County Ditch 11 issues. Half of the cost of $5,000-10,000 will be covered by MCIT (insurance). It was felt that the expertise would be effective during the legal proceedings to recoup the costs following the collapse of Highway 30 onto the ditch system.

Facilities Manager Nathan Wurpts requested approval to refinish the concrete floors in both locker rooms and break room of the new highway department building. The current finish recommended by the architect has proved insufficient. The Commissioners will allow the $10,940 expense only if the architect is contacted prior to the work in the hopes that there could be some reimbursement.

Highway Engineer Randy Groves presented the bid results for two projects. The overlay of CSAH 42 and 47 and CR 67 will cost $2,246,316.70. The bid of Central Specialties was 15% below the estimated cost. The reconstruction of CSAH 13 (Valhalla Road) will fall to Town & Country Excavating LLC at a cost of $4,982,942.40. This was slightly over estimate by 6.45% with work to begin this spring. There had been a delay in permitting and design that did not allow for earlier bidding.

Jenna Peterson will be serving as Assistant County Attorney. She has joined the Smith & Johnson law firm with the departure of Kayla Johnson. Johnson has accepted the position of district judge. With nearly the identical experience as Johnson, Peterson will remain at that same salary.

The Sunrise Terrace committee has met with residents and discussed the proposed increases brought before the Commissioners. As of July 1, apartment rents will increase by $50 a month. They will range from $1200 to $1745 as of that date. Meal costs have been raised by the vendor at $1.00 a meal.

The Plum Creek Library System’s courier van, dubbed DAISY (Delivery Service All Inclusive Serving You), has traveled its last route across the system territory and has been retired. The cargo van logged nearly 200,000 miles and, in 2021, replaced the former delivery vehicle that had provided 450,000 miles of road service for several years.

The new delivery van, named Vincent Van Go, adorned with colorful graphics from head to toe hit the road this week bringing delivery service to the 26 libraries and 13 school locations throughout the system.

The Plum Creek Library Service (PCLS) operates a courier service that delivers interlibrary loans and other materials to the 26 member library locations and 13 schools throughout the 9-county system. Running on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, the van logs weekly an average of 1,046 miles, 4,204 per month, and 50,448 annually, and traverses the counties of Cottonwood, Jackson, Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, and Rock.

PCLS is one of twelve library systems scattered throughout the state. The Minnesota Reciprocal Borrowing Compact ensures that users can access collections owned by any library around the state. Library cardholders in southwestern Minnesota can borrow materials from their local collection or they can easily access over 800,000 items owned by the PCLS-member libraries.

Any item not owned by a PCLS library can be borrowed from anywhere in the state, expanding the collection size to more than 28,000,000 items, including public, school, academic, and special libraries. An efficient delivery system makes access to specialized and valuable information possible no matter where in Minnesota you live.

With the vast amount of information available and rising costs, a single library can’t meet all of the demands placed upon it. The PCLS-member libraries share resources and working together, can achieve common goals as well as meet the needs of the individual communities.

Look for the new courier van as it traverses the miles of highways throughout PCLS, representing the dedicated services that the libraries and staff provide their patrons.