By Joanne Bergman The Murray County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, October 25, 2022. Commissioner Molly Malone serves as chair of the board. Also present were Commissioners Dave Thiner, Dennis Welgraven, Jim Kluis and Lori Gunnink.
Brad Odegard provided an update of the probation services and probation supervision provided to Murray County. He acts as supervisor of a five county area. With Odegard were two probation officers serving Murray County on a weekly basis dealing with adults and juveniles under court order for probation. The number of cases each of them handles fluctuates from year to year. They did note that juvenile cases have decreased with domestic abuses increasing in recent years. Efforts are made to divert juveniles through counseling and activities to bring awareness of the effect of their actions.
Auditor Treasurer Heidi Winter presented the ditch bills for approval. They showed a total of $13,015 as payment for Redetermination of Benefits on a list of ditches. County Administrator Carolyn McDonald presented a lease agreement for 2023 for the Southwest Health & Human Services building at 3001 Maple Rd. A rental fee of $8,000 each month is to be paid. In addition, the cost of providing a dedicated internet line will need to be reimbursed to the county.
All of the Commissioners indicated they would be attending the District 8 Fall Meeting in Wabasso on October 27.
Human Resources Director Ronda Radke reported that following the interview process McKenna Schreier was hired as the Extension County Support person at $20.90 hr for 3220 hours a week. The County will continue to pay $746 of a single employee’s Blue Cross/ Blue Shield health insurance. The amount doubles to $1424 for a family policy. The deductible has increased for that insurance from $2800 to $3000 due to IRS regulations. A large number of employees have opted for a $5,000 or $10,000 deductible.
McDonald has been in contact with the Slayton Fire Department captain Chris Le-Tendre to discuss the use of the Doom property for training drills. The Commissioners were in agreement with the stipulation that the structure remains intact and that there is no insurance liability to the County.
By November 1st, a claim will be filed with the MN Legislative Claims Committee for restitution of the costs incurred by Murray County due to the nonpayment of expenses related to the repairs and realignment of County Ditch 11 in 2017. TH 30 collapsed the drainage tile under the roadway. In an emergency session the County had agreed to forego the normal hearing process to realign the tile to facilitate a quick repair of the roadway. Mn Dot at that time agreed to cover the costs of moving the tile line outside of the roadway. Despite numerous legal attempts since 2017 to secure the payment of the $85,119.22 considered to be DOT expense, no payment has been received. The ditch was built in 1904. The highway was built on plans submitted on December 8, 1931 with the location of the drainage tile indicated at that time. The Legislative Claims Committee will review the documents submitted and possibly hold a hearing on the matter.
