MURRAY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

By Joanne Bergman The Murray County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, August 16, 2022. Auditor Treasurer Heidi Winter presented some statistics in regard to the Primary Election held the previous Tuesday. Murray County mailin precincts averaged a turnout of 36.5% of registered voters. Poll place voters averaged 19.07%. The average voter turnout for the State of Minnesota was near the Murray County average of 24.99%The decision to hold mail in elections is up to the governing leadership of each precinct. A precinct must continue throughout an entire voting cycle once the decision has been made. The contest in Commissioner District 4 found Jackie Meier and Blake Heironimus in the lead over Stacy Wendorff. They will vie for the seat in the November 8th General Election.

There were two ditch pe- titions coming before the Board at this meeting. Judicial Ditch 12, Iona Township Sec. 36 and JD 20A, Shetek Township Sec. 9.

Jim Elsing acted as spokesperson for a committee seeking a resolution supporting their efforts to fund a Safe Way to School and a Walking/ Biking path around the two lakes in Fulda. They have no funds at the present time although they have set up a fund to accept donations. They are seeking the support of all government and community organizations at this time and will be submitting grant requests for the next several years, if necessary.

Human Resources Director Ronda Radke advised the Board of the hiring of Cody Jagow as the new Highway Maintenance Worker. He begins on August 22 at $22.02.

County Highway Engineer Randy Groves asked for approval of a written culvert sales policy. It follows past procedures that were never in written form. Culvert sales are made only to other local government units within Murray County, as culverts are available. All invoices will be sent to the government units with no sales made to private parties.

Solid Waste Administrator Jean Christoffels requested an additional $175,000 to support the Septic Loan Program. The loans are repaid through tax assessment at 4% interest. The program is intended to aid homeowners to replace/upgrade septic systems on their property. Any default on a loan is repaid from the sale of the property in the foreclosure proceedings. Increased costs of septic systems have drained the fund of the original $175,000 allocated in the budget with the bulk of requests normally received in these last months of the year.