Posted: 8/9/05
Joint Board of Health approves grant
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
The Houston and Fillmore Joint Board of Health approved an application for a Safe Communities Grant during its meeting on August 2.
The vote and discussion were done by teleconference using a speaker phone.
Houston County will use its share of the $15,000 grant to educate parents about child car seats, and for a pilot project called Toward Zero Deaths, Heather Myhre, a Houston County health educator, told the groups.
Toward Zero Death is a multi-agency partnership intended to raise awareness of traffic safety issues and to develop tools that can be used to reduce the number of deaths and injuries resulting from traffic accidents in Minnesota.
Fillmore County Sheriff Darryl Jensen he supports the program. Fillmore County commissioner Chuck Amerud said he is encouraging more funding for transportation and engineering, which goes with the focus on safe driving.
Personnel changes
At the regular Houston County Board meeting, the board approved several personnel items at the meeting.
Part-time public health nurses Connie Lueck and Jan Lochner were moved to full-time status.
The board also approved a request from public health director Linda Grupa to have her hours temporarily reduced to .8 time so that she could do continuing education this fall.
Christopher Graw was added as a drop site supervisor to be used as needed.
Jail dispatcher Daphne Fischer was changed from probationary to regular.
Cost of copies reduced
The board also approved a legislative directive that puts uniform prices on copies for the public. The hourly rate for copy work is now $16.80. It had been $35 an hour.
The per piece rate is now 25 cents per copy up to 100. It has been 50 cents a page.
Commissioner Kevin Kelleher called the change ́ridiculous.î
́It seems a little like micro-managing,î personnel director Tim Comstock added.
Another bridge project coming
The board approved letting bids for a bridge replacement on County Road 4 (Yucatan Road) over Riceford Creek in Yucatan Township.
Bids will be let on September 12, and it should be completed this fall, interim county engineer Kermit McRae said.
The new free-span bridge will be 112 feet long and 36 feet wide, compared to the current bridge of 60x25. A bypass will be built upstream so no detour will be necessary.
Interviews for a new county engineer were held on August 1.
New deputy coming
In the reports section of the meeting, Tom Bjerke said that five deputies had been interviewed, and that a good candidate had emerged. He said a background check would be done, and it could come to the board for approval on August 9.
Auditor Pete Johnson said the board will have to adopt a proposed budget by its September 13 meeting to meet the stateís deadline of September 15. Commissioners said they will look at preliminary budgets on August 23 and August 30.
Precinct counters too
Johnson also talked about the election changes that will take effect in 2006. New precinct counter pieces are going to be purchased, and will need to have a storage space.
The counter pieces count the ballots as they are submitted at precincts. They keep a running total for each office. At the end of the evening, a tape is printed that gives the total results. This will replace the central counter that the county has used in the past.
Johnson said cities and townships could send a person to test the machines, take them to the polling place, set them up, then return them to the county.
́This is going to involve a lot of training too,î he said.
Proper storage of the machines is important because they must be in a climate-controlled space, he said.
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