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County goes after state funding for proposed Public Works Facility
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
“I still think we’ve got a good chance of getting it (the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Grant to help fund the proposed Houston County Public Works Facility). But with all of the accountability issues to make sure the federal stimulus money is used properly, it’s taking more time than the government thought. In the mean time, I felt we might as well see if we could get any help from the state.”
That’s the way Houston County Financial Director Casey Bradley summed up his request to have the county make an application for the 2010 Capital Bonding Fund. The county board unanimously approved a motion to request $4.057 million (half the estimated cost of the Public Works Facility) to be included in the next funding cycle by the state during the June 16 board meeting.
One week earlier the board approved a resolution requesting the State of Minnesota to include $9.526 million in the 2010 Capital Bonding Fund to help pay for the proposed criminal justice center in Caledonia. All Capital Bonding Fund requests had to be submitted to the state by June 25.
Bradley said the state has not approved public works projects in the Capital Bonding Fund in the past. But there have been some jails that received state help.
“The state wants counties to collaborate with each other,” Bradley told the board. “But Houston County is in a unique situation, as we border on two sides with other states, and neither Winona or Fillmore counties are looking to build new jails.” Houston County has a one in four chance of receiving approval by the state. According to Bradley in 2008, the state doled out $1 of funding for every $4 of requests.
Houston County was one of just a handful of government entities that applied for the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Grant program to help fund the Public Works Facility this past winter. The program, which is administered through the Federal EDA, was one of the first stimulus programs.
In order to qualify for the federal program, the county was required to have the Public Works Facility project “shovel ready” by July 1. The county spent quite a bit of money in land acquisition ($328,000) and over $90,000 in pre-design work, to be ready for the July 1 deadline. As of June 17, Bradley had not received any word on the status of Houston County’s application.
In other board action:
County to give “e-work” a try
Director of Human Services Beth Wilms requested the board consider having two staffers working from their homes. She explained that telecommuting, or e-working, is being embraced all over the country. With high-speed Internet service, persons are able to conduct the bulk of their work from home.
In metropolitan areas, e-work is being encouraged because it means less people clogging up the freeways commuting to and from the office each day. Studies have indicated that persons working from home can actually be more productive, since they don’t have to deal with traffic jams and weather-related issues.
Wilms presented the board with an in-depth set of criteria that would have to be met in order to qualify an employee to telecommute.
County employees may be considered for telecommuting if:
•Client service does not decrease.
•The duties can be fulfilled within the telecommuting structure.
•The telecommuting arrangement provides for space savings or increases productivity.
•Working at home will not increase the workload of other staff.
•Working at home will not disrupt the work of other staff.
•The employee’s performance, work habits and abilities are conducive to working from home.
•The employee meets the working at home procedure and selection criteria.
•The employee successfully completes the mandatory telecommuting orientation.
•The county computer systems the employee uses in performance of their function can be accessed effectively through remote access.
“We’d like to try a six-month test run of this,” Wilms told the board.
Commissioner Tom Bjerke asked if some type of productivity test could be conducted. Wilms said they would be able to do so.
Bradley noted that the six-month trial run with two employees would not cost the county any additional money in technical costs. He added the county has several laptops that are not currently being used that could be put into service for the six-month test.
Wilms said there is a potential of having between 15 and 20 percent of the county employees e-working if things work out. In that case, there would be some cost to the county for technical issues. She suggested checking to see if there might be some type of EDA grant to help pay for the technical costs.
Employees who would be e-working would still be required to come into an office to go through regular mail and to attend staff meetings.
A motion made by Commissioner Jack Miller and seconded by Commissioner Bob Augedahl to let two county employees work from their homes on a six-month trial basis was unanimously approved.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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