By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
In an effort to make rural roads safer, the Houston County Board approved Phase II or the Township Sign Program during the Sept. 16 board meeting. According to Highway Engineer Marcus Evans, Phase I of the program had been approved by the county earlier, and once Phase II is approved, the county will be able to begin administrating the program.
All 17 townships in Houston County will be participating in the program, which will replace and/or locate approximately 4,000 new traffic and caution signs along the 450 miles of township roads.
According to Caledonia Township Supervisor Kermit McRae, the federal government will pay for 80 percent of the program, the state will kick in 15 percent, and the townships will cover the other five percent.
At somewhere between $200 and $300 per sign to manufacture and install, the total cost of the program has been estimated at between $800,000 and $1.2 million.
“This is a very important program for not only the townships in Houston County, but also everyone who drives the township roads,”
McRae noted. “It’s the best way to make our roads safer. The last sign program on our township roads was done in the 1980s, with a commitment to continue the program.”
In other board action:
Consultant retained
Evans updated the board on the potential site for the new county highway department headquarters, which is an approximately 20-acre section of land located on Highway 76 just north of the Caledonia Area Middle School/High School complex.
Evans, Commissioner Larry Connery, and Jeff Oertel of Oertel Architects, St. Paul, recently toured the property to get a better lay of the land, and perspective of where the buildings might be located. Evans recommended the county retain Oertel’s services to design a site plan, and then work with Caledonia city staff to develop the property.
“Jeff has over 30 years experience developing sites for projects like ours,” Evans said. “His firm could provide the site layout, building layout, and a water run-off and ponding plan. Those are all components required to move forward with this project.”
According to Evans, Oertel estimated the amount of work required for this portion of the planning stages would cost between $4,000 and $8,000. Evans added Oertel has conducted similar work in the area, the most recent being the Olmsted County Public Works building.
“Jeff would come up with a foot print as to where everything would be located. He could also take the needs of the county, come up with the best fit for the property, make it as economically feasible as possible, and also have the potential for expansion built into it,” Evans added.
A motion made by Commissioner Dave Corcoran and seconded by Connery was unanimously approved.
County assessor will stay
Personnel Director Tim Comstock informed the board that the term for the appointment of the county assessor is four years. Current Houston County Assessor Tom Dybing’s term will expire at the end of the year.
“If the board does not intend to reappoint a county assessor who has been certified by the State Board of Assessors, the county board must present written notice to the county assessor not later than 90 days prior to the termination,” Comstock told the board. “If written notice is not timely made, the county assessor will automatically be reappointed. What are the wishes of the board,” Comstock asked?
Connery said he felt Dybing was doing an excellent job and made a motion to appoint him for four more years. His motion was seconded by Corcoran and unanimously approved.
Comparable worth reviews
Every political subdivision is required to use a job evaluation system in order to determine the “comparable work value” of the work performed by each class of its employees, according to Comstock. The system must be maintained and updated to account for new employee classes and any changes in factors affecting the comparable work value of existing classes.
Comstock continued that the county attempts to conduct a review of about 25 percent of the county’s workforce each year. This year his department will review approximately 20 positions in the sheriff, assessor, recorder, and human services departments.
Smoking rates falling
Kerri Gordon and Ann St. Claire of ClearWay Minnesota apprised the board of the progress being made in reducing tobacco use. The survey, which was conducted by ClearWay Minnesota, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Department of Health, found that the state’s adult smoking rate has declined to a new low of 17 percent. The figure is down approximately five percent from 1999 and represents 164,000 fewer smokers in Minnesota.
Minnesota’s declines are impressive compared to national trends, where smoking rates appear to have leveled at about 20 percent since 2004.
According to Gordon, the survey was taken before Minnesota went “smoke free” last October. Many experts feel the smoke free law that went into affect nearly a year ago will show an even lower percentage of smokers in the state.
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