Re-use building,vehicle purchases approved

During their July 21 meeting, members of the Waseca County Board of Commissioners signed a contract with WEB Construction of Mankato for a $245,000 re-use building to be located at the county solid waste facility along State Highway 13 south of Waseca. The re-use building will be a place to display items which enter the solid waste stream despite still being usable; plans discussed over past months are that interested parties can view the items and take whichever ones they wish at no cost; the persons disposing of the items will have paid to leave them at the facility.

 

Most of the cost for the building is to be covered by a grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency; the grant requires a 25-percent local match. The county’s share will be about $61,000.

 

Board members also approved a request from the Facilities department, which maintains county parks and facility parking lots as part of its duties, to purchase a 2027 F-350 Ford pickup with a snowplow, lift gate and safety lights. Total cost for the pickup and accessories is expected to be nearly $62,000. Also approved was a vehicle designated for use by the county information technology department at a price of about $34,000.

 

The board set a hearing date for the county’s updated list of fees for operating cannabis businesses in unincorporated areas within its boundaries. If the proposed new schedule is adopted, businesses holding  cannabis licenses of all types will pay an “initial registration” fee of $500 and must pay a renewal fee of $1,000. Cannabis license types include microbusiness, mezzobusiness, cultivator, manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler, transporter, testing facility, event organizer, delivery service, and medical cannabis combination business.

 

Agencies with licenses for hemp business types will pay a $250 initial registration fee with renewal costs of $500. Hemp business types include lower potency hemp edible manufacturer, lower potency hemp edible retailer, and lower potency hemp edible wholesaler.

 

According to a budget summary provided by county public works leader Jim Kollar, proposed county highway construction projects for 2027 include replacing bridge number 7008 on County Road (CR) 54 and number 7059 on County State Aid Highway (CSAH) 15; although the bridge projects will cost roughly $1 million each to complete, funds will be provided by federal and state sources. Kollar told board members he hopes to see lighting added at five rural intersections; an anticipated cost of about $315,000 will be covered by federal traffic safety funds.

 

About $7.5 million in paving, rehabilitation and seal coating projects will be paid for by a combination of state and federal funding, local option sales tax designated toward road maintenance, and wheelage taxes, with none of the funding coming from the county property tax levy.

 

Intended projects, subject to change, include concrete pavement restoration (CPR) and shoulder paving on a one-mile section of CSAH 27; CPR on 5.3 miles of CSAH 5; Pavement rehabilitation on 4.7 miles of CSAH 23; shoulder paving and the addition of a right turn lane on 4 miles of CSAH 7; pavement rehabilitation on one mile of CSAH 32; and work on CR 54 near Alma City.