The Sherburne County Board of Commissioners met Tuesday morning, with Commissioner Raeanne Danielowski joining remotely and Tim Dolan not able to attend the meeting.

Board Chair Felix Schmiesing urged the board to take immediate action at the intersection of Co. Rds. 3 and 20, and he offered a motion to have the county engineer install LED stop signs along with a study of possible safety and drainage improvements all along the Co. Rd. 20 corridor.  He also wants the county to improve the safety at similar intersections county-wide.

“I’ve had a lot of contact from town board members and community members who are very concerned about this intersection,” said Schmiesing.

Commissioner Lisa Fobbe seconded the motion for the sake of discussion and then asked about the current evaluation that is taking place at the intersection.

Administrator Bruce Messelt noted that the video analysis portion of the study is complete and staff is working to complete the safety analysis.

Some commissioners were not as familiar with the intersection since it is not in their district, but they did want to address the concern and felt that more information was needed before proceeding.  A motion was made to table the agenda item until November and it passed with Schmiesing the lone dissenting vote.

Next, the board held a public hearing on the proposed fee schedule, but no one appeared before the board.  The schedule passed unanimously and was adopted.

CARES Funds

As has become customary the past several months, the board moved expeditiously to approve a package of CARES Act expenditures and salary reimbursements.

There were six business grants awarded for a total of around $150,000 and Assistant Administrator Dan Weber noted they are receiving about 10 additional applications per week.

Messelt provided an update on the community support grants, reporting that a pair of school districts have submitted applications for funds, but more specific information was requested of the schools and these proposals will be brought to the board in the near future.

Legislative Update

Messelt next detailed the results of the recent legislative session which included funding for the Becker industrial park ($20.5 million) and $2 million for the Co. Rd. 4 and Hwy. 169 overpass in Zimmerman.

The other good news he shared was the passing of the tax conformity bill which will allow for Minnesota to have similar rules in several areas with the Federal government.  Messelt predicted that this will be most beneficial to the farmers in the county who will be able to accelerate depreciation on certain agricultural purchases.

He also polled the commissioners about their interest in having the state delegation come to a future meeting to discuss next year’s legislative priorities.  Hearing agreement, he will get that scheduled for after the election.

Saliva Testing

The board approved using CARES funds to purchase 1,500 saliva test kits for county employees and other pertinent uses such as foster care families.  The contract is with a Minnesota-based company and will allow for 48-72 hour turnaround time on the test results which will come as an email.  These are minimally invasive tests which are self-administered in the home with no PPE required.

Having these tests will allow county staff to be tested as needed and will also help with foster care placement safety and could be used in other areas such as the jail.

Commissioner Danielowski inquired about a shelf life on the tests and staff responded that the codes for the tests will be good for two years.  In addition, the kits themselves come on an as needed basis, meaning that if changes in testing occur in the future the kits would be updated before being accessed by the county.

Covid Update

Messelt moved the meeting to the local Covid update and he warned the board that it was mostly bad news.

Sherburne HHS staff provided statistics that showed the average daily infections within the county have more than doubled within the past week up and now reflect a total of 1,568 confirmed cases and 21 deaths.  Since the beginning of September there has been a 114% increase in the number of cases in school aged children and hospitalizations are on the rise.

The 14 day average formula, looked at by schools, was reviewed and currently sits at 25.1 with a projection of it rising to nearly 30 within a week if the trends continue. 

Commissioner Fobbe noted that she and Commissioner Barbara Burandt were on a call with the Elk River district and the school noted it was extremely pleased with the county’s assistance with their pandemic response.