Milo gets his wife back.

Russell gets his mother back.

Rick regains his grandmother.

All the Roes will be happy.

Joan Roe has retired from the Mower County Board of Adjus-tment.

Term limits forced the LeRoy area woman to resign after nine years on the adjustment board.

"She has been a very nice person to work with on the adjustment board," said Gary Braaten, chairman. "She has an open mind and was very thoughtful about the decisions she made."

Mary Kenyon and Mike Adams shared Braaten's praise of their colleague at a retirement party on a recent afternoon.

"Joan was vice chair of the adjustment board," Adams said. "She also conducted herself in a very professional manner. Her remarks were always pertinent to the discussion. It was a pleasure to serve with her."

Kenyon said, "I always enjoyed working with Joan. She used a lot of common sense in her work."

The late Herb Hanson recruited Roe to join the adjustment board when he was a Mower County Commissioner in the 2nd District.

Her nine years on the adjustment board included many watershed land use issues, most notably, feed lot regulations, Roe said.

Also, the adjustment board was instrumental in helping rewrite the county's comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance.

The adjustment board is where residents go to seek a variance from the existing zoning laws. The board's decision are final and can only be appealed to the district court.

Roe, 69, said visiting the sites of variance requests was important to her when making a land use/zoning decision.

"Also, I think it's important to use plain and simple common sense," she said.

In the nine years she spent serving the public on the adjustment board, there was only one decision appealed to the district court and the board's decision was upheld.

Applicants sought

Daryl Franklin, county planning director and zoning administrator, hosted the going away party for Roe. He also praised her public service.

Franklin is now seeking interested applicants to fill Roe's position on the five-member board. Applicants must be able to attend monthly meetings the last Wednesday of each month.

According to Franklin, plans call for filling the vacancy in time for the board's January 2003 meeting.

Interested applicants may submit a letter of intent, listing their qualifications, to: Daryl W. Franklin, Mower County Planning and Zoning, 1105 1/2 8th Ave. NE, Austin, MN 55912. The deadline for submitting application letters is Jan. 17, 2003.

Lee Bonorden can be reached at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com