New Horizons Foods was the only bidder to continue supplying meals to prisoners in the Mower County Jail.

Thursday, October 26, 2000

New Horizons Foods was the only bidder to continue supplying meals to prisoners in the Mower County Jail.

The Mower County Board of Commissioners approved a contract with the firm at Tuesday’s meeting. The contract calls for an increase of 34 cents per day in the fee paid New Horizons Foods to feed prisoners.

The county is billed $1.79 for each breakfast served a prisoner, $2.82 for each lunch and $3.33 for each evening meal.

In addition, the county is billed 40 cents for each bedtime snack served a jail prisoner.

Offenders, who are on work-release or participating in the Sentencing To Serve Program, receive sack lunches and the county is billed $2.82 each.

The contract is for a three-year period.

In other action, the county commissioners:

n Approved seeking more grant funding for the new Mower County truancy officer. Hiring a truancy officer to assist all school districts in Mower County was one of the strategic initiatives approved by the county board after a long-range planning committee recommended the same. Deborah Earl, a former victims advocate, is the county’s new truancy officer.

n Approved seeking federal grant monies in the amount of $54,493 for new video conferencing equipment to link local law enforcement agencies with the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service for the purpose of tracking illegal aliens. No matching grant monies from Mower County are required.

n Approved applying for more Minnesota Safe and Sober Program grant monies to continue efforts already in place in the Mower County Sheriff’s Department to combat drunk driving problems.

n Approved new cash register equipment for the treasurer’s office that will allow county staff to provide better receipting more quickly of cash transactions. The $12,495 item was budgeted and will be purchased in 2001.

n Agreed to hold the annual Truth In Taxation hearing at 5 p.m. Dec. 7, and adopt a budget and property tax levy at the following Tuesday’s meeting. Because of an Association of Minnesota Counties fall meeting in early December, the county board agreed to hold its first meeting in December, also on Dec. 7, beginning at 1 p.m.

n Awarded a contract to Midwest Contracting of Marshall in the amount of $115,799 for a bridge on Mower County CSAH No. 28 south of Austin. Also, the county board awarded another contract for a bridge over a township road in Red Rock Township to Minniowa Construction of Harmony in the amount of $74,000. The bridge was destroyed by the summertime flooding and the costs will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to Mike Hanson, the Mower County engineer.