Wednesday, January 05, 2000

Cindy Thomas was selected Mower County Employee of the Month for January.

The announcement was made Tuesday by Ray Tucker, 2nd District county commissioner and new chairman of the board.

Tucker presented Thomas with a plaque and expressed the county board’s appreciation for her fine work as a county employee.

Lowell Franzen, county feedlot officer, told the commissioners Thomas was nominated for the award for consistently doing outstanding work in her capacity as an Extension Service office manager.

A Mower County employee since 1984, Thomas has also worked for the Mower County Department of Human Services.

She is also vice president of Local 9 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union’s courthouse bargaining unit.

Thomas has two children and one granddaughter.

Her picture will join those of three other county employees similarly honored with the new program. Jennel Hines, Kelly Mehus and Sandra Anderson were the first three county employees so honored.

The honored county employees’ pictures appear on a wall near the central services offices and the west main entrance to the government center in Austin.

MP project update

Also Tuesday, David Hillier, Third District county commissioner, assured an Austin City Council member the county officials are doing all they can to expedite the multipurpose building project. Because it will house two sheets of ice, it is often referred to as an arena.

Gloria Nordin, Third Ward Austin City Council Member and chairperson of the council’s park and recreation committee, asked for the update.

Hillier said another meeting is being scheduled with architects for the new building at the fairground in Austin sometime later this month.

After that meeting, Hillier is hopeful that a design plan can be approved and specifications written to seek bids for the project estimated to cost $4.2 million in public and private funds.

Hillier also said, the Austin Youth Hockey Association and Riverside Figure Skating Club have reached the $185,000 mark enroute to a goal of $250,000.

If the twin groups reach that level, Hormel Foods Corporation has pledged to match the contribution with another $250,000. The company has already pledged $600,000 to the project.

Nordin said Austin city officials were concerned with the progress of the project, because the city will have to keep Riverside Arena open for skating for one more season (2000-2001). She said it is "very expensive to take the ice out of Riverside Arena and put it back in again."

The city will close Riverside Arena to ice skating and hockey after the county opens its new multi-purpose building which will have two sheets of ice, according to plans.

In other action Tuesday, the county commissioners:

n Reappointed Kim Duncomb to the Mower County Personnel Board of Appeals for another one-year term.

n Reappointed Sheldon Lukes to the Mower County Planning Commission and Joan roe to the Mower County Board of Adjustment. Mary Kenyon was reappointed an Adjustment board alternate.

n Acknowledged Jeff Weaver’s official letter to contract-holder Waste Management Inc., announcing the county commissioners have amended the hauler’s contract to collect recyclables from residents. The addendum was written after recycling program coordinator Weaver called a "major mess-up with recycling collections" by the hauler. Between 150 and 200 customers were missed. Weaver received the county board’s permission a week ago to have an addendum written to the contract between Waste Management and the county, calling for the hauler to provide route lists and customers names and setting in motion a disincentive or 10 percent penalty if the hauler failed to adhere to the provisions in the contract. The board’s solid waste committee plans to meet soon with Waste Management representative, Marty Tufte to discuss the issues.

n Set the annual meeting of the Mower County Board of Equalization for Monday, June 19, beginning at 10 a.m.

n Approved two conditional use permit renewals for David Hjelmen and Wallace Bustad for gravel pits in Lansing Township. The county planning commissioner recommended approval of both requests. The gravel pits are located across a Lansing Township gravel road from each other. In a related action, the county commissioners also accepted the planning commission’s recommendation to schedule a public hearing January 25 to consider a proposed amendment to the county zoning ordinance, concerning the requirement for site maps and end use plans with all CUP requests.