- AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
- A. Roll Call
- B. Approval of Agenda
- C. Approval of Minutes – Regular Meeting – December 16, 2025
- II. SHERIFF’S OFFICE: Jesse Thomas
- A. Retirement of K-9 Riggs and recognition of canine handler Deputy Kevin Krueger
- B. Approved of Purchase / River Boat and Trailer
- Hoisington: What happens to the boat we have now?
- A: We ask Faribault Fire or Police if they want it, and if they don’t, we’ll sell it on deals.gov.
- III. PROPERTY TAX & ELECTIONS: Denise Anderson
- A. Set a public hearing date & time for Circle Lake Improvement District to discuss the possibilities of changing Circle Lake Improvement District Board members from 7 to 9.
- Public hearing set: Jan 27, 9 am
- IV. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE: Brian Mortenson
- A. 2026-2027 Agreement to Provide Prosecution Services, Lonsdale
- Underdahl: Are our rates market rate?
- A: Below market, but it’s a net positive for us, because we’re already in the courtroom. It’s not an extensive workload. We believe it’s a good deal for both parties.
- Underdahl: It does seem like we’re subsidizing it a little bit, and I wanted to bring that out into the open.
- We are subsidizing it, but we’re not a private law firm, so it costs less, and it takes us less time than a private firm.
- Hoisington: It sounds like a win win
- Hoisington: Do we do this for other municipalities?
- V. ASSESSOR’S OFFICE: Joshua Schoen
- A. Local Option Disaster Abatements and Credits
- Three Rice County taxpayers had house fires and have applied for local option disaster abatement and credits in 2025. These are Alexander Coffing, 4395 41st St W Webster (02.09.1.27.005), Mark Legvold, 312 2nd St W Northfield (22.36.4.51.009), and Carmen Dorr, 8601 173rd Ct W Faribault (09.14.2.76.003). All of these homes qualify for the Local Option Disaster Abatement, MS 273.124. Amounts are listed in the attachment.
- Peters: Were these rentals?
- A: One was a homestead, one was a rental, and one was a newly purchased property, so not yet homesteaded.
- B. Annual List of Changes After the County Board of Appeal & Equalization 2025
- Annual Presentation. As required by Minnesota Statute 273.01, any corrections to the 2025 assessment that are clerical or administrative in nature must be presented to the County Board. This year there are no changes to present.
- VI. SOCIAL SERVICES: Chris Sammon
- A. Acceptance of Donations to Child & Family Division
- Rice County Social Services is fortunate to again have received unsolicited donations from community groups to be distributed to children, families or foster families being served by the Child and Family Services division. Current donations are estimated at approximately $12,900.
- B. Renewal of Annual Purchase of Service Agreements
- Annually, Child and Family Services division establishes Purchase of Service Agreements with providers to carry out specific services to support the required work of the agency. Currently four agreements are due for renewal.
- Dimick Counseling provides mental health therapy services to Rice County clients who are unable to be served by onstaff mental health therapists due to area of specialty, availability, or conflicts of interest. Further, Dan Dimick is the facilitator of the Healthy Parents, Healthy Families Program specifically designed for parents with youth in placement or at risk of needing higher levels of care. This program combines parenting education, regulation skills, therapeutic interventions and support group work to develop long-term change in family dynamics and rebuild parent-child relationships. This agreement is funded through state allocation, revenues from staff time reporting and billing, and some limited federal funding with a budgeted cost of $45,000.
- Malecha: The Dimicks have been doing work for us for many years and have taken on challenging cases. They do a great job for the county.
- Community Action Center holds an agreement for the provision of Youth Advocacy with students in school who identify with housing stability, food access, mental health or victim service needs, general advocacy and resource navigation. In July this summer, the Board heard presented numbers of the first half of the year when advocates assisted 585 individuals of 274 families in Rice County to access support. Further, CAC has leveraged and braided together $65,000 to stabilize youth and families within the county. Their service is open to youth in any school program who reside in Rice County. This agreement for $30,000 is funded by the Families First Prevention Services Allocation that comes from the Department of Children Youth and Families with the purpose of early prevention to address needs and prevent families from coming into the child protection system.
- Malecha: How many youth as individuals do we serve, vs families?
- A: Usually it’s in combination with families. I can get updated numbers for you.
- Hoisington: Does your department manage this?
- A: We are the fiscal host for this.
- Community Action Center also holds an agreement for the Family Recovery Support Program to assist parents who are struggling with chemical health issues. Program participants have children who are involved with, or at risk of involvement, with the child protection due to parental drug use. Goal of this work is to prevent or shorten out-of-home placement for these children by providing support and treatment referrals for parents. This program came into existence, and continues to be funded by the Minnesota Child Protection Opiate Allocation, and is budgeted for $49,091 for 2026, the amount allocated to Rice County by the state.
- S & J Investigations provides Document Processing Service for Social Services. This agreement allows for the provider to carry out statutorily required document services for the Child Support unit made necessary for court actions. S & J Investigations has been cost-effective and efficient when this document service process is not available by other county staff. In 2025, this service amounted to just less than $17,500 paid from state and federal funding to the county for provision of Child Support services.
- Peters: With all the turmoil in the state, have any of these been put on the audit list, and if so, we’re ready for that?
- A: Not aware of an audit, but yes, we would be prepared for that.
- VII. HIGHWAY: Dennis Luebbe
- A. Final Payment – Contract #2572 was awarded to Crane Creek Asphalt on February 11, 2025, in the amount of 1,033,885.68 for project SAP 066-627-006, (mill and overlay on County 27 in Wheeling Township). The total project costs amounted to $1,040,309.35. Work was completed within the terms of the contact. I recommend approval of the final payment.
- Hoisington: I drove that highway last night, and it was very nice. Well done.
- VIII. ADMINISTRATION: Sara Folsted
- A. Consent Agenda
- 1. Extra Time/ Over Time Report 12-12-2025
- 2. Payment of Bills
- 3. Personnel Appointments
- B. Setting the 2026 Commissioner Salary and Per Diem
- The current and proposed salary rate and per diem rate were not disclosed.
- Proposed 3.5% increase in salary and per diem stays the same, same as other employees.
- Discussion
- Peters: You know how we challenged the departments to reduce their budgets, so I thought about us reducing our pay. It seems like our county is the only one with pay for commissioners. So next year, I think we shouldn’t have it go up.
- Malecha: We see what next year brings.
- Hoisington: I tend to agree with Charlie. I am okay with keeping the salary what it is right now, because we’re putting out a challenge to our departments to do cost cutting to keep our levy down, because 8% isn’t sustainable.
- Vote:
- Yes: Malecha, Underdahl, Peters, Purfeerst
- No: Hoisington
- Approved.
- C. 2026 Paid Family Leave Policy
- Effective January 1, 2026, eligible employees may qualify for paid leave pursuant to the Minnesota Paid Leave (“MN Paid Leave”) law, which provides for partial wage replacement to eligible employees. The County meets its obligations under the MN Paid Leave law through a private plan. The County will deduct the employee’s portion of the premiums for MN Paid Leave from the employee’s wages. Employees may, but are not required to, use accrued ESST/sick leave, vacation leave, compensatory time, or other accrued paid leave to supplement or “top off” the partial wage replacement benefits provided under MN Paid Leave. The combined leave benefit of the partial wage replacement and any supplemental paid leave shall not exceed an employee’s regular wage or salary.
- Malecha: It’s a great program but it’s caused us some issues.
- A: There is a fiscal impact for implementing this and we don’t know how it will impact staffing.
- D. Rice County Board of Commissioners approves the Sale of County-Owned Property related to the Jail annex.
- The sale funds go to the federal government. We are an intermediary.
- A tract of land in the Southwest Quarter of the Northwest Quarter, Section 36, Township 110 North, Range 21 West, 5th Principal Meridian, Rice County, Minnesota. More specifically, the Easterly 400 feet of Lot 60 lying south of the southerly right-of-way line of Minnesota State Highway 60, containing 5.5 acres more or less, subject to a 16.5 foot coaxial cable easement along the east line of the above described tract.
