A part of the OACCT's Public Policy efforts for 2011 is for volunteers from the Public Policy committee attend both City and County meetings and report back on items that are of interest/concern to business.
four different items during their meeting at 3:00 PM.
1. The Human Services Issue - the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the county had to pay for services for a person who lived out of Steele County but wanted to reside in an assisted living facility in Steele County. The County Board of commissioners has decided to have the County Attorney appeal the decision, as it takes away their ability to decide what is best for our county. There is a big article in the Peoples Press this morning regarding this if you want more detail.
2. On the 800MHz Tower - they discussed a concern that someone might construct an object that would interfere with the transmission and signal from the tower to the Courthouse. The MNDOT tower is located 6.29 miles from the Courthouse and they are considering putting an ordinance to prohibit this from happening.
3. Lawn Mowing Contract - they received three bids from local contractors for this and they all seemed to meet the county's requirements. It was suggested that they take the low bid since they all met the counties requirements.
4. Youth First Initiative - Steve Schroht was approached by them and requested a$5,000.00 annual fee to promote sportsmanship among participants, parents, coaches and officials throughout the county. They are working with many of the youth sports clubs in Owatonna and want to expand that to the other communities in the county as well as other extra curricular activities in the schools. In return, the Youth First staff would assist with scheduling fundraising events, apply for grants and help coordinate additional events at the Four Seasons facility to bring in additional revenue for the county. It sounded like they were all in favor of this.
5. County Road #6 & Hwy 14 - they also discussed this issue that was not on their agenda. It seems that the City of Owatonna has put some blame on the county for the concerns about safety and access at this intersection. The county's take on this is that they had no say in how this was configured because the DOT mandates what happens with theses intersections, but the city has some special power to override this if they feel the need. And the city used that power at the time the intersection was constructed, but is now blaming the county for the issues that have risen since its construction.
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