Unaffordable Vehicle Repair Made Possible: $25,000 Allocated by Lake of the Woods County to program

At their March 14th meeting, the Lake of the Woods County Board of Commissioners and the County Social Services Department contributed $25,000 to Northwest Community Action for Auto Repair Assistance for county families who cannot otherwise afford to get their vehicles fixed. Northwest Community Action Executive Director Sharon Millner, who had told the board about the Auto Repair Assistance program during the February 14th Commissioners meeting, was again present with suggested changes to the contract.

Families who cannot afford to repair their automobile can apply for assistance to have the repair work done at a local shop.

"We added a signature line to the contract," Millner told the board. "And we put in a specification that no more than ten percent of the money may be used for administrative costs. The money put into the program by each county will stay within that county, and unused money will carry over. It won't be lost."

Millner told the board that money needed to be specifically available for auto repair assistance in Lake of the Woods County. She'd like the board to consider allocating funds for the program. Social Services Director Amy Ballard then offered to contribute $10,000, which Social Services had obtained through a state grant. Commissioner Cody Hasbargen then offered a resolution to pledge $15,000 from the county, making the $25,000 available for the program.

Millner explained that in other counties, the repairs have been running "around $1,000 per incidence." So it was specified that there should be a cap of $2,000 per repair.

Northwest Community Action serves Kittson, Roseau, Marshall, and Lake of the Woods Counties and is located at 312 N. Main St., P.O. Box 67, Badger, MN 56714. They can be reached by phone at (218) 528-3528 or (800) 568-5329.

In other business, the board:

• Heard a request for a resolution of support from Koochiching County residents Amy Hanson and Christine Hultman to keep the Indus School open. "Indus is a magnet school," Hanson told the board. "Some students need the smaller class sizes. We've had a 100% graduation rate over the past three years."

Hanson told the board that the community is in shock at the suddenness of the District 363 School Board's decision to initiate steps to close the school and hasn't had time to prepare for the upcoming public hearing at the Indus School to be held at 4:00 PM on Monday, April 3rd.

"This isn't the first time that this has been discussed," said Commissioner Jon Waibel.

"Seems like there is a reason for concern," responded Board Chair Arnesen. "I remember when the Williams School was closed and how that divided our community. But I'd like to get input from Kooch County before we make any decision."

"We should wait and see what Kooch does, and maybe we should hear from their school board," said Commissioner Cody Hasbargen.

"Our primary need is to push the meeting back," said Amy Hanson. "Maybe we could get this on the agenda for the next commissioners' meeting."

It was decided by consensus to get more input and to address a possible resolution of support at the March 28th commissioners meeting.

• Paid Social Services Claims as Social Services Director Amy Ballard presented. Ballard also mentioned that they're keeping the advertised Social Services Worker's position open because their primary candidate took another job offer.

• Paid the Auditor/Treasurer's Claims as presented by Auditor/Treasurer Lorene Hanson. It was also decided by consensus to set up a public work session on April 25th after the regular meeting to address various upcoming issues.

The commissioners appointed Auditor/Treasurer Hanson as the administrator of funds remaining in the Opioid Grant and added that topic to the already-decided-upon work session on April 25th. Hanson told the board that there is a balance of about $40,000 in the fund now, and there will be between $10,000 and $12,000 added each year with no time limits on spending the money.

• Approved a conditional use permit to GWE, LLC to put up a high-end storage facility on the south side of County Highway Eight about 3/4 of a mile west of Griffin's Corner. Said facility to be heated, have washrooms available, and have unit sizes in the 20'X40' range.

Land and Water Planning Director Josh Stromlund told the board that conditions included wetlands delineation, approval of access by the county engineer, no overnight habitation, no overnight parking or use, and no outside storage allowed. If the facility is over 12,000 square feet, there will need to be a sprinkler fire suppression system installed.

• Approved a conditional use permit to Grant and Savanna Slick for a vacation - short-term rental property with the following conditions: That the septic system be brought up to conforming, establish maximum occupancy, provide signage for a shared approach, and that the permit terminates on the transfer of the property.

• Approved several upgrades for the MIS Department, including Switching to Microsoft 365, a subscription that continually updates itself and offers state-of-the-art security for email and users.

• Approved a $5,000 credit card limit for Emergency Management's credit card.

With no further business to discuss, Board Chair Arnesen recessed the meeting at 11:30 a.m.