Thursday, April 3, 2014

Volume 98; Number 39

www.bladepublishing.net staff@bladepublishing.net

A community newspaper serving Browerville, MN and surrounding areas. USPS 067-560

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Todd Board will consider raising refuse costs to haulers and property owners
By Rin Porter At the March 25 work session, Todd County Commissioners heard a presentation from Solid Waste Supervisor Jeremy Clasemann about the need to increase Todd County tipping fees charged to garbage haulers and county environmental fees charged to property owners. The current Todd County tipping fee is $65. Morrison County charges $65 tipping fee at its landfill. The Perham Resource and Recovery Facility charges $84.50. Clasemann and Solid Waste Director Mike Hanan suggest that Todd County raise its tipping fee to $74.50 per ton. Clasemann reported that the Solid Waste Department also recommends raising the countys environmental fee charged to property owners from $40 per year to $45 per year. The reason for the requests for fee increases is that the Solid Waste Department wants to establish a capital equipment reserve fund to provide for future equipment needs. The board will consider the requests at a future meeting. Other county employees also attended the work session to present their concerns about issues facing their departments. Interim Auditor/Treasurer Denise Gaida appeared before the board, along with Assessor Chris Odden and Recorder Cheryl Perish to request that the job description for a new hire already authorized by the board be changed. The three department heads agree that the greatest need in their division is for an additional employee for the GIS (Geographic Information System) area. Currently there is only one employee working in the GIS area, where previously there were three. The single employee is over a year behind on some of the GIS work, because one person cannot do the work of three people. Gaida, Odden, and Perish emphasized that GIS work must be kept current because it is the basis for 911 services in the county. Commissioner Dave Kircher supported the change. He said, Updating the maps is critical to 911 services. The board discussed the request and agreed to take it up at a future board meeting. Katherine Mackedanz and other employees from Health and Human Services (HHS) presented information for commissioners on a proposed County Social Host Ordinance and a proposed update of the County Tobacco Ordinance. HHS personnel believe strongly that ecigarettes should be included in the County Tobacco Ordinance because the main ingredient in these products is nicotine the major addictive substance in tobacco. Kircher, a former Todd County Sheriff, objected to the entire concept of the County Social Host Ordinance because the issue is already covered under existing state law. The board asked Mackedanz and the other presenters to draft proposed language for the two ordinances and discuss them with County Attorney Chuck Rasmussen before returning to the board for further consideration of the two proposals. Gaida asked the board to consider authorizing county-wide budget training as the county prepares to draft the 2015 budget. Gaida said she has no experience in preparing the county budget, and pointed out that there are several new department heads who also have no Continued on page 12.

Total Express gas station closes; owner refuses comment

Honor Society inducts new members

By Rin Porter The Browerville Total Express employees received word on March 24 that the gas station would close on March 31. A manager told the Blade the employees were notified by the owner. All the gas was removed from the tanks on March 25. Employees were instructed to sell all the other merchandise in the store at 50% off. We called owner Julie Klaphake, but she refused to speak with us. She referred us to her attorney, but did not give the attorneys name. A store manager told us all eleven employees would lose their jobs. She did not know whether the store would be sold to a new owner and the employees hired back. Three of the employees were full-time, with the rest part-time workers. Court records show a recent small judgment in 2014 against Julie Klaphake and Total Express of Browerville, Inc., awarded in favor of Zarns Oil Company of Little Falls. We wondered about the effects of the gas station closing on the school district, the city, and local businesses. Supt. Scott Vedbraaten said the Browerville School District buses are leased, and so the district buses will not be affected by the gas station closure. But the schools vans purchase gas locally. Now that Total Express is closed, Vedbraaten said that the vans will use district credit cards to fill up the vans in other communities as the vans pass through them transporting students. The Aksamit Transportation Company provides buses to the district, and the buses use diesel fuel, which they purchase from a different vendor, not Total Express. Aksamit Transportation will not be affected by the gas station closure. No one from the city of Browerville was available for comment over the past weekend. We did try to contact Mayor Mike Aksamit, but he did not return our call. City Administrator Lynn Fabro wrote in an email, The closing of Total Express is terrible for our community. Its impact on the City business is that now our public works department will now have to drive to Clarissa for regular fuel. The good thing is that the Fire Dept. and Ambulance are all diesel vehicles so they are not impacted.

On Thursday evening, March 27th the National Honor Society members inducted the new 2014 members at their annual banquet. Members include: Benton Johnson, Trent Johnson, Jackson Polak, Jake Iten, Abigail Irsfeld, Emily Busch, Cody Hansmeyer, Emily Lisson, Katelyn Middendorf, Katelyn Kellen, Catherine Aksamit, MaKenna Hegseth, and Dominique Ludwig.

WEEKLY WEATHER REPORT

Tue. April 1 Snow/Wind 32/12 Wed. April 2 Partly Cloudy 38/29 Thur. April 3 Cloudy 36/27 Fri. April 4 Snow/Wind 39/22 Sat. April 5 Sunny 43/24 Sun. April 6 Partly Cloudy 48/34