The Murray County Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, December 11th. Amongst the items on the agenda for approval were the commissioner and auditor warrants. The commissioners surveyed the submitted bills and in doing so questioned a couple of items. One was the submission of invoices dated April 20th and April 26th which were for clothing purchased for Scott Ahlers who was just approved as a new deputy during the November 27th meeting. Barb Lewis, with the auditor’s department, explained the office received these invoices on November 26th. Additional warrants related to the new hire included a pre-employment physical which had taken place on August 21st and a psych evaluation done September 11th. According to Heard the board didn’t approve hiring additional staff for the sheriff’s department until August 21st at which time the recruitment process started and status changes for a couple of others in the department were approved. Commissioner Thiner then commented, “It appears we were deceived on the hiring process and the ‘emergency’ situation the department was in… but a bill is a bill and we have to pay it.” All warrants were approved along with ditch bills for JD 20A for tallying $1,660.00.
Howard Konkol, drainage authority, appeared before the board with requests from JD 2A, Lime Lake and CD 34, Skandia. Konkol spoke with Kurt Deter, ditch legal council, who explained he felt the work could be done as a repair. The difference between the smoothwall and 12” corrugated is $4.00 per foot which translates into $8400 in additional cost. The petitioner had requested the smoothwall. The board requested Konkol reach out to Deter to make sure everyone is clear on what is happening with this ditch system. According to Konkol CD34 was improved when the open ditch was put in 1993 or 1994. However the intake is still functional and is connected to a 12” outlet pipe. The problem comes in the fact this is not showing up on the system map. The question was raised as to if the tile was ever abandoned. Konkol was instructed to speak to Deter in regards to this petition as well.
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