Board approves routine administrative items: minutes, bills, bids, licenses and local policies

During the Jan. 6 meeting the board approved routine administrative business and procurement actions required for county operations. The board approved the county board minutes for Dec. 16, 2025, and approved bills for the three-week period indicated.

Staff presented a range of procurement and policy items: a four-year statutory salary-setting resolution for the county attorney and county sheriff (board recommended using the grade-step minimum salary), the annual crop damage payment schedule (listed yields and per-bushel prices for corn, soybeans, oats and wheat and a CRP rate of $275/acre), and multiple publisher bids. The Mankato Free Press and Maple River Messenger were awarded various publication and insertion items as required by procurement rules and legal notice requirements; in one case staff recommended the Mankato Free Press for reach though it was not the low bid.

The board also adopted the annual bounty resolution under Minn. Stat. 348.12 offering $1 per pocket gopher and $1 per 13-lined ground squirrel for 2026, set the small cities revolving loan and ditch balance loan interest rate at 6.25% for 2026, approved dissolution support for the US Highway 169 Corridor Coalition, and approved tobacco licenses for two businesses in Mapleton effective through 2026. All items passed by voice vote with no recorded roll-call tallies in the transcript.