At their July 20 meeting, Mille Lacs County commissioners heard from Dan Larson of the Minnesota Rural Counties Caucus, which lobbies on behalf of rural counties. After a brief presentation, Larson asked commissioners to suggest issues he should be working on. Commissioner Phil Peterson said he’d like to see the state once again allow counties to rescind the state building code.
Due to legislative changes, counties that have adopted the code are no longer able to rescind it. Commissioner Dave Tellinghuisen said, “If you have it already, you’re gonna have it the rest of your lives. ... We want counties to have a right to have a building code or not.” Commissioner Frank Courteau said he would like the ability to tailor a building code to the needs of the county. Roger Tellinghuisen, who is on the board of the MRCC, said he’d like Larson to lobby the state for more support of counties with Indian reservations. Courteau said out-of-home placements cost the county a half million dollars per year, and he’d like the state or federal government to pick up the tab. Larson said it’s hard to get counties that don’t have Indian reservations interested in the issue. The board also approved the consent agenda with no discussion, authorized two purchases for the Land Services Department, approved two tobacco licenses, listened to county engineer Bruce Cochran give his report, and heard auditor Donovan Carpenter give a clean bill of health to the Mille Lacs County Area Developmental Achievement Center.
Photo: Developmental Achievement Center director Fred Hoffman brought auditor Donovan Carpenter to the Mille Lacs County Board meeting to discuss the DAC’s financial statements. Photo by Brett Larson.