BLUE EARTH – There will soon be a new website unveiled for Faribault County, and county commissioners were able to see a preview during their meeting Tuesday.

The update was presented by Central Services director Lexi Scholten and senior tech clerk Clara Vereide. The two have been working with website development company Civics Plus for some time.

“We will be having training with staff on Oct. 23,” Vereide said. “Then we will have the website go live on Nov. 5.”

Commissioners were impressed with most of the new website, but had some ideas for adding or changing different things on the site.

“I really want to have a place for a ‘contact us’ button that can be easily found,” said Commissioner Tom Loveall. “Some older folks will get frustrated trying to find information and will just want to contact someone.”

The new site is much better than the current one, commissioners commented.

Vereide said there will be links to each of the county’s towns, and commissioners suggested other links, including to the three school districts in the county.

Vereide explained that department heads will be responsible for updating their own information on the website, but she and Scholten will be the overall managers.

In other business, commissioners:

o Discussed a request from a citizen in Elmore to forgive a Small Cities loan from the county on her home. The house is going to be sold for less money than what the loan is for, she wrote in a letter. After much discussion, commissioners decided to have whatever balance there is from the sale, after deducting sale expenses, be applied to the loan balance and the rest forgiven.

o Voted to end their use of software for leasing a property tax notice and computer-aided mass appraisal program in 2023. This will give the county three years to get set up a new computer program to do the work.

o Heard an update from Public Works director Mark Daly on several highway projects going on around the county. These include completion of work on the railroad crossing in Huntley, the County Road 5 bridge, County Road 12, the county roads in the Blue Earth West Industrial Park and County Road 15 in Delavan, which should be completed in five days. Some work on these projects still needs to be done, Daly said, but all are nearing completion.