BLUE EARTH — The signing of the Sentence to Serve contract, which had been tabled from the previous Faribault County Board meeting, was brought back to the floor by the commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday.

“My goal was never to get rid of the program,” commissioner Tom Loveall said. “I will vote in favor of the contract. The cost-shifting of more of the expense away from the state and to the county is what bothers me.”

The cost of the program used to be split 50-50 between the state and the participating counties but the state now only picks up 25 percent of the tab leaving the county to cover the other 75 percent of the program’s cost.

“The state is flush with money,” Loveall commented. “This would be a perfect opportunity for them to fix this.”

A unanimous vote approved the contract.

Board member Bill Groskreutz told his fellow board members he had visited with the district engineer for the state highway department to obtain an update on the Minnesota State Highway 22 project.

“Right now, Highway 22 from Wells to County Road 16 is scheduled to be worked on in 2029,” Groskreutz remarked. “There is no date scheduled for work on the same highway from CR 16 to the state line.”

Public Works director Mark Daly attended the meeting to give an update to the commissioners on this summer’s projects.

The only change from the previous meeting is the reclamation project on County State Aid Highway 1 has been moved up three weeks and will begin on June 28.