FAIRMONT– The Martin County Board of Commissioners heard from Chief Deputy Corey Klanderud on Tuesday regarding a proposal from the Sheriff’s Office to establish a K9 program.

Klanderud shared that the department has been considering starting the program for some time. He said that when Deputy Tietje, who was previously a K9 handler for the Fairmont Police Department, came over to the county, they considered it but that they weren’t really interested in an apprehension dog.

“We are seeing the need for a narcotics dog, or single purpose dog simply to help… our drug rates are not changing,” Klanderud said.

He said he recently met with a K9 handler for the Minnesota State Patrol who said he’s been deploying his K9 about 50 times a month.

“He’s been helping with our schools in the county as well because as you know we haven’t had a dog in the county ever since I’ve been around,” Klanderud said.

He said right now they use either the state patrol’s K9 or Jackson or Faribault county’s but that they’re not always available.

Klanderud said the Martin County Sheriff’s Office would like to launch its own program to use as an additional tool to address challenges with drugs in the community. Startup costs would be about $19,025 with ongoing costs of $16,600. All startup costs and ongoing costs will be covered by the Sheriff’s Office budget.

Klanderud noted that the Sheriff’s Office came under budget in 2022 so they would use some of the leftover funds to start the program. They would also look at the 2023 budget in order to find how ongoing costs could be covered.

He also said they’re pretty much guaranteed a $7,500 grant from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) whenever the K9 is required and the training has started.

Some other specific information was shared with the board. Klanderud said that in order to keep up with the certification, about 16 hours of training a month are needed, which can be done on or off duty. A suggested budget was also shared which broke down ongoing costs and included dog care, training and potential overtime associated with training.

Commissioner Elliot Belgard said that it’s likely marijuana will be legalized in the state in the coming months. He asked if the dog will be trained to to detect narcotics and not marijuana.

Klanderud said right now K9 schools are not training the dogs on marijuana because there are a number of reasons for people to legally have marijuana.

Belgard said he’s aware they have a candidate who would like to be the handler but asked whether they could get a commitment from the person.

Klanderud said with all specialities they ask for a minimum of a three-year commitment. He said in this case they may ask for a five year commitment because the K9 is trained to a specific handler.

Commissioner Kathy Smith said she had several questions. First, she took issue with budgeting for the program. Klanderud said they would have to reprioritize some items and adjust the budget.

Smith also asked how often the handler would leave to assist other counties and whether they would charge for that.

“Our minimums needs to be maintained here first for public safety but we’re seeing maybe a couple times a month where there might be a request,” Klanderud said.

However, he said if they could add this, it would bring the total up to four K9s in the area so the amount of time any on of them would be requested would be divided and shared.

Klanderud said they’ve never been charged for having a K9 come help so they also wouldn’t charge as it’s all part of the public safety mission.

“I think it’s a worthy ask,” said Smith.

Belgard asked what kind of timeline they’re looking at. He said while there was support from the board, he also sensed some hesitancy due to the budget. Klanderud said that school begins in March and they’d like to have everything in line before then.

Smith made a motion to approve the request and Commissioner Richard Koons seconded the motion. The motion passed.

The board also heard from Scott Reimer, CEO of Federated Rural Electric Association, who was present and spoke about funding a broadband project in Ceylon. Reimer requested $28,500 for the project.

The funding will be used to help offset costs associated with installation of fiber to service businesses in the city of Ceylon and farms along the fiber route. While the city was previously awarded a grant for the installation of fiber within the city, farms were not included.

“Much of the infrastructure is going to be built. We don’t think that there’s going to be extraordinary costs but this will help offset some costs,” Reimer said.

He said if funded, the project is expected to be finished in June.

Smith asked where the money would be coming from. County Coordinator, Scott Higgins, said that the EDA had referred it back to the board but that there are ARPA funds that can be used.

Reimer said that they won’t begin working again until the spring so the commissioners tabled the decision but let Reimer know that the project has their support.

In other news, the board approved a resolution adopting the 2023 county budget with several new reductions. The board also approved a resolution establishing the 2023 tax levy at a 4.79 percent increase. This is down from the Dec. 8 Truth in Taxation hearing when the board was considering a 7.53 percent levy increase.

In other action, the board:

— Approved a tobacco license for Casey’s General Store in Welcome.

— Approved various appointments to various citizen advisory boards and committees for 2023.

— Approved the purchase of a budgeted chip spreader in the amount of $405,090.

— Renewed a nursing services agreement with Joy Pousch and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office to provide regular and on-call nursing services at an hourly rate of $44 per hour.