FAIRMONT– Nicole Grieneswic, Executive Director of Region Nine Development Commission, shared some information about the organization with the Martin County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday and Kristian Braekkan, Economic Development Director, provided a program update for Martin County.

Grieneswic shared that Region Nine is the economic development district for the nine county area around Mankato, as set by state statute in 1969, though she said Region Nine was created in 1971 and thus recently had its 50th anniversary.

“Over that time of being created as an economic development district at the federal level we were then eligible to receive federal funding,” Griensewic said.

As part of this, every five years a regional plan is created and every year a comprehensive development strategy is created along with an annual performance report.

“Serving nine counties, 72 cities, 147 townships and 33 school districts, we have a lot of work to do so with that we are governed by 39 regional leaders and Commissioner (Elliot) Belgard has been representing Martin County since 2012,” Griensewic said.

She briefly detailed some projects that have happened over the time, including an agriculture resiliency plan and a manufacturing resiliency plan.

Griensewic said Region Nine recently hired a loan specialist and shared that they’re trying to get the word out that they have about $1.1 million in revolving loan funds available for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Braekkan spoke more about economic development data pertaining to Martin County specifically.

“What’s unique about Martin County, and also Faribault County, is these are the only two counties in the region that have interstate access and if you look nationally, having interstate access is a huge bonus in terms of drawing economic development,” Braekkan said.

He noted that manufacturing and ag are two of the main things that drive the economy statewide and especially in this county.

“Looking at commune data, not only are you supplying Mankato.. but also supplying northern parts of Iowa. Martin County is critical for not only our economy but neighbors south of the border,” Braekkan said.

Data on the population was shown and while it has declined due to lack of growth in the younger population, Braekkan said that is shared by most of Region Nine. In speaking more of the population decline, the labor shortages were also touched on.

“More people are coming to the county or leaving the county every day, than work within the county, which is pretty significant,” Braekkan said.

As for the decline of jobs, Braekkan noted that there has been a major decrease in manufacturing jobs.

“Manufacturing is the highest earning industry in all of our nine counties. For Martin County, that’s about $3 million per year just in 47 jobs. That’s taxable income,” Braekkan said.

He said that manufacturing jobs and agriculture jobs bring in the most money, though said healthcare is by far the fastest growing segment in Martin County and also in the nine county region.

“But healthcare jobs pay about $12,000 less per year than a manufacturing job, which is eye-opening to most people,” he said.

In closing, Braekkan showed a map that showed “distressed” areas in the nine county region and noted that one of Martin County’s is that it has almost 5 percent higher unemployment than the national average.

Moving to other matters, the board denied the request to take over Lakeside Cemetery, which first came before the board at its July 5 meeting.

In other news, the board:

— Authorized entering into a joint funding agreement with MnDot and engaging an engineer to initiate repairs on JD # 37 and begin the process to acquire an additional easement to utilize MnDOT funding for flood mitigation.

— Approved a conditional use permit for Heidi Breitbarth of Just Fur Fun Grooming to operate a pet grooming business on an existing building site located in an “A” Agriculture District.

— Approved a change order of $11,015 to the pavement removal method in the Martin County Courthouse drainage and ADA improvement project.

— Approved renewal of medical examiner contract for services by Dr. Kelly Mills.

— Approved the hire of Lindsey Weber as a full-time correctional officer in the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

–Approved the hire of Jennifer York and Hannah Petschke as part-time library pages.

— Approved changing providers for the County Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance plan form Blue Cross Blue Shield to Medica’s Plans offered though the Minnesota Healthcare Consortium.

— Set a public hearing time and date for a single family home tax abatement request for 10 a.m. on Nov. 21.

— Approved and authorized the MIS Director to purchase replacement storage area network in the amount of $29,799.