FAIRMONT– An update on the county’s legislative bonding request was provided to the Martin County Board of Commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday. For several years the county has been going after a mix of state and federal dollars to fund the $32 million Martin County Justice Center.

Andrew Carlson with Larkin Hoffman, the firm the county has been engaged with for several years, quickly summarized the recent Minnesota legislative session, which ended Sunday.

“Unfortunately, the bonding bill was not approved. The bill wasn’t event brought to the house floor for consideration,” Carlson said.

He said several reasons have been mentioned for why the bill wasn’t brought forth but that it is hard to know for sure. Carlson did call the ending of the session “chaotic,” which is a word that’s been used by other sources to describe the hasty ending of the most recent session.

Earlier this year Martin County had put in a state bond funding request in the mount of $19.2 million, though the board was advised there was a slim chance the dollars would be granted in the full amount.

On Tuesday Carlson asked the board if it had any questions and Commissioner Kathy Smith, who is a long-time member of the Justice Committee, said that the board didn’t need a detailed recap of the session since it did not go well.

Commissioner Elliot Belgard asked whether there has been any talk about a special session. Carlson said that while some groups have called for one, Governor Tim Walz has indicated that there will not be one.

“I don’t see a scenario where he would be made to change his mind,” Carlson said.

Later in the meeting, the board set a work session for 1 p.m. on June 4 to discuss next steps in the Justice Center project.

During the meeting the board also heard from Bill Fahey, special projects associate to the board, who went over a previous proposal from the Nicollet Investment Management Inc to manage the county’s investment portfolio.

“Right now we have a current investment pool of about $30 million,” Fahey said.

Ultimately the board chose to formulate and send out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to seek the interest, including bids, from local firms that are registered money managers for comparison to services from statewide firms for the purpose of investing and providing assistance in the management of the county’s investment portfolio.

In other news, the board:

— Increased the award for employee participation in the Health Incentive Program to $500 for 2024.

— Heard from County Engineer Kevin Peyman who said that all of the equipment for a new fleet management software program is on the way and that he hopes it will be up and running in the next few weeks. He also said that the equipment came in several hundred dollars under budget.

— Approved the hire of Mya Pierce and Josie Moeller as part-time library pages.

— Approved the hire of Jared Wiltse as a summer boat and water patrol deputy.

— Approved the hire of Thea Anderson as a part-time correctional officer.

— Approved the resignation of a part-time account technician and authorized recruitment to fill the position.

— Authorized IT Director, Steve McDonald, to sign the service authorization form for MNIT Services Autonomous Threat Prevention.

— Authorized Michael Forstner, Auditor/Treasurer to purchase a new election reporting computer in the amount of $3,965.

— Set a public hearing time and date of 10 a.m. on June 18 for a single family home tax abatement request from Edward Lehman.

— Approved a tax abatement request from Tyler Bitting for construction of a single family home in Westford Township.

— Approved a tax abatement request from Doug Pederson for construction of a single family home in the city of Fairmont.