FAIRMONT– On Tuesday a request from Rebecca Flohrs and her daughter, Natalie Flaherty, went before the Martin County Board of Commissioners. The two asked if the county would allow an Anne Frank tree sapling to be planted at the Martin County Veterans Memorial site.

Flohrs gave some background on her 11-year-old daughter who has had an interest in Anne Frank which has transferred to widely recognized advocacy work.

“She won an Anne Frank Humanitarian Award, was given a letter from the President of the United States and because of some of her humanitarian work, she’s been given the opportunity to pick a few places in Minnesota that she thinks would be good places for a sapling from Anne Frank’s tree,” Florhs explained.

She went on to say that there was a tree that once stood outside of the secret annex that Frank wrote about in her diary. While the tree is no longer there, the Anne Frank Center in Amsterdam preserved some of the seeds from the tree and gifts the United States saplings every few years.

“Some of these saplings from Anne Frank’s tree have gone to the 9/11 Memorial, the U.S. Holocaust Center and the United States Capitol Building. They usually go to pretty renowned places. There are none in Minnesota yet,” Flohrs said.

Flaherty has been asked where she thinks a good and honoring place to put a tree would be in Minnesota and Florhs said she thinks the Martin County Veterans Memorial would be a good place.

“In order to potentially get a sapling there, she needs your approval for that,” Flohrs told the board.

Commissioner Kathy Smith asked Commissioner Richard Koons what he thought since he is on the Veterans Memorial committee.

Koons said the the committee recognized the tree as a boost for Martin County, but it sent the request back to the board because there were some additional questions.

He said if the tree, which is a Horse Chestnut Tree, is planted behind the memorial, there would be dropped “spikey chestnuts” on the sidewalk and benches.

“The only place we could find that would be possible would be out front to the east side and that poses a problem because these trees get to be about 75 feet tall. When the Veterans Memorial got permits for the flag, the whole memorial was shifted 5 feet to the west so as not to be in the flag pattern with the flag pole,” Koons explained.

In closing, Koons said that ultimately the committee said the decision was directed toward the board.

Commissioner Steve Florhs said he did not think the dropped chestnuts would be a big problem and that they could be cleaned up.

He asked if there would be room in the back and Koons said it would have to go along the east side, where there are currently Ash trees that need to be removed.

Commissioner Elliot Belgard said he thought it was a good idea but that he thought the board needed to do some more research on the matter. He also pointed out that once applied for, the county may not even be granted the tree.

Smith said she had doubts whether there would be room the the tree at the site.

Ultimately the board unanimously approved the application for an Anne Frank Chestnut Tree sapling.

Moving to other matters, the board heard from Todd Wetzel, project director for ISC, the construction management firm working on the proposed Justice Center. Wetzel said when the contract was executed back in February 2022, it was for a $30 million project so now that it’s bumping up to a $40 million project, amendments were needed and made accordingly.

He walked the board through some changes that were made to the agreement, including the length of the project, which increased site services.

“Also a big thing that’s changed since 2022 is our labor rates and some of our site services. Trailer rentals is probably the biggest one that jumped up,” Wetzel said.

The overall fee increase is $534,245 from the original contract of $1.2 million for total fees of $1.75 million.

Belgard asked if the increase was due to the location change and Wetzel said it had nothing to do with moving the site, but because a redesign was required. He also pointed out that the project is going to be bigger now with the courts added.

“We’re basically starting over with our reconstruction,” Wetzel said.

The commissioners approved of the amendments to the agreement with ISC.

The board also heard from Caroline McCourt, Public Health Planner for Health and Human Services for Faribault and Martin County, regarding opioid settlement fund applications.

McCourt shared that about 18 months ago her agency was designated as the distributor of the opioid settlement funds that came down from the state. Since then a group was formed to look at what the funds could be used for and how they could benefit local groups.

“We determined top priorities in Martin County,” McCourt said.

After that an application process opened up and the four groups that were recommended to the board include $24,000 each to Healing Hearts LLC, FMCHS, MCSAP and Celebrating Families.

The board approved granting the opioid settlement funds to the recommended organizations. There is still $113,778 remaining in funds.

In other news, the board:

— Approved and authorized the purchase of a 2025 budgeted distributor tank truck in the amount of $197,470.

— Approved a yearly TZD (Toward Zero Deaths) grant in the amount of $9,150.

— Set a public hearing time and date of 10 a.m. on Nov. 5 for a single family home tax abatement request.

— Approved and authorized the board chair to sign Revize Web Services Sale agreement for updates to the county’s website in the amount of $3,200 per year for years 2025, 2026 and 2027.

— Approved the purchase of Splunk Security Information and event Management Logging System for Law Enforcement Network in the amount of $20,484, which includes a three year contract, one time installation fee and hardware storage.

— Approved a quote of $93,356 to upgrade the county’s Mitel Phone System by CADY Business Technologies.

— After a public hearing where no input was provided, approved a new Local Housing Trust Fund Ordinance.

— Approved a resolution providing for the issuance and sale of general obligation drainage bonds in the proposed aggregate principal amount of $4,460,000 and set the 2024 ditch bond sale for 9 a.m. on Nov. 5.

— Approved a Municipal Advisory Service Agreement between the county and Northland Securities for planning and development, bond sale and post sale support in the amount of $27,012.

— Entered into an agreement with Cashvest Three Plus One for one year in the amount of $9,900.