FAIRMONT– Celia Simpson, a consultant with the Economic Development Authority (EDA), on Tuesday requested approval of a joint agreement between the county, EDA and Federated Rural Electric Association stating the terms and conditions of a broadband project in Martin County

Back in February 2023, the county approved an investment of $1.5 million in funding for the establishment of a broadband partnership program and approved the county EDA to administer it. On Tuesday Simpson said some of the language in the agreement wasn’t sufficient for the grant and some of the signatures didn’t line up.

County Attorney Taylor McGowan expounded on that and said, “One of the issues was, it was the EDA who signed the previous agreement and the board had a couple years ago made a motion to allocate up to a million and a half to EDA to disperse for this program. We didn’t really clarify what allocation meant as far as EDA’s authority to disperse the funds.”

Now he said the wording makes it clear that it’s the county that’s releasing the funds.The updated agreement lists terms and conditions for the project expense in the amount not to exceed $1,383,121.

The board approved of the amended agreement between the three parties.

The board also considered an addendum to the Granada-Huntley-East Chain (GHEC) School Resource Officer (SRO) position and teaching contract.

Since 2019, the GHEC school district has had a member of the sheriff’s office, Deputy Chris Gerhardt, as its SRO. Initially this was approved by both parties as a 66/33 split with the school district paying the bulk of it. In 2023, Gerhardt also began teaching some criminal justice classes at the school.

On Tuesday McGowan said that the changes to the contract for the 2025-26 school year has some altered language regarding how the SRO would serve as a resource for teachers for law enforcement-related topics in the classroom, per recommendation from the county’s labor attorney.

“We also updated the distribution of the cost to reflect what’s currently in place. Those are the main SRO contract changes,” McGowan said.

The district will provide compensation for additional hours worked by the SRO above and beyond those already contracted for.

As for the teaching addendum, he said there are additional terms that say prior to the renewal of the contract, the SRO and school district will provide the county with information about the course including syllabus, schedules, students enrollment and also require the SRO and district to provide the county with presentations at the end of the fall and spring semesters.

“It will keep the board updated as to what’s going on in the program,” McGowan said.

Commissioner Billeye Rabbe asked if there was anything about a minimum number of students in the class. McGowan said making the contract contingent on the number of students wasn’t disused.

“So he could be teaching a class to one student?” Rabbe asked.

Commissioner Joe Loughmiller said he thought that could be at the discretion of the district. Rabbe pointed out that it would be one less officer off of the streets.

“If you look at it from the district’s perspective, if it’s one student, they’re going to say they can better utilize their resources elsewhere,” Loughmiller said.

GHEC Superintendent Doug Storbeck had previously shared with the board that, per its request, he offered the class to other area school districts as well.

The board approved of the requested addendum to the SRO and teaching contracts with GHEC.

Moving to other matters, the board approved the appointment of Jessica Laue as the new County Assessor. Laue was an internal employee in the assessor’s office but qualifies for the position. Interim assessor, Deb Eversman, will return to her previous role of appraiser in the assessor’s office.

Laue thanked the board for its trust and support. She also thanked Eversman for stepping up to fill the role over the past few months. Laue will take over for former County Assessor, Mike Sheplee, who passed away unexpectedly in May of this year.

On Tuesday the board also had a preliminary discussion of its 2026 budget. As it stands, the county is looking at a 9.86 percent levy increase.

Koons reminded the board that once the preliminary budget and levy is set in September, the board can only lower the levy, but not raise it. It will not adopt the final budget and levy until December.

The board set a budget workshop for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 18.

In other business, the board:

— Approved a resolution establishing county state aid highway 8 and highway 27, starting at the intersection of county road 125 in Ceylon to/at/or near bridge number 46010 over I-90, north of Welcome.

— Approved the purchase of new 2025 Marathon Mastic Material Melter, which was budgeted for 2026, in the amount of $98,500, which was a lower cost than expected for 2026.

— Approved the hire of Luke Nielson as a highway maintenance specialist/parks coordinator.