FAIRMONT– The Martin County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday considered a housing project grant application from Habitat for Humanity of Martin-Faribault Counties for funds from the Martin County Local Housing Trust Fund. Amber Patten, a CEDA specialist, said that this is the first application the trust fund has received.

The funds are for a housing project at 211 Prairie Street North in Sherburn and the request is for $13,724.77 which will be used to pay for street assessments for the property.

However, the total project cost is estimated at $312,444.77.

“Habitat for Humanity plans to move a house onto the property and do a complete rehabilitation in partnership with Martin County West School District,” Patten said. “This would provide affordable housing and also valuable, hands-on learning opportunity for students at Martin County West.”

She said that the Local Housing Trust Fund met and reviewed the application and was supportive of the project.

Staci Thompson, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Martin-Faribault Counties, was also present and shared some more about the project.

Thompson said she had received a call from a family located just outside of Fairmont that wanted her to look at a house and while she initially thought the organization wouldn’t be interested in a big house, after looking at it they changed their mind.

“Of course I thought we should take it. We’ll be trucking it to Sherburn this summer, building the foundation and getting it all set so it’s ready for the kids when school starts in September,” Thompson said.

She emphasized that there is such a lack of trades people and that sub contractors are booked out very far.

“Our board of directors really decided two years ago… that we really want to emphasize the county. We had really only done one house in Welcome and the rest were in Fairmont and we really wanted to stress that the whole county needs housing,” Thompson said.

She said that she has met with some other communities in the county and that this will be the first in Sherburn, followed by one in Truman.

“If they come out for us pretty well financially and get done and we get funding from the state, we’ll continue pursuing opportunities,” Thompson said.

The city of Sherburn, Thompson said, has waived the $10,000 asking fee, but cannot waive the assessments.

“The amount we’re asking for are street assessments. It’s a corner lot, so we got a double whammy with it but they were so gracious to waive that and it will be really great if you can help us out,” Thompson told the board.

Commissioner Richard Koons confirmed that the city of Sherburn has donated the lot but that there is roughly $13,000 of assessments.

The board unanimously approved of the trust fund request in the amount of $13,724.77.

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Judd Schultz, Director of Housing Services with Minnesota Valley Action Council (MVAC), spoke about the transfer of HUD (Housing and Urban Development) Section 8 vouchers to MVAC.

Schultz said they recently learned that South Central Multi County HRA is voluntarily giving up all of their vouchers.

“I understand there’s a board meeting today where they’re going to talk more about that. What HUD does then is reach out to other HRAs to see if they’re willing and able to take those vouchers on. For Martin County, they reached out to Faribault County HRA,” Schultz said.

He said the vouchers will be administered by Faribault County HRA, which has an established board and will be administering vouchers in Martin County.

“Right now there’s 79 families being assisted in Martin County and they will continue to be assisted. Basically what our role is, through the Faribault County HRA, is to manage that and make sure we’re spending the budget, maintaining a waiting list and working with those families and doing what we need to do,” Schultz said.

It will be a long process though, Schultz said, as the transfers are done by HUD in January and July and the notice wasn’t given soon enough to make the Jan. 1 transfer so it will happen in July.

“The Faribault County HRA board needs to do a resolution and a letter to HUD saying it’s willing to do this,” Schultz said.

He said at some point the Martin County Board of Commissioners will likely need to approve of a resolution, too.

In closing, Schultz said he has a meeting scheduled with the Faribault County HRA board for Jan. 8, at which point further discussion will take place.

“I’m just glad that HUD reached out to us and feels that Faribault County HRA can take this on. That’s a good sign,” Schultz said.

Commissioner Kevin Kristenson asked if someone from Martin County will be working with that board and Schultz said they have until July to figure that out.

In other business, the board:

— Was introduced to a new Human Resources technician, Teresa Montgomery.

— Recognized the retirement of Debra Eversman from the assessor’s office after 27 years and three months of service.

–Recognized the retirement of Christine Hasek from the Martin County Library after five years and seven months of service.

— Approved a contract with Community and Economic Development Associates (CEDA) for economic development services for the county. Martin County EDA will pay a fee to CEDA for staff time provided at a rate of $49.42 per hour not to exceed $102,781 annually based on an average of 40 hours per week.

— Heard from Human Resources Director, Leigha Johnson, regarding a proposed personnel policy for Minnesota Paid Leave. The board approved of the policy, which included some key elements including that employer and employee premium contributions will be split 50/50 via payroll deductions, eligible employees need to at least work 50 percent in Minnesota for their place or work and employees must meet finical eligibility requirements per the state statutes by having earned over the defined eligibility threshold in the past year.

— Approved the 2026 levy at a 5.85 percent increase.