FAIRMONT– The Martin County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday considered a revised agreement with Minnesota Valley Action Council (MVAC) for the Martin County summer youth internship program. Changes to the agreement include both the amount of interns in the program and the amount they’ll be paid.

Heather Gleason, South Central Work Force Council Executive Director, was present to talk about the upcoming summer program, which pairs Martin County students who are now in college with a local business in their field. The program, which is viewed as successful, helps the students gain relevant experience while showing them of the job opportunities available in their home county.

Gleason said that they would like to propose increasing the hourly wage from $14 to $15 but since the county’s 2026 budget has already been approved, they would reduce the number of interns from 15 to 14.

“The reason that we wanted to propose this is, Minnesota Valley Action Council has implemented a pay range for their youth employment programs,” Gleason said. “Starting from $13 an hour up to $15 an hour and that’s based on their experience… We believe that the interns that are in this program, it’s not their first job…. Based on that, we do believe they should be at the higher wage range,” Gleason said.

In total the county had budgeted $65,600 for the 2026 program.

Tammie Hested, Family Resources Coordinator for MVAC, said that they have 14 right now and eight placed already but the rest are still interviewing at multiple businesses.

Commissioner Jaime Bleess made a motion to move forward with the agreement as presented and the motion passed.

In other business, the board:

— Recognized the retirement of Tamara Plumhoff, veterans services specialist, after 11 years and two months of service.

— Approved a conditional use permit (CUP) from Great River Energy within sections 28 and 33 of Fairmont Township. Great River Energy is planning to construct a 69kV transmission line running 1.8 miles long in an agricultural district.

— Approved a contract renewal between the cities of Ceylon and Granada and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office with the only change being an increase of cost for service at $87.79 per hour.

— Approved the renewal of the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force Joint Powers Agreement.

— Approved a new jail nursing services contract with Crystal Clarke, RN, at $52 per hour for regular nursing services with approximately 16 to 20 hours needed for service each week.

— Approved the renewal of the school resource officer (SRO) contract between Granada-Huntley-East Chain (GHEC) and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office for the 2026-27 school year.

— Approved and authorized the county engineer and auditor/treasurer to sign the agreement between the Minnesota Department of Revenue and Martin County for a collection of 0.5 percent transportation sales and use tax.

— Approved the purchase of two John Deere motor graders in the amount of $748,388.70.