ABOVE: The Martin County/Minnesota Valley Action Council interns and the Board of Commissioners and county staff at Tuesday’s meeting. Back row, from left: Sche Wheeler, Cole Wiemers, Beau Becker, Matthew Cone, Max Poetter, Jillian York, Katelynn Sommers, Sydney Blomster, Abi Peyman, Kennedy Becker, Blake Haugen, Landon Zimmer, Lily Jaskulke and Tammie Hested. Front row, from left: Richard Koons, Michael Forstner, Kevin Kristenson, Scott Higgins, Billeye Rabbe and Jaime Bleess.

FAIRMONT– This year’s batch of Martin County/Minnesota Valley Action Council (MVAC) interns introduced themselves to the Martin County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.

This is the 14th year of the program, which the Martin County Board of Commissioners has supported as it not only gives area businesses extra help for the summer, but the potential to recruit workforce and it encourages young people to move back to their home community to live and work after they’re finished with their schooling.

This year, the board had also approved of a pay increase for the interns and in total budgeted $65,600 for the 2026 program.

Lily Jaskulke is a student at the University of Minnesota where she’s studying communications. She’s interning at the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce and Visit Fairmont.

Landon Zimmer is a student at South Central College studying mechatronics. He’s interning at Easy Automation.

Abi Peyman is studying elementary education at Warburg College. She’s interning at Fairmont Community Education and Recreation.

Sche Wheeler is studying fine arts at the University of Minnesota and she’s interning at Imagine Martin.

Kennedy Becker is a student at North Dakota State University where she’s studying finance and banking. She’s interning at Profinium.

Sydney Blomster is a student at St. Olaf College and majoring in math and computer science. She’s interning at Erickson, Zierke, Kuderer, Madsen PA.

Matthew Cone is studying business marketing at Concordia Moorehead and interning at West Martin Seeds.

Beau Becker is a finance student at Minnesota State University- Mankato. He’s interning at TPI Hospitality.

Cole Wiemers is a student at Warburg College, majoring in exercise science and interning at Zebedee Chiropractic.

Jillian York is studying exercise science at Cedar Crest College in Pennsylvania. She is interning at Mayo Clinic.

Katelyn Sommers is a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where she’s studying conservation and environmental planning. She’s interning at Martin County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Blake Haugen is a student at the University of Wisconsin-Superior where he’s studying accounting. He’s interning at Pierce Accounting.

Max Poetter is a student at University of Minnesota-Mankato and he’s interning as an IT technician at the Martin County Courthouse.

Sam Groin was not at Tuesday’s meeting but is a student at the University of Minnesota and interning at Avery Weigh Tronix.

Tammie Hested, a family resources coordinator at MVAC and coordinator of the program, said that a recognition event will take place from 9 to 10 a.m. on July 30 at the Hive inside the Michael and Elizabeth Garry building in Fairmont.

Commissioner Richard Koons thanked Hested for being a part of the program from the start and said that the commissioners are proud to support it and keep it going.

In other business, Judd Schultz with MVAC was present to give the board an update on the Section 8 Housing Voucher transfer from South Central Minnesota HRA for Martin County, which is set to happen July 1.

Toward the end of 2025, Schultz came before the board to share that South Central Multi County HRA had voluntarily given up their vouchers and had reached out to see if Faribault County could administer Martin County’s vouchers. At that time he said the transfer wouldn’t go through until July.

“We want to reach out to the landlords that are serving other tenants in Martin County to make sure that we connect with them,” Schultz said on Tuesday.

He also said a number of inspections need to be done in August.

“A couple of bigger things are the data transfer because South Central uses a different system than we do,” Schultz explained.

He said they are not sure on the budget authority yet but that Martin County has 218 vouchers available to the county, but that it’s unknown what the dollar amount that will be coming to the HRA for Martin County will be.

Finally Schultz asked the board to consider what board member would sit on the Faribault County HRA Board, which he said meets on the last Thursday of each month. Commissioner Kevin Kristenson said it would either be him or Joe Loughmiller.

In other business:

— Representative Bjorn Olson provided a brief legislative update to the board.

— Terry Viesselman with Fox Lake Conservation League gave notice of a land acquisition, 139 acres, in Lake Belt Township.

— Jen Kahler, Katy González and Trey Lozano with Kinship of Martin County gave a program update and also put in a budget allocation request for FY2027, which the board received and filed.

— County Engineer Kevin Peyman asked the board to consider the replacement of two shop garage doors and openers at the main mechanic shop at 1200 Marcus Street in Fairmont. He said that $37,000 was budgeted for it and the price came in at $37,900 for two 15 ft. by 16 ft. rolling steel coil garage doors from All Pro Door Company, Inc. out of Garden City. The board approved the request.

— The board approved the hire of James Kain as a part-time on call highway maintenance specialist.

— The board approved the resignation of Wes Anderson and the appointment of Ean Sinn to the Martin County Economic Development Authority.