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BLUE EARTH-- With the end of the year approaching, the Faribault County Board of Commissioners are still in the process of making their final budget determinations. At their meeting on Tuesday, the board members spent quite a bit of time discussing the contract the county has with CEDA (Community and Economic Development Associates).
"Our contract with the county is a one-year contract," CEDA regional manager Dave Schmidt reminded the board. "The contract runs from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31."
Currently, Faribault County has a four-day-per-week/32 hours per week contract with CEDA which is staffed two days by EDA (Economic Development Authority) specialist Jim Langborg and two days by EDA specialist Danielle Hayter-Johnson.
"The proposed contract for 2027 is $96,121, which is a four percent increase over the current year's contract of $92,423," Schmidt explained. "We were originally looking at a five and a half percent increase but have decreased that to four percent."
The question was raised on what the cost would be for a three-day-per-week contract.
"A three-day contract would be over $80,000," Schmidt stated. "There is a cost break that comes with contracting more days per week. For instance, a contract for one day per week is around $34,000. When contracting with CEDA, you not only get the days per week you pay for, you also get access to the 50-plus employees in CEDA who have expertise in a wide variety of areas."
The amount of the total proposed budget for the Faribault County EDA for 2027 is $129,842 with the bulk of the expense attributed to labor.
Board members decided to wait to take any action on the proposed contract until they are able to consider the complete county budget for 2027.
In other business, the board:
--Recognized Lincoln Reynolds for one year of service in the Sheriff's Department, Dayton Enger for one year of service in the Buildings and Grounds Department, Jennifer Howard for one year of service as the Faribault County Veteran Services Officer and Mark Wallin for 15 years of service in the Public Works Department.
-- Approved the training request of Michael Sharp of the Sheriff's Department to attend Crisis Intervention Training.
-- Approved the request Bryan Schaper of the Public Works Department to take Introduction to Surveying Training.