'The best way to stop the spread of germs is to wash your hands!'
Wed, 03/18/2020 - 1:50pm
admin
By:
Karen Edelbach
The Clearwater County Board of Commissioners met on March 10 to hear from Nursing Service, Sheriff, Soil and Water Departments, and the Engineer for opening of bids for this year's needed County highway work.
Director of Nursing Marissa Hetlund addressed the public concerns related to the Corona Virus (COVID-19) outbreak in the United States and what is being done locally to stop the spread of germs in Clearwater County.
"There is so much on the media, not necessarily all true," Nursing Director Marissa Hetlund stated.
"There is Department of Health participation every week here, and test kits are expected to be available. The Health Department never said they were short on them, but will be used only for testing those with symptoms."
She said they are having difficulty in getting additional masks here, which do expire. When asked about hand sanitizer, she said there has been no problem with that locally.
Since the meeting on March 10, Director Hetlund said that to date, the Cornerstone Nursing Home and Assisted Living are restricting visitors to curb the spread of germs.
"This is the time to hunker down when possible to slow down the spread of germs," she adds. "Use common sense. We are getting updates constantly."
She said they are now having difficulty in finding hand sanitizer, but the washing of hands is a greater defense against the spread of germs.
Facts sheet provided by Director Netland about the Corona Virus states:
•The risk of getting COVID-19 in the U.S. is currently low.
•You can help stop COVID-19 by knowing the signs and symptoms: (fever, cough, shortness of breath) seek medical advice if you develop symptoms AND have been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19.
If there are questions, please call the Nursing Service at 694-6581.
Motions to approve the second year of phased retirement for Lynn Riggs CCNS employee, and hiring of Dayna Wang as Home Health Aide/School Health Para part time were approved by the Board of Commissioners.
Primary Election: The County will be reimbursed for the costs for the primary elections in the County and Townships.
"There were 4,643 registered voters at the beginning of the day, and 59 more registered the day of the primary," Board Coordinator Emily McDougall reported. Of registered voters, 1030 voted, approximately 22%.
County Engineer, Dan Sauvé received bids for upcoming projects to do pavement markings, regraveling, grade widening and culvert replacements on CSAH 2. After he reviews the bids, a motion to award the projects will be presented at next week’s board meeting.
The Engineer was authorized to advertise for heavy equipment operators and hold a "Roadeo" to evaluate the skills of applicants for potential future employment as the department is down two operators.
"Could you look at past Roadeo candidates to fill the positions?" was asked.
“We did look at the last list and being a year old we feel it is better to get a new list. The old applicants can still reapply and we will get new applicants to consider.” was the reply.
Engineer Sauvé talked recently with the Clearbrook City Council regarding the upcoming road project there. They have concerns about temporary snow storage on Main Street after the new road is built, due to the new road being a little narrower than the old road. He plans to work with the City and make adjustment to help deal with the snow so it does not have to be left down the center of Main Street. Maybe send a County loader to help push the snow down the street for temporary storage until it can be hauled out after the storm.
There was a discussion on a DNR permitting hearing for the Enbridge Line 3 replacement, the Commissioner would like the Engineer to attend that hearing and give comments. Sauvé noted that keeping the old pipeline running and not replacing the pipeline would cause much more road interruption and wetland impact than replacing the pipeline. A new pipeline can be bored under roads and critical wetland areas, while repairs to the old pipeline can cause tearing up of roads and wetland to repair the pipeline. Replacing the pipeline will be much better than trying to keep the old one running. Regarding the existing pipe line, he says that to repair it there is expectation that there will be multiple interruptions on roads, but with the new one it will be bored under the roads and wetlands would be protected.
"This is much safer, and without tearing up the wetlands that a repair would do," he stated.
He received approval for payment of the Clearwater County Highway Department bills as presented in the amount of $84,957. He reported that they will soon be ordering more trucks to replace the Mack trucks which are expensive to maintain. He says there are two more left and it takes a year to get the new ones ordered.
Chester Powell and Briel Prokosch, Program Technicians of Soil and Water Conservation District received approval to use Always There Staffing for personnel services needed for the 2020 Watercraft Inspection Season to protect lakes from the spread of Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS). It will cover both full and part time staff at the same rate as in the past, with return inspectors receiving annual increases. A five year Minnesota DNR income contract will provide funds to Itasca State Park to staff and train watercraft inspectors, which was ordered out of St. Paul and will cost $12,600 this year.
"The County can cancel the contract with a 30 day notice at any time and be out of it," Chester stated.
Commissioner Mark Titera brought up the possibility of 7 - 8 inch rainfalls as happened a couple of years ago in the area, which might quickly go into the Clearwater River.
"We are considering the building of another holding pond," he said regarding concerns of AIS contamination reaching Clearwater River.
There will be a decontamination unit at the city park, which uses water reaching 180 degrees, so there are safety concerns for its use. Chester, Briel and another inspector will most likely be certified.
"It will be open for the entire county to use," Chester added.
"As long as funding keeps going for these things it sound good," said Commissioner Dean Newland. "But it (funding) could just disappear."
Regarding One Water One Plan, a Memorandum of Agreement was to be sent out for Wild Rice, Mississippi and Red Lake watersheds. Red Lake is new, and Clearwater County will lead on this new one.
Sheriff Darin Halverson received authorization for Vern's Carpet to install additional carpet in the Sheriff's Office that was not in the original quote at a cost of $4,448 with the funds coming from building and grounds budget.
He was authorized to purchase updated "Revcord" software through Loffler Companies for the recording of 911 and other phone lines into dispatch, plus radio traffic for our local frequencies, at a purchase price of $13,381. The funds are budgeted in each year, and are be taken out of the 911 and jail budgets to cover the expense.
The Sheriff will order a Panasonic Toughbook to replace the outdated Emergency Management laptop computer. Funds for this purchase will come from the Emergency Management account in the amount of $2,683 from the 2020 budget.
County Auditor Allen Paulson was authorized to pay the submitted invoices of $205,331 for the County Revenue Fund and $5,057 for the Nursing Service Fund.
All Commissioners were present at the meeting: Neal Illies, Mark Larson Dean Newland, John Nelson, and Mark Titera.