ABOVE: Lakeside Cemetery in Fairmont.

FAIRMONT– On Wednesday the Martin County Board of Commissioners heard from Brad Buhmann, president of the Lakeside Cemetery Association, who requested to transfer Lakeside Cemetery in Fairmont to the control and operation of the county.

Buhmann explained that the association has been in existence for 151 years but that the group met in June to discuss the recent retirement of an employee.

“We as a group have decided that we’d like to transfer the association to Martin County,” Buhmann said.

He said they can no longer afford to pay personnel benefits and retirements and that they’re struggling to find employees. He also said they are concerned about rising costs in fuel, grass seed and dirt and he pointed out the county can get it cheaper than a private entity.

“It wasn’t an easy thing for us to decide to go this way, but you can only kick the can down the road so far,” Buhmann said.

County Attorney Taylor McGowan explained that the association can request the transfer, but that the county, or other local government, has to accept it.

“It’s still within the decision making authority of the county whether to accept the transfer or not,” McGowan said.

County Commissioner Elliot Belgard pointed out that the cemetery sits within Fairmont city limits. He questioned why the county is being considered the local government, rather than Fairmont.

“We as a commission decided to go to the county because you already manage one in (near) Wilbert and that was the unanimous vote of the entire board, to offer it to the county first,” Buhmann said.

He detailed some of the association’s assets, which includes equipment like four grasshopper lawn mowers and a mini excavator. He also said they have very minimal debt.

“We have 22 acres of farm land that the county assessed at $250,000 and the actual cemetery itself is of value. I think it’s like $300,000,” Buhmann said.

It was also said that the cemetery is 34 acres and that there is just one manager, a full-time employee, on duty and others who help occasionally when it’s needed.

Commissioner Kathy Smith asked was the cost for maintenance would be. Buhmann said last year they paid about $75,000 in wages.

County Engineer Kevin Peyman was asked to speak about the maintenance. Peyman said he wasn’t for or against it but recognized the work would likely fall to the highway department.

“I’m not saying we couldn’t do it, but we couldn’t do it with our existing staff is my belief. We would need some type of cemetery department because it’s a full-time job– mowing, trimming and selling plots and coordinating with the funeral homes,” Peyman said.

Commissioner Elliot Belgard questioned whether this would set a precedence for other cemeteries to request transfer to the county. He said he’s already heard from several township cemeteries in recent years that they’re also struggling.

Peyman pointed out that cemeteries have a lot of volunteer labor and he believed that would decrease if the county were to take it over.

Smith asked whether the maintenance was something that the Sentence to Serve crew could handle.

Paula Bulfer, secretary/treasurer of the association, who also managed it for several years, was asked how long it takes to mow.

Bulfer said many times she mowed it herself and that she would put in 65 hours a week just mowing, but said there’s also trimming that needs to be done and extra work ahead of funerals.

“I think that’s the information we need. How much time goes into maintenance and the business side of things,” said Peyman.

Belgard suggested the board hold a work session to further discuss the matter as he said there were a lot of questions and additional information that needs to be gathered. The board set a work session for 9 a.m. July 25th with the purpose of discussing the potential Lakeside Cemetery acquisition.

Moving to other matters, the board also heard a mid-year summary report from County Assessor Mike Sheplee on the county’s housing tax abatement program.

“This program started on March 17, 2020 and it runs for five years. We’re 65 percent into this program and at this point in time 30 homes have either been built or are scheduled to be built,” Sheplee said.

He said of the 30, 16 are in the Martin County West School District and that the overall taxes for county, city and school districts over 10 years is over $1million.

“Even though the county is returning some of the tax money over these 10 years, the cities, townships and school districts benefit in the meantime. That’s a pretty significant amount,” Sheplee said.

He also noted that not everyone knows about the program and the possibility of advertising for it was briefly mentioned.

Peyman also provided the board with a preliminary budget request for 2024 road, bridge and park for the highway department.

“My levy request for 2024 is just under $2.9 million… it is one of the bigger increases I’ve had… it’s a levy increase of $174,000, or 6.4 percent,” Peyman said.

He went on to detail some of the projects planned for the coming year but also pointed out there a lot of unknowns, like what fuel prices will be and how weather will impact projects.

Equipment replacements budgeted for 2024 include a tandem truck, grader with rear roller, distributor truck and shop truck body, which all total $792,000.

“Overall big materials and equipment have seen big increases in the last few years,” Peyman said.

The budget will come back to the board for approval at a later date.

In other news, the board:

— Approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Faribault County for prosecution services as needed at the rate of $200 an hour.

–Approved a Conditional Use Permit (CUP), with conditions, for All Seasons Services of Trimont LLC and Gerald and Joanne Tumbleson to extract gravel, sand, clay and black dirt in a mining operation located in an “A” Agriculture District.

— Set the public hearing time and date of 10 a.m. Aug. 1 for a single family home tax abatement request in Elm Creek Township.

— Approved a tax abatement request to Kyle and Kenzie McConnell for construction of a new single family home in Sherburn.

— Approved a resolution to make the Martin County Auditor/Treasurer position appointed.

— Awarded a bid Larson Contracting Central in the amount of $200,992 for roof replacement at 1200 N. State Street.