BLUE EARTH– Faribault County Planning and Zoning administrator Sara Hauskins presented the county’s Feedlot Office Annual Report to the County Board at its meeting on April 1.

“The report is conducted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA),” Hauskins said. “Faribault County has minimum program requirements to meet through State Statute and MPCA requirements as well.”

According to Hauskins, Faribault County has satisfactorily completed those requirements.

“In addition, Faribault County has earned 82 performance credits for going above and beyond the minimum requirements,” Hauskins added. “This brings more dollars into the county through block grants.”

Hauskins credited her team of workers for the county’s accomplishments.

“I’m thankful for the work Chad Viland and Linda Adams perform,” Hauskins commented. “They are very valuable to our success.”

Commissioner Bill Groskreutz asked if Hauskins was seeing an increase in the number of feedlots in the county.

“No,” Hauskins replied. “We are actually seeing a decrease in the number of feedlots. Some of this is due to people retiring.”

Hauskins was also asked if her office is fielding many complaints about feedlots in the county.

“We have some and we tend to get a few more as the weather warms up,” she answered.

“But, overall we do not receive many complaints.”

The commissioners also heard a report from Jim Karels, who is a Risk Management consultant for MCIT (Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust).

One of the topics Karels touched on was the increase in the number of cyber claims among Minnesota counties in the last two years.

“The number of claims for 2024 continued an upward trajectory,” Karels said. “But the total cost of the claims dropped significantly because there were no ransomware claims reported for the year.”

Karels explained that the combination of technical tools such as multifactor authentication and firewalls along with employee vigilance can nearly eliminate the success of cyber attacks.

In other business, the commissioners:

— Approved a cell phone stipend in the amount of $50 for Bryce Werner of the Public Works Department.

— Approved the training requests of Karolyn Bendickson of the assessor’s office to attend the Minnesota Residential Case Study Workshop.

— Voted to approve the request of Sheriff’s Department employee Emily Bonin to attend the Minnesota Fraud Investigators Association Annual Spring Conference.

— Approved the request of Brittney Gehrking of the Faribault County Sheriff’s Department to attend the Dogs for Law Enforcement K9 Seminar.