Latest news with #KandiyohiCounty
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Kandiyohi County Board to meet newest K-9 officer June 3
Jun. 1---- The is expected to have a visit Tuesday from the newest K-9 officer in the Sheriff's Office. Loki and handler Sgt. Nick Ardoff are slated to visit at the beginning of the 9 a.m. meeting, according to the posted agenda for June 3. The board is also expected to act on a sewer and water improvement agreement for a planned community called The Nest, located on the southeast side of Nest Lake along North Shore Drive in Spicer in the vicinity of Hope Presbyterian Church. The developer is Ryan A. Koosman of RAK Construction LLC. According to the accompanying materials posted with the board agenda, the development will have 17 units and a clubhouse. Upon completion, the infrastructure will be turned over to Glacial Lakes Sanitary Sewer and Water District. A presentation about the Kandiyohi County 4-H Program from University of Minnesota Extension staff is also on Tuesday's agenda. The board at approximately 10:15 a.m. Tuesday will consider going into a closed session to discuss a property located at 14998 Highway 71 N.E, New London. Tax records show it to be a residence, vacant land and native prairie. The Open Meeting Law allows a closed session to develop or consider offers or counteroffers for the purchase or sale of property. Any board action must be completed in open session. Under calendar matters, the board will consider moving the June 17 meeting to 4 p.m., instead of the regular 9 a.m. start time, and moving the July 15 meeting to July 17 instead due to a conflict with two commissioners attending a conference on July 15. The complete meeting agenda and accompanying materials can be viewed online at
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal funding pause delays Kandiyohi County Road 55 project
May 31---- In 2023, the completed the diamond exchange that connects County Road 5 to Highway 23. To complete the next phase of the project, Kandiyohi County Public Works has been planning to construct a bridge in 2025 which would streamline the connection between County Road 55 and County Road 5 and eliminate an at-grade railroad crossing. The start date of the nearly $8 million project on the southwest edge of Willmar — the final piece in a years-long, multi-phase reconfiguration of the intersection — is uncertain after a pause in federal funding. More than half the project cost would be covered by a federal grant. The development of southwest Willmar began in 2006 when the Willmar Municipal Airport was moved to a location two miles farther west. This was done to provide more space for the airport and for the industrial development within the city, according to Kandiyohi County Public Works Director Mel Odens. The old airfield spanned areas that are now home to several of the newest businesses in the Willmar Industrial Park. Since the airport was moved, 11 other infrastructure projects have been completed in the area, including the Willmar Wye railroad bypass, multiple sewer and wastewater improvements and the relocation of the bridge over Highway 23 from its previous location at County Road 55 to its new location at County Road 5. These projects represented around $200 million worth of investment in southwest Willmar, according to Odens. The moving of the bridge was done, in part, to make room for ramps in the Highway 23 diamond exchange to be installed for easier access to County Road 5, which in turn reduces the distance trucks need to travel in order to access the industrial park. Before the ramps, trucks would need to drive to U.S. Highway 71 to enter the city and would then need to drive along roads not meant for vehicles of that size in order to reach the developing area, Odens explained in an interview. This took the trucks past several less-than-ideal locations, he said. "You have a school here, so the trucks are going by third-graders, we have businesses here, you have an eye clinic, a church, a memory facility. It doesn't coexist very well. So when the vision was coming together, it's like maybe we ought to pull these trucks off of this road," Odens said. Since the access point to Highway 23 was moved, County Road 55 needed a connection to the highway. To provide this, the county in 2020 constructed a temporary road which passed over the railroad tracks and curved around to connect with County Road 5 plus an extension connecting County Road 55 directly to Highway 23. This was the first phase of the current four-phase project. Phase two eliminated the southernmost portion of that road where it had intersected with Highway 23. That made way for the new ramps. This left the connection — still in use today — from County Road 55 to County Road 5 in an awkward state, with trucks needing to take a harsh turn in the process. To remedy this, phase three of the project aims to construct a bridge over the railroad to connect the two county roads. Public Works' planned project would build a 300-foot spanned bridge over the railroad tracks in the area southwest of Willmar. This bridge would tie into the interchange on Highway 23. The surfacing on the road going north to Highway 40 would be redone. "We have had to phase that intersection in. I know it is a sense of frustration with the public and the user, but we didn't want to detour traffic and funding sources weren't readily available. We couldn't just close it and do it all. We had to do a project. When our project was done, the state put the ramps on the interchange. Now we are going to come in for phase three and build the bridge up to the interchange," Odens said. This project is estimated to cost $7.8 million. Of that, $4.8 million in funding came through a discretionary grant, the Railroad Crossing Elimination federal grant. However, due to a pause in federal funding, the project has been placed on hold. "We have been working for loosely 10 years. When the lower bypass project was being planned, the plan was to put a bridge over the railroad tracks when the Willmar Wye was built. From 2016 on, this has been part of the vision of the county for a western bypass," Odens said in an interview. Odens found out about the federal funding delays at the end of January, at the start of the year when the project was set to take place. On Jan. 28, the Trump administration announced a pause on federal grants and loans, including funds for the local project. "We don't have those kinds of funds available. (If the pause isn't lifted), we would delay the project," Odens said previously. On May 6, Odens confirmed that the funds are in the process of being made available and the Kandiyohi County Public Works Department will have access to them soon, allowing the project to take place. He offered no updates during the County Board's most recent meeting on May 20. After the third phase is complete, the final phase that will be conducted by the Minnesota Department of Transportation will begin. The final piece is surface work on Highway 23 starting around 15th Street Southwest and going west past the County Road 5 bridge. Funding for the County Road 55 project comes from local, state and federal sources. The paused Railroad Crossing Elimination grant is administered by the Federal Railroad Administration, one of 10 agencies within the Department of Transportation.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Yahoo
Willmar, Minnesota, man injured in motorcycle crash on Highway 71
May 26---- A 32-year-old man received non-life-threatening injuries in a motorcycle crash north of Willmar at 12:28 p.m. Saturday. According to a by the a Harley Davidson FLHXS was driving northbound on Highway 71 when the driver lost control and struck the median near Highway 23. The rider of the motorcycle, identified as Joshua Surerus, of Willmar, received non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to CentraCare- Willmar Rice Memorial Hospital for treatment. Alcohol is believed to be a factor, according to the report. Surerus was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. Kandiyohi County sheriff's deputies and CentraCare Ambulance also responded to the scene.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
Motorcyclists injured in collision Friday outside New London, Minnesota
May 17---- Two motorcycle riders collided Friday evening on a wet highway outside New London. The report described their injuries as non-life-threatening. Ruth Anne Rebecca Olson, 44, of Wabasso, was driving a 2016 Harley-Davidson, and Phillip George Hannan, 44, of Bigelow, was driving a 2003 Harley-Davidson. Both were northbound on Minnesota Highway 23 when the collision occurred near the intersection with Kandiyohi County Road 40, according to They were treated at CentraCare — Paynesville Hospital in Both were wearing helmets, and alcohol was not involved, according to the State Patrol. The Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office also responded to the crash reported at 6:20 p.m. Friday.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Kandiyohi County Board hears Woodland Centers, child services reports
Apr. 2---- The heard a report Tuesday from Woodland Centers, whose client numbers leveled off to a more expected figure last year after a jump in 2023. According to the report, the provider of mental health and substance use therapy served 4,762 clients in 2024, down from the 5,324 clients served in 2023, which was a jump of almost 600 clients the year prior. "2023 was an anomaly. We served over 5,300 people. It was a huge bump for the year. I can't quite explain why that number went up so high. We are back on that normal trajectory of increasing the number comparative over the years," Chief Executive Officer of Dr. Ashley Kjos said at the board's regular meeting Tuesday. She is a licensed psychologist. Woodland Centers provides crisis, mental health and substance use services. The organization employs nearly 250 people, both in full- and part-time positions, in order to meet the needs of the seven counties it traditionally serves. Clients from outside of those counties make up 16% of the clients served in 2024. Of the clients served, 36.25% came from , remaining relatively in line with the percentage in previous years. Out of all clients served, 1,504, or 33.37%, were below the age of 18, according to the report. The board also heard from Kandiyohi County Health and Human Services Director Caroline Chan on Tuesday, as well as Nicole Monson, Robyn Stryker and Stacy Gareis, child services supervisors in the department. The given report came as a part of a request for the board to make a proclamation of April as Kandiyohi County Child Abuse Prevention Month. The board approved the proclamation unanimously. The county's ongoing child units are made up of 13 social workers and three case aides. According to Monson, at the end of 2024 a total of 171 cases were open; 106 of them are ongoing child protection cases and 65 are child welfare cases. The causes for these cases included parental substance abuse, child abuse or neglect and psychological abuse. "I really appreciate hearing the numbers. I think it is so important, this presentation you gave. Taxpayers should know where their dollars are going and that we provide important services here. This is an area we don't hear much about," County Commissioner George Corky Berg said at the meeting. Chan also presented information regarding the launching of a nine-month-long family resource center exploration project. This project, paid for in part by a grant from the Sauer Family Foundation, would determine community needs and how they would shape a potential family resource center. The invests in strengthening the well-being of children to help them thrive in their families and communities, according to its website. The foundation's work with describes the centers as welcoming families to provide assistance or access other needed services, all to end child abuse and neglect. According to Chan, the exploration process for a family resource center would attempt to gather input from 10,000 community members in order to determine their needs. The input provided would then be used to determine the form that a local family resource center would take, whether it is a centralized location, multiple smaller locations or mobile services. In order to reach the goal of 10,000 community members, the county will be hosting several focus groups and community conversations while putting out surveys and utilizing social and local media. For more information on the County Board meeting or to view meeting documents for this and other county meetings, visit the Kandiyohi County website at and look under the commissioners tab.
