The Martin County Board Tuesday approved a motion for a sheriff’s deputy to be assigned as the school resource officer at Granada-Huntley-East Chain. The school district will be responsible for 66 percent of the cost of the position, with the county responsible for the other 34 percent. Martin County Sheriff’s Offic Captain Corey Klanderud said he would work with County Attorney Terry Viesselman to draft a contract.

The board approved a motion to appoint Jessica Korte to the Martin County Auditor/Treasurer position to fill the remaining term of James Forshee, who will be retiring in July. The effective date of Korte’s appointment will be July 8, 2019, through Dec. 31, 2022.

Approved was also given to a motion to authorize the promotion and hire of Dustin Splinter as maintenance superintendent for the Martin County Highway Department.

Commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday to declare a state of emergency in the county due to the most recent winter storm. Martin County Chief Deputy Corey Klanderud gave a brief recap of the volatile spring season and stated why the declaration would be helpful.

“With all the recent weather events we had this spring, from rapid snow melt to high winds and a considerable amount of damage that is affecting some rural co-ops that are looking for assistance, by doing an emergency declaration we can provide support for that.”

Sheriff Jeff Markquart also added:

“This covers everybody, but right now it looks like it’s going to be our co-op and power companies,” he said. “I know Federated Electric had about 37 to 38 poles that they’ve replaced so far in Martin County. So this is just a way of trying to capture funds, which is going to affect everybody.”

The board voted to receive and file the Pre-Design report from Wold Architects and Engineers for the proposed Martin County Justice Center. The report estimated a total 40 million dollar cost half to which hopefully would be covered by a state grant with the county responsible for the rest. The proposed project start date would be in 2021 with completion in 2022 according to the report.

Commissioners approved a motion to amend a grant agreement with Frontier Communications. The county was awarded a $1.7 million grant in partnership with Frontier for the purpose of expanding broadband services throughout the county. Frontier’s construction team was concerned that the final completion date and all eligible reimbursements might edge past the original contract completion date of June 30. The amendment moved the contracted completion date to Dec. 31.

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