The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) citizens board confirmed the legitimacy of public questions regarding a four million gallon asphalt storage facility being proposed by Prinsburg construction company, Duininck Inc., at a site located five miles north of Granite Falls.

“Basically, they voted 6-2 to direct the MPCA staff to research findings to support ordering an Environmental Impact Statement,” the MPCA’s Karen Kromar said.

Local Government Aid (LGA) comprises 2.9 percent of the State of Minnesota’s budget, but has accounted for 16 percent of Governor Tim Pawlenty’s unallotments.
This past Tuesday, the governor issued budget recommendations that, if enacted, will cost Yellow Medicine County and the Cities of Granite Falls and Clarkfield nearly a million dollars in state aid payments.

The recently passed Minnesota House and Senate Capital Investment Bills include a number of provisions that may benefit the Granite Falls area, including possible appropriations for flood mitigation, the Roebling Suspension Bridge, the Minnesota Trail and the Minnesota State College and University (MNSCU) system.

Officials are recommending that residents located within the Minnesota  River Watershed consider purchasing flood insurance prior to this Spring.
According to the National Weather Service there is a 90 percent chance that Minnesota River will breach flood stage, 888 feet, in Granite Falls as a result of dense snowpack and one of the wettest falls on record.

The Bush Foundation Board of Directors elected Minneapolis businesswoman Jennifer Alstad as director at the body’s late-November 2009 meeting.
Alstad was born in Korea and raised in Granite Falls,  (home of Archibald Granville Bush, the Foundation’s founder). She was a member of the Granite Falls High School Class of 1989. Her parents are Terry and Donna Alstad.

There may be nothing more important to a culture’s identity than its language.
According to National Geographic explorer Wade Davis, at the time today’s typical adult was born there were 6,000 languages spoken on earth. Today, “fully half” are no longer being taught to school children.
Looking at a map of Minnesota, names such as Minneapolis, Kandiyohi and Mankato dot the landscape in reference to the Dakota  language – the very first spoken in the state.
Yet, the existence of the very language from which the word “Minnesota” derives is in danger of being lost. In fact, after the recent passing of two Dakota elders, including local Rev. Gary Cavender, only nine first generation speakers remain to pass on the vernacular as it was once spoken – true to the sound and inflections as it had been expressed, at one time, in abundance.

    The YME school district and its teachers were not able to agree on terms of a new contract by the state imposed January 15 deadline.
    Negotiators for the  YME school board and Education Minnesota-YME (EMYME), the local teachers’ union, had agreed on a  tentative settlement last week. Members of the local teachers’ union voted on the proposed contract on the morning of Wednesday, January 13.  When the ballots were counted the teachers had overwhelmingly rejected the contract offer. 

The City of Granite Falls’ investment in lobbying services has the potential for a multi-million dollar payoff if all goes well in Washington DC.
On Monday, the Granite Falls City Council opted to retain the services of lobbyist Ed Cain who will again receive  $24,750 for a minimum of 450 hours of work in 2010.
Cain has been employed by the city over the past eight congressional sessions in an effort to secure federal appropriations for flood mitigation projects within the City. His value lies in his ability to navigate the congressional halls and encourage legislative action on the City’s behalf.

The talk was of another year, another deficit when legislatures dropped by Tuesday’s Yellow Medicine County Board meeting for an exchange with commissioners and department heads.
Senator Gary Kubly, DFL - Granite Falls said that the focus of the session was set to be capital investment up until legislators were informed of the $1.2 billion deficit for 2010-2011 biennium in early December.

This past year, the legislature considered cutting the state courts funding by seven percent before thanking better of it when it came to finalize the budget. However, the idea of the reduction illustrates the state’s desire to find cost savings, which may have a major impact on Yellow Medicine and the associated 13 Eighth Judicial District counties as one potential cost saving involves a reduction in judges.

“He’s one of the best judges in the state that I have ever appeared in front of ... Its his intellect, how he treats and deals with people, his patience, his compassion, how he’s courteous and kind to people,”
“Through the last 20 plus years, our analysis of issue not always on same page but I’ve never felt cheated or abused or that my clients have been treated unfairly.”

Weary that an individual who had given testimony in court might recognize his own case, Christopherson was hesitant to recall some of the most important matters  on which he provided judgment. However, he was willing to discuss motivating factors behind his decisions.
“The only outcome a judge should achieve going into a case is a fair outcome,” he said. “Most judges, if they can be called fair, would place competence second... They’d rather be fair than right. We’re all wrong. We should always be fair.”

His reverence for the legal system and inclination toward the positive make it no surprise that Judge Bruce Christopherson will welcome the state law that mandates he retire from his judgeship at age 70.
For his peers, welcoming the end  of the judge’s tenure is a bit tougher.
 

Yellow Medicine County commissioners unanimously adopted an increase to the 2010 levy, while one vote dissented on the 2010 budget this past Tuesday evening following the annual Truth and Taxation hearing.
Commissioners voted to approve the levy at 4.9 percent. YMC administrator Ryan Krosch noted that each percent change in levy results in a swing of $74,149. In sum, the 2010 levy will elevate the county’s total levy from $7,414,933 to $7,778,265, for a difference of $363,332.

“Taking into consideration the decreased revenue and budget cuts, the district has done as well as you could hope for,” stated Barry Evenstad, C.P.A. and partner with Hoffman Brobst, PLLP, as he explained the audit report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009 to the YME School Board.  The figures he presented support his evaluation.  The General Fund reported an unreserved, undesignated fund balance for 2008-2009 of $779,072 which is an increase of $210,728 from the prior year unreserved, fund balance of $558,344.