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Nobles County votes to walk away from W.E.L.L. project

On a 4-1 vote, Nobles County commissioners voted Tuesday to walk away from the collaborative W.E.L.L. project after the Minnesota Legislature failed to act on a bonding bill. The county had sought $16 million in state bonding to finance 47% of the project.

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WORTHINGTON — On a 4-1 roll call vote, Nobles County commissioners on Tuesday voted to cancel any further effort on the proposed W.E.L.L. (Welcome, Education, Library, Livability) project.

The action comes after both the Minnesota House and Senate removed the county’s $16 million bonding request from any potential state bonding program. The bond would have helped to finance 47% of the collaborative project planned between the county, city and Independent School District 518.

Tuesday’s action did not come without disagreement. Commissioner Matt Widboom, on the board for eight years and nearing the end of his final term, cast the lone vote in opposition to walking away from the project.

“Obviously we’ve all been waiting for the legislature to do nothing, and that’s what we’ve gotten today,” Widboom said. “The motion to end the W.E.L.L. development is extremely disappointing.”

Board chairman Justin Ahlers made the motion to walk away, and has made no secret that he’s opposed to a new Nobles County Library for the city of Worthington.

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“I was never in favor of a new library and I’m still not,” Ahlers said. “We’ve got some tough economic times coming, and now is not the time to bond for $8 million (which was to be the county’s share of the project).”

Widboom said the county’s obligation of $8.5 million to the W.E.L.L. project was going to come with no levy increase to the public, with the money set aside after the Prairie Justice Center bonds were repaid next year.

“Although the times are difficult … it’s one of the better opportunities of collaboration that we have,” he added.

Nobles County Administrator Tom Johnson said both the city and the school district requested guidance from the county, as it will impact how they move forward with their own projects. The city sought office space and restroom access in the proposed W.E.L.L. building to serve people using the field house currently under renovation on the same site. Meanwhile, the school district planned to locate its community education department and related classroom space in the collaborative building.

Commissioner Bob Demuth Jr. said JBS’ $1 million donation to the field house project was to fund enhancement to the building, not take away from the city’s dedicated funding for the building. With those enhancement dollars, the city could build on office space and restrooms, he added.

Johnson told the board it could choose to go back to Square One, hold out for a while and ask for state bonding again, or bond for the project on its own.

“Although with the economy right now, that’s not a good or feasible solution,” he added.

Ahlers said he’d like to see how the library comes out of COVID, suggesting that people have changed their habits and libraries may not be used as much. Library use has decreased during the global pandemic, but that could be due to the library’s temporary closure for several weeks and the continuation of reduced hours of service.

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Widboom said the county has invested thousands of dollars into a library project over the years, and asked if the county was willing to “put it back on the shelf and let it roll for another eight years.”

“It continues to be an unjust service to the constituents,” he added. “What’s going to cause us to put this on a future agenda? I’m not satisfied with giving this no direction.”

Demuth suggested the county continue to talk with the library board about its wishes, and reserve the $8.5 million for a project they can agree on.

Commissioner Donald Linssen, meanwhile, said he will continue to support the library project but “the legislature did nothing for us.”

“I think we have to put this on the back burner,” Linssen said. “I’d like to say we’re going to revisit this next year.”

“So the message to the library board and the library director is to prepare for a long future in your building,” Widboom added. “We owe it to them to make it clear.”

“I’d rather say that we’re probably on a year hiatus, just to see what does come about,” said Commissioner Gene Metz. “We’ve also got a huge hole in our road budget. We can’t do it all.”

Nobles Wind Farm may get upgrade

Commissioners heard a special presentation Tuesday from Xcel Energy representatives who are seeking to repower four legacy wind farms, including the Nobles Wind Farm in Nobles County’s Summit Lake, Larkin, Olney and Dewald townships.

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The 201-megawatt, 134-turbine project went online in 2010.

Trisha Duncan, community relations manager for Xcel Energy, said the project is being proposed in response to a call for companies to kickstart the economy due to COVID-19 through job creation. She said Xcel is poised to invest nearly $3 billion in repowering existing wind farms, creating approximately 5,000 jobs across the Midwest. Requests for proposals are due Friday for the projects, which would be completed from 2022 through 2024.

“We’ve been communicating with some of the townships and getting a feel for support for this,” Duncan said, adding that the repowering would include using the latest technology to increase the output from the wind turbines.

She estimates the Nobles Wind Farm project repowering would be completed within one year, with minimal impacts to landowners. The work would include replacement of the blades and hub, as well as installation of aircraft detection lighting. The red blinking lights would then only be powered when aircraft are in the area, rather than constantly blinking as is now the case.

Landowners would be compensated for work being done on their property, she added.

“We are not 100% certain this will happen,” Duncan cautioned. “We will know by the end of this year if we’ll move forward.”

In other action, the board:

  • Approved requests from KJSM Investments LLC (Kyle and Jason Johnson) for five-year tax abatement through the Nobles Home Initiative for two two-unit condominiums to be constructed in Lot 2, Block 1 and Lot 3, Block 1 of the Cherrywood Addition. This parcel is located directly south of Olson Park.

  • Approved a contract with the city of Rushmore to provide prosecutorial services at an hourly rate through the Nobles County Attorney’s Office. The county provides like services already to the communities of Adrian and Round Lake.

  • Authorized a legal secretary services contract between the Nobles County Attorney’s Office and Mary Viessman for a period of up to 90 days. The office is currently short-staffed with two full-time employees on leave. Viessman retired from the office in 2017, and will work remotely from her out-of-state location at a rate of $24 per hour.

  • Amended action taken at the last county board meeting pertaining to the hiring of Eagle View to provide flight imagery services to the county. Deputy County Administrator Bruce Heitkamp said days after the county’s action earlier this month, he was contacted by MnGEO with interest in partnering with the county on the LiDAR portion of the imagery. Heitkamp said this will result in tens of thousands of dollars in savings to the county. In separate motions, the board authorized Eagle View to conduct the ortho and oblique imagery, while MnGEO will do the LiDAR flight.

  • Approved the reclassification of Roxana Castillo, circulation assistant at the Nobles County Library, from 4/5ths time to 3/5ths time. The reduction in hours is due to Castillo’s wish to no longer do the daily mail run for the county.

  • Accepted a $10,000 operational enhancement grant for fiscal year 2021 for the county’s Veterans Services Office.

  • Recognized Shirley Rempel, social worker in Nobles County Community Services, for 30 years of service.

Julie Buntjer became editor of The Globe in July 2021, after working as a beat reporter at the Worthington newspaper since December 2003. She has a bachelor's degree in agriculture journalism from South Dakota State University.

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