Wadena board to sell two houses on property

At the July 19 county board meeting, Wadena County Commissioners decided to sell the two houses they recently bought on residential lots adjacent to the courthouse, and have the houses moved off the land to another location.

Originally, commissioners thought they would demolish the houses, but decided instead to offer them for sale to be moved. The houses are located at 410 First St SW and 21 Dayton Ave SW. Advertisements for building removal bids on the houses will run in county newspapers. The successful bidders will have 30 days to move the buildings after the bidders are notified of their contract awards.

The county purchased the houses and the lots on which they stand to get land for parking lots for the courthouse and the new annex that will be built beginning in the late fall. 

Also at the July 19 meeting, commissioners approved the amount of $11,400 for architectural and engineering services to be provided by BHH Partners to design a “connecting link” or covered walkway between the courthouse and the new annex. Whether the connecting link will be constructed along with the Annex building will depend on the final budget for the annex project. The rough estimate of the connecting link’s cost is $126,000 at this time.

Commissioners also approved a contract with Soldo Consulting to provide an “environmental scan” of the county’s workplaces, including interviewing employees, gathering information on factors that affect the county work settings, etc., to assist the new Department of Human Resources in setting goals and creating a work plan. The environmental scan will take about six weeks and cost no more than $10,000. A comprehensive report will be submitted by the consultants.

Auditor/Treasurer Judy Taves presented the results of the county’s July 16 tax-forfeited land sale. Six of the seven parcels that were for sale were sold on July 16, for a total of $268,546. The unsold parcel was the Verndale house.

Kathy Langer, Director of Todd-Wadena Community Corrections, presented a draft of the proposed joint powers agreement between the two counties to cover the services provided by community corrections. Langer recommended that the agreement be adopted by both county boards. The Todd County Board approved and signed the agreement earlier on July 19, and Langer requested that the Wadena County Board do the same, which they did by a vote of 4 to 1.