News

Absentee ballots available for levy, statewide elections, starting Friday
 

More than 70 people attended the first meeting sponsored by Benson Public Schools to inform the public about the purpose of the proposed $26.3 million building levy referendum to be voted on Aug. 14.

On hand to outline the project’s scope and cost were Supt. Dennis Laumeyer, architect Paul Youngquist of Architects Rego + Youngquist of St. Louis Park, and Andrea Uhl of Ehlers, a Roseville public finance advising company that has put together information on the financial impact of the proposed levy on taxpayers.

Also speaking at the meeting were Eric Peterson, Jesse Hughes and Tim Nagler, three citizens who have been deeply involved throughout the whole process of developing the proposed building project. Peterson is in the farm implement business; Hughes is a real estate agent and farmer; Nagler farms.

School board members attended the meeting as well....

Multi-county group works with Medicaid population

With an upfront cost of nearly $1 million, Swift County is now looking at affiliating with PrimeWest Health to provide Medicaid recipients health care coverage.

Payment into the system would be made in 2019 and 2020, but the county board is hoping that the payment period can be extended to three or four years for the unexpected expense.

When Swift County joined 11 other counties in forming the Southern Prairie Community Care cooperative more than seven years ago, it was looking to change the model for providing care to the region’s 27,000 Medicaid patients. It was also looking for savings over what Medicaid programs cost through UCare and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Kurt Waldbillig, Swift County-Benson Health Services CEO, has accepted a job in Litchfield and will be leaving at the end of August.

Since arriving in Benson early in 2015 he has been instrumental in guiding significant changes at the hospital and clinic that are expected to turn the operation from that was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to one that is profitable.

The groundbreaking ceremony for Scandi Haven Village, a 46-unit assisted living facility with 18 units dedicated to memory care, this past April was a major achievement he helped guide. He was also instrumental in SCBHS taking over clinic services in Benson from Affiliated Community Medical Centers (ACMC).

The KMS softball team had another great season in 2018, finishing fourth in the Section 3A Softball Tourney, placing second in the Camden Conference, and also finishing the season with a 19-4 overall record.  The Saints went 3-2 during the section tourney, but had their season end with a 7-2 loss to Lac qui Parle in the third-fourth place game.  LQP went on to lose to Wabasso (2-1) in the next round and Wabasso fell to Edgerton-SWC in the championship game, 4-3.

Tracy Area won this year’s Camden Conference title after edging KMS late in the season, 17-7 and 9-8.  The Panthers however, were upset in the first round of the Section 3AA Softball Tournament.  KMS went 16-2 in the conference this year, giving the Saints a 210-16 record against conference opponents over the last 16 years combined.

Pictured, top: The KMS Marching Band performs in the Pioneerland Band Festival last Thursday. It was a windy evening, proving a challenge for those who had to toss flags high into the air.

Pictured, bottom: Members of the Benson High School Marching Band Allie Mitteness, Logan Johnson, Bella Wolter, Brenna Knutson, and Katelyn Tolifson perform in last Thursday’s Pioneerland Band Festival parade. Benson’s marching band led off the the parade, but did not compete as the host of 12 other bands the came to the community.
 

To see more color photos from the Pioneerland Band Festival parade, pick up a copy of the June 20, 2018 edition of the Swift County Monitor-News!

Next Monday District 777 is hosting the first of three community informational meetings about its $26.3 million building bond levy to be voted on Aug. 14.

The meeting will take place in the Benson High School cafeteria starting at 6 p.m. and is scheduled to last until 7:30 p.m. Meetings are also planned for Wednesday, July 18, and Tuesday, Aug, 7, at the same times.

Those attending the meetings should be aware that road construction is underway that blocks off entering the school senior high parking lot from the east or south. To get to the parking lot, take either 15th Street North by St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, or Oregon Avenue from the west and then turn north on 15th Street North.

District 777’s Board of Education turned to a citizens group made up of people representing three groups in the district – farmers and landowners, business owners and people from the community at large, and school staff.

A decision by the North Dakota Public Service Commission Xcel Energy (Northern States Power) ending its power purchase agreements with Benson Power, LLC, and Laurentian Energy Association (LEA) is on hold until June 27.

The commission met last week but was not prepared to address ruling against appeals from truckers and loggers seeking to delay the termination of agreements. Benson Power and LEA, which serves the cities of Hibbing and Virginia, use wood chips for a power source. Benson Power also uses turkey litter.

Benson City Manager Rob Wolfington told the city council Monday night that the North Dakota PSC would decide if the truckers and loggers have standing to bring a case to stop Xcel’s plans to buy Benson Power and shut it down. A decision is now expected at the commissions June 27 meeting.

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher

With the Minnesota Legislature’s passage of a bonding bill that includes $9.4 million for a proposed Montevideo Regional Veterans Home the 11-year-old journey to get the facility built is closer to becoming a reality.

Still, it will likely take another four years before construction can begin on the $44 million, 70-bed facility that would provide nearby veterans a health facility.

Another $5 million in financing is pledged toward the project with $3 million from Chippewa County and $650,000 from the City of Montevideo and its economic development organizations.

Swift County has promised $50,000 toward the project, as have Yellow Medicine and Lac qui Parle counties.

The City of Montevideo is also donating 13.5 acres of land valued at $707,850.

The City of Benson passed a resolution supporting the construction of the facility, but did not pledge any funds.

Thunderstorms forming and reforming over South Dakota, then making their way through western Minnesota during the morning and early afternoon Monday, brought just over 3 inches of rain to the Benson area.

Monday’s rainfall was 3.1 inches and brought June’s total to 4.4 inches, one hundredth of an inch over the month’s average of 4.39 inches. It is only June12.

Sunday the Chippewa River level as monitored at the U.S. Highway 12 bridge west of Benson had fallen to 8.48 feet. By Tuesday morning it was up to 11.75 feet – a rise of 3.27 feet. The volume of water flowing down the Chippewa had more than tripled from 0.444 cubic feet per second to 1.62 cubic feet per second.

The heavy rainfall closed the back nine of the Benson Golf Course due to standing water, postponing Tuesday’s men’s league play this week.

Minnesota’s Supreme Court ruled June 6 that the contract for corn supply between the Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company (CVEC) and Glacial Plains Cooperative (GPC) is not of perpetual duration, overturning an earlier ruling from both the 8th Judicial District Court and state Court of Appeals.

It has remanded the case to the district court to now determine what is a “reasonable” amount of time for notice to end the grain handling contract.

“CVEC argues that given the 20-year length of the contractual relationship thus far, ‘as a matter of law’ the contract must have already lasted a reasonable time. We disagree,” the Court stated in its findings.