The Grant County Board of Commissioners is hoping to develop a special land use agreement between the county and the manager of a local mobile home park that would permit public use of a storm shelter located on the mobile home park property. At this week’s meeting, the commissioners, under the discretion of Grant County States Attorney Mark Reedstrom met with Ken Dahlgren, Manager of the Riggins Trailer Park located just east of Milbank about the need for developing a special deed agreement that would allow public use of the park storm shelter under tax exempt guidelines. The property is currently owned by the county, which means the county would be eligible to apply for tax- exempt status in the event a future deed agreement is approved formally authorizing public use of the storm shelter, as needed. It was noted that the tax exempt requirement could also be met by submitting a 501C3 type of application, which would totally eliminate the county from having to deal with any liability type issues which may occur, in part, through public use of the storm shelter. The commissioners plan to work closely with Ken Dahlgren, the manager of the Riggins Trailer Park, as well as Grant County States Attorney Mark Reedstrom in the near future in an effort to finalize a new deed agreement that would be suitable for all parties involved.
In other business, the commissioners met with Milbank Chief of Police Boyd VanVooren and City Administrator Jason Kettwig to discuss the current dispatching services contract that’s currently in place between Grant County and the City of Milbank. At their last regular meeting, the commissioners heard from Grant County Sheriff Kevin Owen who discussed the need for renegotiating the current contract agreement in an effort to provide more revenue for the sheriff’s department and to provide more hours for local dispatchers who are classified as part-time status. At this week’s meeting, a decision was made to have the head representatives from both entities get together sometime in the near future to discuss the matter more in-depth before the issue is brought back before the commission for further action.
In another matter, Grant County Emergency Management Director Kevin Scheulke was on hand to bring the commissioners up-to-date on the latest developments involving the department since he first came on board as the new director approximately one month ago. Kevin informed the board that things have gone relatively well for him, thus far, as he continues to work to stay on top of critical issues relating to emergency management from both a local and statewide perspective.
Grant County Development Corporation Executive Director Bobbie Bohlen was also on hand to update the commission on the latest happenings taking place from a county-wide economic development perspective. Bobbie informed the board that her office has been working in partnership with Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown to develop some new course offerings in the Milbank area for prospective students who may have an interest in expanding their future educational opportunities closer to home at a substantially reduced cost. She further noted it would be ideal for Milbank to serve as a “satellite campus,” per se, if enough interest is shown initially for the program to become established within the local area.
