The McLeod County Board of Commissioners voted on a series of routine expenditures, contracts and agreements during the meeting. Key actions passed by the board included authorization of a parks tree‑trimming contract, a payment toward a public‑address system at the fairgrounds, write‑offs of small uncollectible receivables, a joint powers agreement with the city of Winstead for a resurfacing project, and awards for several highway construction and marking contracts.

Parks tree trimming: The board approved an estimate from JGS Enterprise LLC (Resort, Minnesota) for parks tree‑trimming at $250 per hour, not to exceed $75,000, to be paid from American Rescue Plan Act coronavirus relief funds. Parks staff explained the contractor will perform trimming across all six county parks; chipping and hauling will be done by county staff. A second estimate from MC Tree Service (Hutchinson) was $365 per hour. Motion to approve was made and seconded; the motion carried.

Fairgrounds PA system: The board approved payment of $7,261.62 to the McLeod County Ag Association toward purchase and installation of a public‑address system connecting Century Hall and several livestock buildings; total equipment and installation cost is $12,111, with the Ag Association paying $4,849.38. Funds will come from the fairgrounds capital budget. Motion carried.

Write‑offs: The board authorized writing off three small outstanding receivable amounts totaling $984.06 that county staff determined were cost‑prohibitive to pursue through collections. County staff described multiple reminder invoices and the administrative cost of pursuing small claims as the rationale. Motion by Commissioner Gerger to write off the amounts, seconded by Commissioner Wright, carried.

Joint powers agreement — Winstead resurfacing: The board approved a joint powers agreement with the City of Winstead for the 2025 joint resurfacing project. The city will perform water main repairs and associated engineering/inspection and pay water main repair costs; the agreement defines rights, obligations and cost‑sharing. Motion carried.

Highway contracts and awards:
- Awarded County Projects CP02500001 and CP02500002 (2025 pavement marking and sealcoat project) to Marsh Sealcoat & Trucking, Inc. of Morris, Minnesota, at $485,294.75 (engineer’s estimate $587,050.84); other bids ranged from about $516,000 to $550,000. Motion carried.
- Awarded County Project 025000005 (2025 route and seal project) to Camco Inc. of Dassel, Minnesota, at $47,658.65; the engineer’s estimate was $77,180. The packets originally posted online were corrected to show all bids. Motion carried.

For each approved contract, the board noted the funding source as indicated in the staff report (for example, parks tree trimming from ARPA funds; pavement marking from highway construction budget; fairgrounds payment from the fairgrounds capital budget).

Several of these items generated brief clarifying questions from commissioners (for example, whether contractors were aware of the $75,000 cap on the parks work, and whether PA speakers’ angles would be adjusted); staff provided responses on scope, installation plans and logistics. All listed motions carried; the record did not include a roll‑call tally for individual yes/no votes.