Votes at a glance: Watershed appointment, park JPA, two property purchases and wetland-credit authorization approved

The Stearns County Board of Commissioners took several formal actions Nov. 4 during and after a closed session. Votes were taken by voice; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the public transcript.

Sauk River Watershed District appointment
John Bridal of District 3 was the single applicant for a vacancy on the Sauk River Watershed District Board of Managers. The board moved and approved the appointment by voice vote. (Motion moved and seconded; approved.)

Joint powers agreement — Fairhaven Mill County Park
Parks Director Ben Anderson presented a joint-powers agreement with Wright County that documents a long-standing 46-year operating partnership for Fairhaven Mill County Park. The board moved and approved the joint-powers agreement by voice vote. (Motion moved and seconded; approved.)

Property purchases for justice center (closed-session items)
After a closed session to discuss real-property acquisition, the board approved purchases of two parcels in St. Joseph Township. The chair read the offers into the record: property ID number "3120810, approximately 45.54 acres, for a sale price of $1,500,000," and a second parcel read as "31.2083 0.208030 approximately 30.77 acres for a price of $1,200,000 to close in the calendar year 2025." Commissioner Clark moved the purchase and Commissioner Persky seconded; the board approved the purchases by voice vote.

Wetland reservation agreement and wetland-credit purchase
The board authorized staff to enter a wetland reservation agreement to replace 2.08 acres of wetland at the construction site for the justice center. Staff said the county will purchase 4.16 acres of wetland credits from Fox Haven Farms in the county’s credit area No. 7, including state withdrawal and stewardship fees, for a quoted total of $342,343.04. Commissioner Notch moved approval and Commissioner Clark seconded; the motion passed by voice vote.

Notes on votes and procedure: In each public vote recorded in the transcript, the board approved the actions by voice vote; the public minutes and the auditor’s office should be consulted for any formal roll-call tallies or to view any recorded votes for individual commissioners.